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Watch: Researchers Explore Shipwrecks Off Rhode Island Coast

Connecticut Public Radio | By The Associated Press
Published September 4, 2015 at 12:30 PM EDT
National Archives
U-853 was sunk off the coast of Rhode Island just days before Nazi Germany surrendered.
U-853 was sunk in May 1945 by Coast Guard and Navy ships, the day after it took down the SS Black Point.

Credit United States Coast Guard
Depth charges are detonated to sink the German submarine.

Scientists are attempting to use submersibles to explore a sunken German U-boat seven miles off the Rhode Island coast.

They're streaming the attempts online as they work to learn more about how shipwrecks affect the environment. 

U-853 was sunk in May 1945 by Coast Guard and Navy ships, the day after it took down the SS Black Point and the day before Nazi Germany surrendered in World War II.

Researchers from the University of Rhode Island's Inner Space Center, Connecticut's Ocean Exploration Trust and the Coast Guard Academy hope to explore both wrecks during a trip that lasts through Sunday.

By Friday, they had made several attempts but were hampered by conditions and technical challenges. They planned to keep trying. In the meantime, they're working to explore a 1907 wreck off Block Island.
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Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

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