German Submarine Down?

[Intel Source: The Sub Report] I'm not sure how much stock to put in this single-source report that the German Type 206A submarine U-15 is stuck on the seafloor with a crew of 22:

"The German Navy 206A class submarine U-15 has taken the ground in the Eckernfoerde bay, the Baltic Sea, RIA Novosti reports. U-15 got into trouble in obscured conditions, roughly 150 meters to the southern edge of the bay, when getting back to the military base in submerged mode.
"No one of the crew’s 22 sailors has suffered in the accident, according to the preliminary data.
"Emergency services of the German submarine base are getting ready to rescue the vessel.The German Navy has twelve 206-206A class submarines. No longer than 48.6 meters and with displacement of around 500 tons, U-15 is the smallest of all combat submarines, which are in the operational service. Another peculiarity is the capacity to run in the shallow water, just 20 meters would be enough for it."

This report comes from a Russian online paper; it says the reports come from the Russian news agency RIA, but their website doesn't have anything as of 0700 MST.

Anyway, in case the story is true, here's some background info on U-15 from the German Navy website, and here's the website of the International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office, which would coordinate any international response. The location of the reported bottoming is a bay near Kiel in the Baltic; here's a small map showing the depth contours:



Staying at PD...

posted by Bubblehead @ 6:21 AM