NOAA locates Navy ship sunk in WWII

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday that a NOAA-led research mission has located the final resting place of the YP-389, a U.S. Navy patrol boat sunk approximately 20 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, NC, by a German submarine during World War II.

Six sailors died in the attack on June 19, 1942. There were 18 survivors.

NOAA says the relatively intact remains of the YP-389 rest upright on the ship’s keel in about 300 feet of water. Much of the outer-hull plating has fallen away, leaving only the intact frames exposed.

"She rests now like a literal skeleton, a reminder of a time long ago when the nation was at war," said Joseph Hoyt, Monitor National Marine Sanctuary archaeologist and principal investigator for the project.

Built originally as a fishing trawler, the YP-389 was converted into a coastal patrol craft and pressed into service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The ship was equipped with one 3-inch deck gun to protect the ship from enemy aircraft and surfaced submarines and two .30-caliber machine guns. However, on the day of the attack by the German submarine U-701, the ship’s deck gun was inoperative, and the YP-389 could return fire only with its machine guns.

Weeks after the attack on the YP-389, the U-701 was sunk by Army aircraft in the same vicinity as the YP-389.

"The story of the YP-389 personifies the character of the Battle of the Atlantic along the East Coast of the United States, where small poorly armed fishing trawlers were called to defend American waters against one of Germany’s most feared vessels," said David W. Alberg, expedition leader and superintendent of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary. "It is one of the most dramatic accounts of an engagement between Axis and Allied warships during the dark days of World War II."

"Though this loss occurred many years ago, for the Navy, we offer our sincere condolences to the families of those who gave their lives in this action," said Rear Admiral Jay A. DeLoach, USN (Ret), director, Naval History and Heritage Command . "The U.S. Navy considers the YP-389 discovery a grave site and, by law, it is to be left undisturbed."

The region off North Carolina where the vessel was found is known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" because it is home to U.S. and British naval vessels, merchant ships, and German U-boats sunk during the Battle of the Atlantic.

On the Net: National Marine Sanctuaries - Battle of the Atlantic Expedition