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Sunk in the Final Days of WWII, a U.S. Patrol Boat Is Found Off the Coast of Maine

Photo credit: U.S. Navy
Photo credit: U.S. Navy

From Popular Mechanics

A U.S. Navy warship, sunk just two weeks prior to the end of World War II in Europe, has finally been found. The patrol boat PE-56 sunk off the coast of Maine in April 1945. The ship, long thought to have been the victim of an accidental explosion, was revealed in 2003 to have actually been sunk by a German u-boat.

PE-56 was one of sixty Eagle-class patrol boats built as submarine chasers in World War I. Built by the Ford Motor Company, PE-56 was 200 feet long, had a crew of 68, and mounted two four-inch guns, one three-inch gun, and two .50-caliber machine guns.

PE-56 entered service in August 1918, only three months short of the end of World War I. The Eagle-class boats were reactivated for World War II, where they served to protect U.S. coastal waters from enemy submarines. On April 23rd, 1945, PE-56 was towing targets for Navy dive bombers when it was suddenly ripped in half by an explosion. According to the Navy Historical Center, only 13 of the 67 sailors onboard survived.

The Navy chalked up the sinking of the ship to a boiler explosion. Survivors, however, reported sighting a submarine conning tower painted with a trotting red horse on a yellow shield. In 2001, a naval historian concluded that the symbols on the ship matched the German Navy submarine U-853, and that the underwater warship had sunk PE-56.

The Secretary of the Navy agreed with the finding. This made sailors killed or wounded in the attack eligible for the Purple Hart. U-853 was sunk thirteen days later, on May 6th, 1945, off the coast of Connecticut.

In June 2018, diver Ryan King sighted the wreck of PE-56, off the coast of Portland, Maine. The ship had been previously located on sonar by underwater search specialist Gary Kozak. Although the discovery was made last year, it was only revealed this week. The patrol boat was discovered five miles off the coast of Cape Elizabeth in 300 feet of water.

Underwater footage of PE-56 will be aired later this year on the Smithsonian Channel, in a documentary titled, “Hunt for Eagle 56.”

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