Part 4 on diving the U-853
Diesel Engine and Electric Motor Rooms
If you decide to penetrate into the diesel engine room, you will be entering one of the tighter and furthest away compartments of the wreck. Once inside you will have to pass through one compartment and at least one hatch to reach an easy exit both ways. The area between the diesel engines is also the tightest passage that you will have to do in the boat.
There are three exits in the diesel engine room, the round hatch from the control room, a rectangular hatch into the electric motor room, and a crews hatch to the outside that is between the diesel engines. This last hatch will exit next to the 37mm anti-aircraft mount on the exterior of the boat.
As you enter the diesel engine room, you will be in one of the larger areas in the room. In front of you are the two engines and right above you are the main induction valves that let in air to run the engines on the surface or when using the snorkel. To your right you may see some white round objects, these are glass electrical fuses. If you look carefully at the front of the engines you may be able to see the remains of the start/stop and throttle stations. But these stations are much deteriorated. On top of the engines you will see the valve rocker arms and springs. A good viewing of the movie Das Boat (The Boat) will go a long way in helping you visualize this area, even if the boat in that movie was a Type VII.
About 4 or 5 feet past the very front of the engines and above them is the crews hatch to the outside. The hatch is tight, but smaller divers can make it out with tanks on, but only with effort and there is a combing of about 20 that you have to pass through. All of the other hatches on the boat are thin in section and once you pass the thickness of the hull you are done. This hatch is more like a short tunnel. When passing between the engines you only have about 24 of clearance between the engine blocks, it is tight. Take careful notice of the diesel fuel feed lines that run the length of the engines right where you want to go. I find that I have to keep my shoulders above these lines to pass through. The good news is that they do make good hand rails to pull yourself along with.
When you have passed the engines you will be in a larger area where you can stop and have a good look at the back of the engines. On the bulkhead right in front of you facing aft is the rectangular hatch, or really a door, to the Electric motor room. Passing through this hatch is fairly easy, but I find getting my arms and shoulders through first and pulling through works well. You are now in the Electric Motor Room.
Electric Motor Room
As the name implies, this is where the electric motors are. This compartment has 3 exits, the rectangular hatch to the Diesel Engine Room, a round hatch into the After Torpedo Room, and a large bomb hole on the Starboard side aft (the diver left side heading aft) in the compartment. The electric motors were used when the boat was submerged. The motors themselves are mostly under the decking as they were directly attached to the propeller shaft, but you can see the curve of the top of both of them. This compartment is perhaps the easiest and most clean of all the intact compartments and easiest to penetrate. Besides the top of the motors, there is not a lot to see, but as it is clean. The bomb hole is big enough to easily get though, but you need to take care os the edges which can be sharp. Other then the large bomb hole forward of the conning tower, this is the easiest entry into an intact compartment on the wreck.
I would recommend that newer divers spend some time in here just looking around, let the sound track of Das Boat play in your head, and perhaps say a prayer for the crew who still remain on the boat. Most were less then 22 years old and most knew that by that time in the war, they were on a suicide mission, but went anyway and died for their country.
My next post will be on some thoughts on the steps and training on the wreck to allow you to safely penetrate all the compartments.
