U-533 Expedition

[Ali Fikree]

Hi Guys.

I am putting together an expedition to a U- boat that we found in the Gulf of Oman. I have dived it before ( 112m:eek: ) but that was by luck that we anchored on it. Was wondering if anyone could recommend a affordable side scan unit or does anyone have one going for sale? Watch this space for updates. :D

Safe diving to you all.

Ali

[Richard Lundgren]

Hi Guys.

I am putting together an expedition to a U- boat that we found in the Gulf of Oman.

Interesting indeed. Can you provide more information regarding the target? Will the project be based from Muscat?

Take care
Richard Lundgren

[Ali Fikree]

Hi Richard,

The base will be in Dubai, and the boat will be in Fujeirah. Its about and hours drive but Dubai is where we have our dive club , compressors and gases. We have awhole variety of wrecks here. Documenting them is a project I have been working on. I am putting together a another expedition to it in Januarybut this will be only open to GUE trained divers . Olly from Oman will be there.

These are the wrecks I am documenting. I have dived them, its just the filming , photography I am working on now.

1. The Ines ( 75m)
2. The Anita ( 92m)
3. Energy Detemination ( 83m)
4. U-533 ( 112m)
5. Corinthian ( still looking :o )

Safe diving.

Ali

[Richard Lundgren]

163

U-533 http://www.ubootwaffe.net/ops/boat.cgi?boat=533

Type IXC/40

Feldpost Number M 50 650 Construction Yard Deutsche Werft AG, Hamburg-FinkenwärderYard Number 351Ordered 10th Apr 1941Keel laid 17th Feb 1942Launched 11th Sep 1942Commissioned 25th Nov 1942Baubelehrung 8.KLA, Hamburg

Training, Flotillas and Duties
11.42 - 04.43 4.U-Flottille, Stettin
Ausbildungsboot (under training)
05.43 - 10.43 10.U-Flottille, Lorient
Frontboot (operational)

Commanders
25.11.42 - 16.10.43 OL ~ KL Helmut Hennig
see also: U-24 (http://www.ubootwaffe.net/ops/boat.cgi?boat=24)

Operations information for U-533

15.04.1943 - 24.05.1943
First Sailing - active patrol
U-533 left Kiel under the command of Helmut Hennig on 15th Apr 1943 and arrived at Lorient on 24th May 1943 after five and a half weeks.
On 24th Apr 1943 in square AE 79, U-533 came under attack from an aircraft of RAF 269 Squadron. U-533 was moderately damaged by the attack.
On 25th Apr 1943 in square AL 23, U-533 came under attack from an aircraft of USN VP-84 Squadron. U-533 was not damaged by the attack. The boat defended itself with flak without destroying the aircraft.
On 20th May 1943 in square BE 91, U-533 came under attack from an aircraft of RAF 502 Squadron.

03.07.1943 - 04.07.1943
Second Sailing
On the 3rd Jul 1943, U-533 left Lorient under the command of Helmut Hennig and returned to Lorient on 4th Jul 1943 after one day.

05.07.1943 - 16.10.1943
Third Sailing - active patrol
U-533 departed under Helmut Hennig from Lorient on 5th Jul 1943. The boat was lost on 16th Oct 1943 in the Gulf of Oman (http://uboat.net/maps/indian_ocean.htm), in position 25.28N, 56.50E, by depth charges from a British Bisley (Blenheim) aircraft (Sqdn. 244/O). 52 dead and 1 survivor

Notes for U-533

We have 54 crew names for this boat. click here for crew names of U 533 (http://www.ubootwaffe.net/crews/crews.cgi?uquery=1;boatnum=533)
You can perform other crew searches here (http://www.ubootwaffe.net/crews/crews.cgi). Note that the number of names we give possibly includes prior crew members. You can discuss this boat or ask questions at the ubootwaffe.net forums (http://www.ubootwaffe.net/forum)

[Ali Fikree]

Thank you very much Richard. I have the crew list from before but will use this to verify what I have. I even have a blueprint of the wreck, its on my wall :cool: .

Again, many thanks.

Ali

[Ingemar Lundgren]

Ali, the side scan we are using (Ocean Discovery) could be shipped to your location. We have done this before. A few years back we shipped it to Florida, Key West for the Atorcha treasure fleet project so we have no problem shipping it to your location. We have a winch with slip-ring and 300m armored cable. To do a successfully survey at these depth a winch is a must. You can read more about our side scan sonar here http://www.ocean-discovery.org/sidescan.htm

[Ali Fikree]

Hi Ingemar,

Thanks for the offer. A commercial diving company here is offering me one with an operator. :)

I am looking at buying one for myself in the future when I build up a boat , etc. try organizing a dive without the s***ke element popping in :mad:. It seems that alot of people want to come and dive for the sake of going deep and showing off. No one wants to help document this wreck or verify that it is the U-533.:confused:

I am putting together a support diver training program for some team members as we speak. That way, I can build up my own exploration team without hassels. How do you guys cope? Any advice?

Best wishes.

Ali

[Ingemar Lundgren]

I don´t know what is cheap for you but a resonable side scan with winch will cost about $30.000.

