U-550 (1944): Shipwreck Map, Location & Facts

Name	U-550	Wikidata label
Year lost	1944	Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier
Era	Second World War	derived from year
Ship type	U-boat	Wikidata P31 instance of
Nationality / flag	Nazi Germany	Wikidata P8047 country of registry
Operator	Kriegsmarine	Wikidata P137 operator
Conflict	Battle of the Atlantic	Wikidata P607 conflict
Sea / ocean	North Atlantic Ocean	Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon
Position	40.1500, -69.7300	Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0)

About the wreck

German submarine U-550 was a Type IXC/40 German Navy U-boat built during World War II. She was laid down on 2 October 1942 by Deutsche Werft in Hamburg as yard number 371, launched on 12 May 1943 and commissioned on 28 July under the command of Kapitänleutnant Klaus Hänert.

Diving & visiting

The wreck of U-550 was discovered on 23 July 2012. It lay off the coast of Massachusetts in over 300 feet of water about 70 nautical miles (130 km; 81 mi) south of Nantucket. A team of six divers, led by Joe Mazraani, located the wreck using side-scan sonar after a multi-year search.

Subsequent to the discovery, the divers received emails, letters and phone calls from veterans and the families of veterans involved in the battle who were looking for closure and hoping to set the record straight. The divers interviewed living veterans of the tanker Pan Pennsylvania and the US destroyer escorts.

Location

Recorded position: 40.1500, -69.7300 (Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0); may be approximate)
Sea / ocean: North Atlantic Ocean

Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.

OpenStreetMap

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article German submarine U-550 (revision 1367934265), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Discovery”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.