WWII Submarines including U-Boat Found off Japan

July 4, 2018

Tokyo- Three World War II submarines, including a German U-boat, have been discovered in the Sea of Japan off Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, a survey team led by Kyushu Institute of Technology Prof. Tamaki Ura said Tuesday.

The U-boat was found on the seabed at a depth of 88 meters in Wakasa Bay late last month. The other two submarines, built in Japan, were spotted nearby.

The Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture-based team said the submarines appear to be almost in their original shapes.

The 77-meter-long U-511 submarine was handed over to Japan following a 90-day journey from Germany via the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa in 1943.

The U-boat was used in Japan for training and learning submarine technology. It was sunk by the U.S. military at the end of April 1946 after the war ended in August 1945.

"Only a small number of submarines are preserved as monuments," Ura said. "We aim to discover more to show you."

Last year, the team conducted a survey of 24 sunken submarines off the Goto Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture. Jiji Press