BAREG Summer 2025 Update – 6 SEP 2025

Recent activities:

U-535

Two BAREG members traveled to the UK over Memorial Day weekend to provide a technical assist to the Western Approaches Museum in Liverpool. The museum is located on the site of the command center for Commander in Chief, Western Approaches, a facility similar to the Churchill War Rooms in London in that it was simply locked shut at the end of WWII and left undisturbed for decades. Western Approaches Command, not the Admiralty in Whitehall or the Pentagon, is where the Allies operationally commanded the Battle of the Atlantic campaign to defeat the U-boat threat in WWII.

Via a connection in the German Navy, BAREG was invited to visit the Western Approaches Museum and assist in the identification of artifacts from the U-534. Aaron Hamilton led the BAREG team of two, seconded by the Ops Coordinator, and we were graciously hosted by the Western Approaches Museum Director Dean Paton at his historic home in Birkenhead.

The U-534 is a Type IX U-boat that was attacked and sunk in the Kattegat between Denmark and Sweden on 5 MAY 1945. The U-boat was raised in 1993 by salvors looking for Hitler’s mythical gold. No gold or other treasure was found and in 2021 the U-boat was acquired by the Western Approaches Museum in Liverpool. Unfortunately, a prior owner had the U-boat cut into five sections in order to transport it to a new display site. To date, the U-boat has been minimally preserved and many artifacts remain unidentified. The museum is committed to preserving the U-534 and improving public access with a new visitors’ center. The U-boat site will reopen to the public in 2026. BAREG is grateful for the opportunity to support the Western Approaches Museum and its work to improve the display of the U-534 and its artifacts.

U-534’s emergency steering rudder angle indicator located in the U-boat’s stern torpedo room.

Son Tay Raid

BAREG’s Studies and Observation Division (SODS) conducted a one-hour presentation on the 1970 Son Tay Raid by U.S. Army Special Forces and U.S. Air Force special operations personnel to rescue American servicemen from a POW camp deep in North Vietnam. Bill Chadwell, SODS lead, detailed the rescue force task organization, planning, training, and mission execution, and the intelligence sources and methods used to support the raid. Bill also covered the impact the raid on the future development of U.S. special operations capability during the height of international terrorism in the 1970s and 1980s. The presentation was held at the Burke Centre Library in Burke, VA.

USS Katahdin

At the end of May, five BAREG divers dove the wreck of the *Katahdin* located off Stingray Point in Chesapeake Bay. We dove from M/V My Purpose Holds and operated out of the Windmill Point Marina at the mouth of the Rappahannock River. The purpose of the dives was to collect initial measurements of the wreck site and its major features, few that there are. Our plan called for setting a baseline and taking offsets. Of the three planned dive days, one was lost to weather, and on our two dive days we had to work in stiff current and viz that varied from just under two feet to less than one foot. Setting the baseline was particularly problematic as there were few attachment points on the wreck as it is covered with oysters. A full briefing on this year’s *Katahdin* dives will be presented at the 2026 symposium.

U-853

Four BAREG divers traveled up to Rhode Island for our group’s annual trip to the U-853. Two BAREG divers were making their first dives on U-853 and they reported the conditions were excellent. The trip was led by Bill A., and many thanks to Bill for taking on this responsibility. Thanks too to Red at Giant Stride Dive Shop, and to Rick, captain of the F/V Priority Too for getting the BAREG team on the U-853.

Newfoundland Trip

Six BAREG divers traveled to Newfoundland (NL) in August to dive the Bell Island wrecks in Conception Bay. The four wrecks were torpedoed in two separate attacks while at anchor waiting to load iron ore from the Bell Island mines.

We had five excellent dive days on the well-preserved wrecks and all divers made penetration dives into the engine room on the SS Rose Castle, deepest of the wrecks at 145 fsw. Rose Castle is a remarkable wreck noted for her radio shack and its largely intact Marconi radio. The engine room holds an undamaged triple expansion steam engine, the workhorse engine of WWII merchant vessels. Dive conditions were good to excellent with viz running 15-25 feet, with temperatures on the shallow wrecks in the 50s and a low water T of 39 degrees F on the *Rose Castle*.

The trip was almost cancelled due the Air Canada strike. However, João S. offered to make the two-day drive to South Conception Bay, NL, and three of us rode with him. That trip alone was an adventure involving long ferry crossings, and a nine-hour night drive across wild Newfoundland on high alert for moose on the highway. We splashed on the trip’s first wreck just a few hours after our arrival. This was the third BAREG trip to Newfoundland to dive the excellent wrecks in Conception Bay. In addition to diving, we visited historic sites in St John’s and elsewhere on the Avalon Peninsula. The five divers visiting the Rock, a local term, for the first time were successfully Screeched In and made honorary Newfoundlanders.

Two BAREG members were able to get flights from Boston to St. John’s, but that involved driving to Logan Airport. One key lesson re-learned from the Air Canada strike, all divers on international trips, or any trips for that matter, should have travel insurance.

U-1105

Five BAREG divers dove the U-1105 on 30 & 31 AUG. BAREG had a guest diver, Peter Tattersfield, Director of the Kaxaan Nautical Foundation, who made his first dive on U-1105. BAREG and Kaxaan are in discussion, and have agreed in principle, to collaborate on future maritime archaeology projects. In 2023, Kaxaan worked with the Mexican Navy (Armada de México), Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Anthroplologia e Historia (INAH), and local communities on Isla Margarita, an island off Baja California Sur, to establish the wreck site of the USS H-1 (formerly USS Seawolf) as a Living Museum of the Sea.

The U.S. Navy’s Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) concurred with the designation as the H-1 remains Navy property under the Submerged Military Craft Act of 2004. Mexico is a state party to the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage that prioritizes in situ preservation of wrecks, thus the support from INAH and the Armada.

Barge – NAS Training

On 2 SEP 2025, BAREG’s NAS instructor Troy N. and the Ops Coordinator made recce dives on a sunken barge at the mouth of the St. Mary’s River. The purpose of the dive was to determine if the barge would make a more suitable site for BAREG NAS in-water skills training activities. The conclusion was the size, condition, and structure of the barge make it more suitable and it will be used for the upcoming NAS training at the end of September.

Updated 2025 Activities List

• 27 & 28 SEP: NAS Training – Confirmed, one seat open
• 4 & 5 OCT: NAS Training (alternate date)
• 8 & 9 NOV: USS *Oriskany* CV-34 – Confirmed
• 8 & 9 NOV: U-1105 Buoy Ops – Tentative due to possible date conflict (working diver cadre)
• 15 NOV: Business Meeting – Confirmed, location TBD

As schedule and weather permit, we will dive the U-1105 in the fall. Stay tuned for pop-up notices for these dives.

Hope you all are getting in lots of dives this summer.

Fred Engle
Ops Coordinator
BAREG