Submarine U-455

History of the submarine off Genoa

August 2005. The Genoese diver Lorenzo Del Veneziano observes in the light of his lamps the outline of a submarine at more than 100m water depth. Conspicuous, as with all submarines: the conning tower; here Lorenzo can make out a machine gun mount, radio antennas and the periscope. At the bottom of the tower, at 107 meters, the hatch is open and inside the second closed hatch can be seen. Apparently it is a World War 2 submarine, the identification will take a few years....

Report and Historical Research by Stefano Astori
Pictures by Marcello Bussotti and Ugo Sgrevi, Video by Ugo Sgrevi

U-455

The VIIC-class submarine U-455 was built by the shipyard of Deutsche Werke AG - Kiel Gaaden-Ost. The Atlantic boat of the German Navy was launched on June 21, 1941. A boat of this type was 67.1m long and 6.2m wide. The maximum speed in diesel-powered surface navigation was 17kn. Two electric motors, each with 375-horsepower output, provided a speed of 7.6kn underwater.

From January 1942 to February 1944, the U-455 was transferred to the VII Flotilla St. Nazaire. During the first months of 1944 until the day it disappeared in April 1944, it operated at the Toulon base with the XXIX Flotilla.

                                              VIDEO U-BOAT455 : youtube.com/watch?v=66lrZSE67r4

During World War II, Germany's U-boats put the Allies, and especially England, in severe straits (the so-called "Battle of the Atlantic"): Germany thus made it difficult to supply the Allies in Europe. The U-455 carried out a total of ten successful missions. The offensive ordered by Hitler reached its maximum effectiveness through the U-boats, which sank over 7.5 million GRT of ships (handships and warships) during World War II. It is clear that the losses among the Allied forces were very high, but during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II, out of 863 German submarines deployed, 630 were sunk. This represents an approximate loss rate of 73 percent, a terrible toll of blood on both sides.

Genoa, Liguria

The German U-boat U-455, which had been talked about by local residents for several years until it became a legend, was discovered by Lorenzo Del Veneziano in August 2005 thanks to some reports. The identification was not easy and not immediately possible.

On the sides of the submarine can be seen the vents of the ballast tanks that go up to the bridge. On the deck, the teak cladding has since disappeared. The bow is very impressive with its slender shape towards the surface; below it, the two depth rudders are visible in navigation position. On the hull, the closed hatches of the torpedo launchers can be seen as evidence that the accident happened so quickly that the crew had no time for other maneuvers.

The submarine is heavily vegetated and full of diverse life: Oysters, anemones, microorganisms, and more... Just about every part of the hull is covered, and schools of flagfish circle the sunken warship. Lobster antennae peek out of the openings, and you also discover large crabs that have made their home in the wreck.

The cause of the sinking remains a mystery. The last radio message from U-455 was sent in April 1944, when the submarine left its patrol area north of Algiers and was en route to its base at La Spezia. The most likely cause of the sinking is collision with a "friendly" mine: the submarine probably ran into a German sea minefield.

The dive is considered extremely challenging, both because of the depth and the currents, which can be quite strong and affect visibility, especially at the bottom.

The wreck lies at a depth of 120 meters with a slope of about 45° and the bow at about 90 meters. This is only a brief summary of the discovery of U-455.
However, we would like to put a face to the crew of U-455 here.

June 2021

The cell phone rings and with his beautiful Tuscan accent Marcello says to me: "What are you doing right now? I need you for a project..." Marcello wants me to research as much material as I can from U-455 and find out more about the peculiarity on the turret because it is different from those on the VII-C class photos. My friends Marcello Bussotti and Ugo Sgrevi dived the U-455 many times and brought good photo and video material which I can use well for further research. I start searching and find documentation at the volunteer-run U-boat Museum in the town of Cuxhaven-Altembruch.

In one of the two logbooks a note of the captain impresses me, because you can see from these words how great the comradeship was in the crew, and I think that in such a close environment of a submarine in the Second World War this was the only way to endure.

Identification of U-455

Let's move on to a detail of the turret, the machine gun platform. Originally, U-455 was equipped with an 80-mm gun and a 20-mm anti-aircraft machine gun. In order to definitively confirm the identity of U-455, it is necessary to trace the rebuilding of the turret with the new platform. The 1942 photographs from Saint Nazaire that I have access to still show the original before the modification. I search each log for a reference to the alterations and finally discover that between March 31 and April 15, 1942, at the naval base (one of the five) of Saint Nazaire, in Bunker 9, the alterations were made. This is the definitive proof that the wreck off Genoa is U-455.

The submarine disappeared off Camogli (Liguria) between April 4 and 6, 1944. After the presumed mine collision, it probably sank within a very short time. In the video, one of the two turret doors can be seen closed, the inner one for safety reasons. A sign that the submarine was navigating on the surface. Presumably, at least two men who were piloting the vessel at the top of the tower were thrown into the sea by the force of the explosion.

In 1956, a former German submariner described the ordeal and end of "his" submarine. During a mission in the Atlantic, it fell victim to a mine explosion. "Suddenly all life in the submersible froze. Outside, on the starboard side a noise. It sounded as if a metal object was slowly crawling along the hull. No one breathed anymore: outside, a meter away, steel collided with steel, the terrible sound never ended and everyone heard it. The men felt death put its bony hand on the boat, and as the sound moved along the boat, the eyes of the submariners inside followed it along the bulkheads.... The mine finally exploded near the electric engine room....". This sound was probably the last thing the crew of U 455 heard.

VIDEO U-BOAT455 : youtube.com/watch?v=66lrZSE67r4

Missions of the U-455

15.01.1942-28.02.1942
First voyage - departure from Kiel under the command of Hans-Heinrich Giessler and arrival in Bergen after six weeks
15.01.1942-28.02.1942 First voyage - departs Kiel and arrives in Bergen after six weeks. 16.04.1942-10.06.1942 the boat leaves St. Nazaire and returns there after an eight-week mission. During this mission it meets two units traveling in convoy and escorted by ON89 and SL111. On 3 May 1942, the British ship BRITISH WORKMAN is sunk, and on 11 June, the British ship GEO H JONES is sunk.
Nov. 24, 1942-Jan. 24, 1943, the U-455 leaves St. Nazaire under the command of Hans-Martin Scheibe and returns after a mission of more than eight weeks.
23.03.1943-23.04.1943 it leaves St. Nazaire again and returns after a four-week mission. During this trip mines are laid, which lead to the sinking of the French unit ROUENNAIS on 25 April 1943.
20.09.1943-11.11.1943 St. Nazaire is abandoned and U-455 arrives at Lorient after a seven and a half week mission.
06.01.1944-03.02.1944 Departs Lorient and arrives at Toulon after four weeks.
22.02.1944-06.04.1944 departs Toulon and is reported missing on 6 April 1944. No survivors.

Note Stefano Astori: I cannot provide any further classified material from the museum.