Experts salvaged the long-lost German submarine U16 from the North Sea near Scharhörn with a floating crane and brought parts of the wreck to Cuxhaven, while preparations to lift the remaining section were underway. A night operation leading into Monday used the Dutch floating XXL crane Matador 3 and two tugboats to lift the wreck from the seabed. The attempt to raise the boat in one piece failed, the U-boat broke during recovery, two parts arrived in Cuxhaven, and another part remained at sea for a subsequent lift, reported Die Zeit. “That’s the first time that something like this is being salvaged at all,” said Dominik Schröder, according to Bild.
One half of U16 waits in Cuxhaven for scrapping. One part lies on a pontoon in the harbor; to the untrained eye, the partially deformed metal was not immediately recognizable as part of a submarine, with a view into an open tube from the side and cables hanging down from the wreck.
“The boat will be scrapped,” said Jörg Fräßdorf of the Waterways and Shipping Office Elbe-North Sea. The batteries were to be disposed of, and there were no explosives or munitions on board, said Fräßdorf. Exhibits from the U16 could still be seen in museums, and “There are inquiries from several institutions,” he said. A hatch cover was among items of interest, and an entrepreneur had already made an assessment in Cuxhaven, said Fräßdorf.
Before the lift, the area around the wreck was cleared with a cargo hold suction dredger, and after clearing, steel cables were passed under the hull so it could be lifted. The wreck lay at about 20 meters’ depth and had been known since 1960. The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency last examined the 57‑meter‑long wreck in July 2023 and regularly searched the North Sea with ships for underwater obstacles. “The wreck was not a strong obstacle,” said a BSH spokeswoman. Fräßdorf warned that the wreck could develop into a danger for shipping in the North Sea: “Such a wreck can also move on the seabed,” he said.
It is unclear what were the costs of the operation and what will happen with proceeds from the sale of parts, should such a sale occur. The recovery drew criticism from the scientific community. “From a professional point of view, this is absolutely unacceptable,” said Jens Auer, spokesman for the Commission for Underwater and Wetland Archaeology. “This action simply contradicted all these rules,” he said, adding that the exception was secured financing of conservation. “That’s the super disaster archaeologically speaking. There was no documentation, no archaeological support, no professional support, no prior research, nothing,” he said. Underwater archaeologist Florian Huber reacted similarly, calling the recovery an “illegal action” and a “fatal step.” “And if the wreck was still a shipping hazard, then it could have been lifted and relocated,” said Huber.
Built in 1911 at the Germaniawerft in Kiel, the 57‑meter U16 undertook about a dozen voyages and sank nearly 30 ships before it sank in 1919 after the end of World War I during a delivery voyage to Great Britain. “Nothing is known of dead people,” said marine historian Jann M. Witt, who added, “Probably the submarine was sunk by the crew themselves to avoid surrendering it”. He cited the proximity of the sinking site to Scharhörn and noted that surrender of German submarines to the Allies was a condition of the armistice: “Because the submarines had indeed proven to be a dangerous weapon in World War I. Actually, all submarines had to be surrendered,” said Witt. He also referred to the UC71, which sank in 1919 near Helgoland during a transfer to England and “That was definitely sunk by the crew during the crossing”; the wreck of UC71 still lay there under monument protection since 2012.
Written with the help of a news-analysis system.