The Mystery of U-530

[XoXSciFiGuy]

At the end of World War 2, the U-boat U-530 surrendered at Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the time, it was commanded by a very young lieutenant in the Kreigsmarine. The problem was this U-boat took far longer to reach Argentina than it should have, and when it finally arrived in July 1945, the logbook was missing, and the deck gun had been thrown overboard. The war, of course, ended in early May, 1945. It is true that most of that type of U-boat, the Type IX-C/40, had their deck guns removed after 1943, but for some reason on its last patrol, the U-530 had a deck gun installed. It is also a long-range U-boat.

The question has always remained on what exactly took the U-530 just over three months to reach Argentina, and what it was doing along the way. None of those questions were answered, and the crew refused to discuss it. It has been speculated that U-530 was used to transport a few high-ranking Nazis to Argentina, and that the U-boat made a stop or two along the Argentinian coast, prior to its surrender. This seems plausible, since the trip should have taken no more than six to eight weeks, even using their snorkel and traveling underwater the entire time.

U-530's last patrol left Germany in March 1945 but didn't arrive in Buenos Aires until July 10. This is extremely unusual because of the length of the patrol. U-boat patrols were generally far shorter than 110 days. In fact, this approaches the Impossible Zone, and yet it is a matter of record.

So what WAS U-530 doing for nearly four months out there in the Atlantic Ocean, cruising around months AFTER the German surrender? And why would they dispose of both their log and their deck gun prior to surrendering in Argentina?

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Smells like a conspiracy theory... I don't like the smell of conspiracy theories. They are specifically banned in the forum rules.

You can read the captain's account of what happened here:

U-boat Archive - U-530 - Naval Attache Report

According to his own account he spent a lot of time underwater and going slowly and stealthily trying to avoid incessant Allied air attacks and patrols. It seems like he decided to escape to Argentina as he was unaware Argentina had broken off relations with Germany and declared war, thinking it still a neutral country - he seems to have been terrified of being captured by the US or UK.

This is most likely the actual truth.

 

[galgot]

Come on… its well known that during that long cruise, U-530 delivered the three stage rocket A-444 to the Antarctica nazi launch base. Hitler later went there via the tunnel from his bunker and used it to escape to the nazi base on the dark side of the moon. Much later , Elvis and Kennedy were kidnapped and send there by Von Braun, their death being faked, that was the secret nazi agent Von Braun mission and true purpose of the Apollo program.
Hitler wanted to have his favorite rock singer to make him private shows, and a US president to torture at hand. Simple.

 

[XoXSciFiGuy]

I don't think this was a conspiracy, although it was obvious to the interrogators that the Captain was lying on several points. One of them being he believed the 'Rainbow Signal' from Admiral Donitz was fake. It's known that several high-ranking Nazis did in fact escape to Argentina near the end of the war. And U-530 was the only U-boat that departed Germany more than a month before the war ended...and still managed to make it to Argentina. His claim that he was afraid of both the English and the Americans is ridiculous. Plenty of Germans, some from U-boats, were held prisoner during the war and it was well-known they were treated a lot better than our guys. Some even managed to escape to tell their stories while the war was still going on.

Not sure if this counts as a conspiracy. More like a delivery trip for a few people who knew the end was coming. Let's face it. People like Joseph Mengala didn't use a rowboat to get to Argentina. The heavy redaction done on the boat's documents, and the Captain's lie about the Rainbow Signal are indicators he was probably just asked to help a few people escape the country. It doesn't matter that much, since most of them were eventually caught, or like Mengala, died later.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

If you put the slightest effort into research you would find Josef Mengele didn't leave Germany until 1949 so the only way he could have been on that u boat was via some kind of time travel device. I suggest you find a Nazi who actually fled Germany before the end of the war to speculate about.

There are many reasons why the captain might have been evasive or lying but try to assemble evidence not random assumptions.