I am sure many divers would be quite excited diving and documenting your wrecks. War wrecks are always very interesting... If you need to get some comitted divers come over or need help with side scan sonar, UW video or what ever let us know. To me your projects sound very exciting.

[Ali Fikree]

Inegmar/Richard,

I will add your names to my future expedition list. :D

Ali

[Martin Quensel]

Hello!

You might already know all this, anyways.

Around some 700 u-boats where of type 7x (VIIC,VIIB etc) all these boats had saddle tanks, so the hull shape is very easy to recognise. If you see the protruding (is this a correct word?) tanks on the sides, then the boat is surely not a type 9 (IXB,IXC,IXD,IXC/40 etc), and not the 533 you are looking for.
(around 200 of the type 9 boats where built). The type nine boats are also a little bigger.

There are also some easy ways to see exactly what type she is, for example the snorkel should be easily spotted (if she stands uppright) and that tells you that she is a late version of a u-boat.

You had the drawings of her, so i guess you can recognise her if it is her, but if its not, check the hull for saddle tanks :-)

[Ali Fikree]

Martin,

Thanks very much. Assuming we get onto it again, I plan to look for ID features and maybe some video.

I was not that aware of the the sadddle tanks. My aim , is the crest which is on the conning tower? Am I correct?:confused: :confused:



Cheers.

Ali

[Richard Lundgren]

Is this the crest you want to find on the u-boat?

164
10th Unterseebootsflottille

They are usually refered to as flotilla emblems. Not sure if they were painted on the superstructure of the conning tower or if they was bolted to it.

[Martin Björkdahl]

Is this the crest you want to find on the u-boat?

164
10th Unterseebootsflottille

They are usually refered to as flotilla emblems. Not sure if they were painted on the superstructure of the conning tower or if they was bolted to it.

Recently when viewing the movie about the dives on the Operation Deadlight submarines I couldn't see any visible emblems on the conning towers, so they were probably just painted on the superstructure of the conning tower.. And are now washed away by the water as they've been lying there since 1945..

[Richard Lundgren]

On Russian WWII submarines in the Baltic you can still see the numerical sign as an example S2. These numbers were not painted but I have no idea if the Germans painted or not.

[Martin Quensel]

They where all painted.
The u-boats where also repainted after each mission.
The boats could come back from patrol and almost appear red from all the rust.

Flotillja emblems where not mandatory, it was U-47 who was the first boat to present a flotillja emblem (the raging bull from the 7th flotillja). It was painted on it after its sucess mission that made the boat famous.

After that more and more captains and crew painted emblems Both flotillja, and unique for the uboat. Some also used the signs every class of uboat commanders got (the famous olympia rings on some uboats is an example of that).

Some crews painted the iron cross on the boat if their commander ha dearned it.

There should be no visible emblems on a conning tower from a u-boat after so long in the water as 60 years im afraid.


(side note... the u-boats that where constructed before the war actually had their numbers painted on them.. But as soon as the war broke out the numbers where covered in paint.)

[Martin Quensel]

I prepared this for you in visio, so if you want it in visio i can mail it.
I am thinking of making a text version of it with more details. But there already exist a method that is far more detailed an acurate and that can be used to id a paticular u-boat. But you need a small library of some u-boat books for that.

Here goes, the quick and dirty quensel method (it has never been proven to yeild results in real life, just invented right now some hours ago), call it qdq method if you wish.

Anyway, wish you luck with your boat.

Suggestions and comments on qdq are apreciated. just mail me. Also if you find errors i will ge bratefull if you point them out to me.
http://portal.kallisti.se/wooflock/u-boat/uboat-recognise.gif

[Martin Quensel]

Flotillja emblems where not mandatory, it was U-47 who was the first boat to present a flotillja emblem (the raging bull from the 7th flotillja). It was painted on it after its sucess mission that made the boat famous.



Sorry. I dont know it the above is true. What is true is that Endrass, who later also became a famous u-boat commander (u-46,u-567), painted a snorting bull on the conning tower after the attack at Scapa Flow. This snorting bull (not raging) later became the insignia for the 7th flotillja. So at least u-47 was the first to have the 7th flotillja emblem painted on the conning tower, but if she was the first u-boat to have the flotillja emblem painted i dont know.

[Martin Quensel]

An updated visio drawing:

http://portal.kallisti.se/wooflock/u-boat/uboat-recognise2.gif

[Ali Fikree]

Guys,

Hey I really appreciate all this info you guys have given me. Thank you all very much. As it turns out, I might be in your neck of the woods late next year. It would be great to meet up. I will post more details of this trip when it takes place. Due to slight complications,it looks like we might be doing the dive in September or October. I have attached a drawing the archives gave me ages ago.

[Ali Fikree]

Thought I would add some Italian flavour to the post:D .

This is and Italian Subamarine that is actually closer to Iran. Due to past sea border disputes, it looks like we wont be able to dive it for anothe few years.

I have a nice drawing of it but will get it scanned tomorrow to show all of you.

Safe Diving

Ali

[Martin Quensel]

I dont know much about italian submarines.
But i found this on Google.

http://www.regiamarina.net/subs/submarines/galvani/galvani_us.htm

A really beautiful sub, but hey, its italian. ;-)

If you happen to visit stockholm give me a call, and we can drink some coffe and talk about submarines.