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WWII U-Boats

U-1105

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Class: (Type VIIC)
Text courtesy of uboat.net

Surrender Details: Surrendered at sea to the Royal Navy on 9 May 1945. Arrived at Loch Eriboll, Scotland on 10 May. Moved to Loch Alsh, Scotland on 11 May, and then moved to Lisahally, N.Ireland on 14 May. Its hull had a rubber coating, and it was used for trials by the Royal Navy from July to October 1945 before it was allocated as a war prize to the US Navy.
Time in US Navy: U-1105 began its transit from the UK to America on 19 December 1945 in an Atlantic storm, which became a hurricane by the fourth day, which was not the best situation for an unescorted U-Boat on the surface. At one stage the U-Boat nearly rolled over, the radio failed and U-1105 was out of contact for 10 days, causing the US Navy to fear the worst. By the time it arrived at Portsmouth Navy Yard on 2 January 1946 U-1105 was not in a good state. The storm had bent the schnorkel, ripped the gun mounts off the deck, severely bent and rolled the decking and, most important of all, much of the rubber coating had been torn loose and lost.
The US Navy was nevertheless keen to learn the secrets of U-1105's rubber (Alberich) coating, and two nine square-foot sections of the remaining coating were removed. One was for the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington and the other was for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Acoustic Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass, both of which were keen to conduct research on the U-Boat's unique sonar-reflecting skin. However, once the sections of anti-sonar rubber tiles had been removed from U-1105 at the beginning of February 1946 the US Navy had no further use for U-1105. It was therefore declared out of service and moved to Boston Naval Base for retention for depth charge tests and salvage and rescue trials.
In January 1947 U-1105 was towed from Boston to the Mine Warfare Test Station at Solomons Island, Maryland, before being moved to the Naval Gun Factory in Washington to await the commencement of the tests and trials, progress on which was exceedingly slow. Indeed, they did not take place for another 18 months, during which time U-1105 remained moored at the Naval Gun Factory.
At long last the delays were over, and in August 1948 a protracted series of salvage and rescue trials, followed by two demolition tests, began. As a result, between August 1948 and September 1949 U-1105 was sunk five times and raised four times in the area of Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River. The first depth charge test took place in Chesapeake Bay on 29 September 1948 and after being raised and moved to the Potomac River the second test took place in September 1949.
Final Disposal: Sunk on 19 Sep 1949 by a depth charge off Piney Point in the Potomac River.
Text courtesy of Derek Waller

Click On Image For Full Size	Size	Image Description		Source
	193k	*U-1105* in 1949.		Photo courtesy of Maryland Historical Trust

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
uboatarchive.net
U-1105 July 2009 Potomac River

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