Oslo, Norway – More than 60 years after being torpedoed by the British navy, a Nazi submarine built to threaten allied ships continues to spread fear off the coast of Norway.
The rusting wreckage of the U-864, sunk in a desperate mission to supply Japan with advanced weapons technology, now poses a major environmental threat because of its poisonous cargo: 70 tons of mercury.
Residents on the tiny island of Fedje, located in the North Sea on roughly the same latitude as Scotland’s Shetland Islands, want the sub removed. But authorities fear a salvage operation could result in a catastrophic spill and suggest entombing the wreck in the seabed with rocks, concrete and sand.
“Local people are very concerned,” Fedje’s mayor, Erling Walderhaug, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “They wanted it taken away so the danger would be gone for good.”
The U-864 tried to skirt allied patrols on a last-ditch secret mission to bring jet-engine parts, missile guidance systems and mercury for weapons production to Germany’s ally, Japan. British experts discovered the mission by breaking a German code. In a rare underwater duel, the British submarine HMS Venturer stalked the U-864 for three hours before it finally sank it on Feb. 9, 1945, about 2 1/2 miles off Fedje.
The German submarine went down with a crew of 73 in 500 feet of water. The wreck lay undisturbed for almost 60 years until Norway’s Royal Navy discovered it in March 2003. Oslo’s newspaper Dagbladet has called it “Hitler’s secret poison bomb.” The mercury containers are rusting, and some are leaking.
Studies showed elevated mercury levels in the silt around the wreck, but so far only fish that live inside have been contaminated, the Norwegian Food Protection Authority says. Fishing is not allowed in the waters nearby.
After spending three years and $6.5 million researching the problem, the Norwegian Coastal Administration recommended encasing the sub with sand to prevent the spread of mercury.
The method, it said in a report released Tuesday, has worked 30 times worldwide and is said to be less risky than attempting to lift the 2,400-ton sub.
When released into the ocean, metallic mercury, the silver fluid once used in thermometers, can become more dangerous organic mercury and passed on to humans in food. Even small amounts can damage the nervous system and cause heart and kidney problems.
