BAREG Spring 2025 Update – 17 APR 2025

Recent Activities (Photos below)

A. Spring Buoy Ops: BAREG placed the restored U-1105 on station at the wreck site for the 2025 dive season. Five BAREG divers/boat crew supported buoy ops the weekend of 29 & 30 MAR. Conditions were fair to good with viz two to three feet, moderate seas, and water T in the high 40s. The current was running a bit stronger that expected, but that helped improve the viz as we searched for the mooring buoy chain and inspected the swivel. Many thanks to BAREG working divers Mike P., Brian W. Reggie H. and Erik P.

B. Battle of the Atlantic Course: On 29 MAR, Bill Chadwell conducted his in-depth Battle of the Atlantic one-day course. Bill’s course is highly recommended for BAREG members as it provides the historic context for the wrecks we dive. Many thanks to Bill for offering the course again and to Virginia Scuba for making its classroom available to BAREG again for Bill’s course.

C. BAREG Historic Germany & Denmark Trip: Three BAREG members spent six days traveling across northern Germany and western Denmark to visit two U-boats, maritime museums, the famous U-boat Archive, and a massive Atlantic Wall bunker. The U-boats visited were the Wilhem Bauer, a Type XXI berthed on the Weser River in Bremerhaven, and the U-995, a Type VII-C that is on display ashore in Laboe.
The trip was led by Aaron H. and through his contacts we had special access to U-boats and at the U-boat Archive and Museum in Cuxhaven. The BAREG team took measurements on the U-995 and these will be used to inform ongoing work on the U-1105.
A side trip to Sea War Museum in Thyborøn, Denmark, and the HMS St George shipwreck museum in Thorsminde were surprise-filled bonuses. For example, the Sea War Museum has the conning tower of the U-20, the U-boat that sank the RMS Lusitania. The museum also had a display on underwater archaeology with a focus on the Battle of Jutland, or the Skagerrakschlacht as it’s known in Germany.

Near Term Events

A. Quarry recce and survey – Call for divers
Join us on Sunday, 27 APR, for what will be the first dives in two quarries located in Schuyler, VA. This is an opportunity to refresh underwater search and survey skills. Our goal is to produce a map of the site’s two quarries.

B. The Studies and Observation Division (SODS) of BAREG is pleased to announce the first in a continuing series of lectures on special operations activities. Many BAREG members share a keen interest in military history and so we’ve established SODS (for true history geeks, look this up) to facilitate discussions and briefings on this topic. To that end, on Saturday, 10 MAY, Bill Chadwell will conduct a one-hour presentation on the Son Tay Raid, an effort in 1970 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, roughly 30 miles outside Hanoi.
The presentation will detail the rescue force task organization, planning, training, and mission execution, as well as the intelligence sources and methods used to support the raid. It will also outline the impact the raid had on the future development of U.S. special operations capability during the height of international terrorism in the 1970s and 1980s.

The presentation will begin at 1300 in Meeting Room 116 at the Burke Centre Library, 5935 Freds Oak Road in Burke, VA.

Updated 2025 activities list

27 APR: Quarry Gardens Survey Recce – Call for Divers
3 & 4 MAY: U-1105 Dives – Confirmed
10 MAY: SODS Briefing on the Son Tay Raid – All invited
17 & 18 MAY: Quarry Garden Survey – Call for Divers
29 MAY – 1 JUN: USS Katahdin & other wrecks – Confirmed – Call for Divers
10-15 JUN: NJ/Mid-Atlantic Wrecks w/SS Atwater, S-5, & U-869 (Advanced Trimix cert required for U-869) – Call for Divers
12 & 13 JUL: U-853, Point Judith, RI – Booked full
16-23 AUG: Bell Island, Newfoundland – Booked full
30 & 31 AUG: U-1105 – Confirmed – Call for Divers
27 & 28 SEP: NAS Training – Confirmed, seats open
4 & 5 OCT: NAS Training (alternate date) or U-1105
8 & 9 NOV: USS Oriskany CV-34 – Confirmed
15 NOV: Business Meeting – Confirmed
6 & 7 DEC: U-1105 Buoy Ops – Confirmed (working diver cadre)

The 2025 schedule page has been updated to reflect this list. 

U-995

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BAREG had access throughout the U-995, our thanks to Paul S. and the Friends of the U-995.