July 30, 1942 – U-Boat sunk in Gulf of Mexico, not identified until 2001
The U-166 was attacked and sunk by a Navy patrol boat just hours after the submarine had torpedoed and sunk a U.S. freighter. Despite being depth charged, the U-boat was believed to have escaped – until a natural gas pipeline survey revealed it decades later.
The U-166’s identity was not learned until advanced geophysical survey technologies arrived in 2001, explains the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The discovery resulted from an archaeological survey prior to construction of a natural gas pipeline by the British company BP and Shell Offshore Inc.
An autonomous underwater vehicle using side scan sonar revealed the U-166 separated from its last victim, the Robert E. Lee, by less than a mile. As a result of the discovery, BP and Shell altered their proposed pipeline to preserve the site.
Six other World War II vessels have been discovered in the course of Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas surveys. The industry remains a principle user of advanced underwater technologies for seafloor mapping. Learn more in Petroleum Survey discovers U-Boat.
(Photos) A 2001 natural gas pipeline survey finally revealed the U-166 about 45 miles off the Louisiana coast.
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