 

[XoXSciFiGuy]

I just used Mengele as an example. It still remains that the U-boat captain had the logs redacted and was caught in a few lies here and there. No, I don't think it was a big conspiracy plot. Do I think he may have transported some passengers to Argentina or perhaps elsewhere along the way? Maybe.

 

[iverson]

While it is unlikely that anything can be proved one way or another, there is nothing to justify belittling the idea as conspiracy theory. It is a fact that Nazi Germany used U-Boats to land small groups of saboteurs on the US coast. A number were captured, tried by military tribunal, and executed. So some sort of secret transport late in 1945 is hardly beyond the realm of possibility. Nor is it all that unbelievable that a Nazi in Argentina might tell less than the full truth.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

While it is unlikely that anything can be proved one way or another, there is nothing to justify belittling the idea as conspiracy theory. It is a fact that Nazi Germany used U-Boats to land small groups of saboteurs on the US coast. A number were captured, tried by military tribunal, and executed. So some sort of secret transport late in 1945 is hardly beyond the realm of possibility. Nor is it all that unbelievable that a Nazi in Argentina might tell less than the full truth.

Sure, but at this distance in time, its impossible to say anything useful, so it's hard to see where the debate is going to go. The original post is clickbait in tone and uses the language of conspiracy. Maybe he took ages because he was submerged a lot which makes the speed lower - which is what he said. The truth is often less fun than speculation.

 

[Michel Van]

the case is so strange

Facts
on 19 February 1945 the U-530 left harbor of Kiel with patrol at East coast of USA
on 10. Juli 1945 a damage U-530 arrived in Harbor of Mar del Plata

according eyewitnesses the U-boat had rust and fire traces and a damage tower
according Argentina authorities had U-boat no weapons on board and a missing a dingi
and all important documents and top secret equipment missing
even the crew had no identity cards what let to allot question who is who ?
The Commanding office Otto Wermuth was not very cooperative with authorities and later US intelligence
the rest of crew was more informative

The Crew and Wermuth version of Story:
He got a order for reconnaissance and attack mission direct from Berlin
The U-boat was near Puerto Rico as Wermuth took the decision to drive to Argentina
he order also destruction of all weapons and secret equipment
oddly the Crew also insist they trow the Submarine main Gun overboard, although on that class there were remove in 1943 !

before someone screams conspiracy
I wanna point out that the Commander of U-530 Crew Otto Wermuth
Was in time a 24 year old oberleutnant zur see on his second command and first real patrol !
not what you call a experienced commander of U-boat like Der Alte

Oberleutnant zur See Otto Wermuth - German U-boat Commanders of WWII - The Men of the Kriegsmarine - uboat.net

The U-boat War in World War Two (Kriegsmarine, 1939-1945) and World War One (Kaiserliche Marine, 1914-1918) and the Allied efforts to counter the threat. Over 40.000 pages on the officers, the boats, technology and the Allied efforts to counter the U-boat threat.

www.uboat.net

 

[XoXSciFiGuy]

Meh. Maybe I should have left this one alone. Maybe he gave a few people a ride, maybe he didn't.

 

[EndTheFed]

At the end of World War 2, the U-boat U-530 surrendered at Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the time, it was commanded by a very young lieutenant in the Kreigsmarine. The problem was this U-boat took far longer to reach Argentina than it should have, and when it finally arrived in July 1945, the logbook was missing, and the deck gun had been thrown overboard. The war, of course, ended in early May, 1945. It is true that most of that type of U-boat, the Type IX-C/40, had their deck guns removed after 1943, but for some reason on its last patrol, the U-530 had a deck gun installed. It is also a long-range U-boat.

The question has always remained on what exactly took the U-530 just over three months to reach Argentina, and what it was doing along the way. None of those questions were answered, and the crew refused to discuss it. It has been speculated that U-530 was used to transport a few high-ranking Nazis to Argentina, and that the U-boat made a stop or two along the Argentinian coast, prior to its surrender. This seems plausible, since the trip should have taken no more than six to eight weeks, even using their snorkel and traveling underwater the entire time.

U-530's last patrol left Germany in March 1945 but didn't arrive in Buenos Aires until July 10. This is extremely unusual because of the length of the patrol. U-boat patrols were generally far shorter than 110 days. In fact, this approaches the Impossible Zone, and yet it is a matter of record.

So what WAS U-530 doing for nearly four months out there in the Atlantic Ocean, cruising around months AFTER the German surrender? And why would they dispose of both their log and their deck gun prior to surrendering in Argentina?

It was in the North Atlantic off NY in early May1945. It later picked up Top Nazi's at Tristan du Cunha on or around July 6, 1945. The Top Party Leader and Martin Bormann boarded land safely in Mar del Plata without incident. The U-530 formally surrendered after all passengers were safe and away.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

It was in the North Atlantic off NY in early May1945. It later picked up Top Nazi's at Tristan du Cunha on or around July 6, 1945. The Top Party Leader and Martin Bormann boarded land safely in Mar del Plata without incident. The U-530 formally surrendered after all passengers were safe and away.

Nope. Never happened. Bormann died in Berlin. Who do you mean by 'Top Party Leader'?

 

[TJDougherty01]

<Sigh> So many Conspiracy Theories ou there, like Roswell, Area 51, and the K-129 Red Star Rogue. The truth is often more pedestrian.

 

[Hood]

Coincidence that Roosevelt dies during this period?
I don't think so, truth he is went undercover as an OSS agent busting the Cuban drug cartel that was keeping Fatso Goering supplied. The young Lieutenant Wermuth of U-530 had got lost and U-530 was captured by the US Navy and commandeered for Roosevelt's secret mission as the USS Hushhush.
Bormann was Stalin's spy and was flown out of Berlin by Yak to London and joined the group as informant. Then Winnie Churchill lost the election in July and could go boating with his bestie FDR so he became helmsman and bartender. A young John F Kennedy was assigned as torpedo officer. Some guy called A Schicklgruber had stowed away on board when they called in at the Azores (was a long cruise given Churchill kept steering into all the fleshpots of the North African and Brazilian coasts) and was cabin boy.

Unknown to Roosevelt, the Russkies had tried to intercept the mission and as they came out of Havana harbour they were confronted by the newly completed secret battleship Stalin, one of crewmen taken on board, Fidel Castro, monkeyed around the torpedoes and the first shot missed, JFK lost his bet he could sink it with one shot and swore revenge on Castro. Eventually Churchill just rammed the Stalin and and rolled over and sank without trace, but the iron hull opened up the ancient cursed Bermuda Triangle rift as it hit the seabed. A Schicklgruber, who once said, "on land I am macho, on sea a wimp", wisely suggested they beat the hell out of there and they did.

The log book was lost overboard when A Schicklgruber and Chief Engineer Rudolf Hess got into an argument about the lack of carrots aboard. Fuel then ran short and Churchill traded the deck gun for gas at Pernambuco. Finally after an all-night binge party they ran aground off Argentina because they discovered that Greta Garbo (who had come aboard for the fun) was actually Josef Stalin in disguise and were too busy having a water pistol fight to notice the approaching shore.

The gang then broke up and went their separate ways leaving Wermuth holding the can and having to explain to the confused Argentine officials what had happened. Everyone denied everything and only a few know the truth.

 

[TJDougherty01]

Coincidence that Roosevelt dies during this period?
I don't think so, truth he is went undercover as an OSS agent busting the Cuban drug cartel that was keeping Fatso Goering supplied. The young Lieutenant Wermuth of U-530 had got lost and U-530 was captured by the US Navy and commandeered for Roosevelt's secret mission as the USS Hushhush.
Bormann was Stalin's spy and was flown out of Berlin by Yak to London and joined the group as informant. Then Winnie Churchill lost the election in July and could go boating with his bestie FDR so he became helmsman and bartender. A young John F Kennedy was assigned as torpedo officer. Some guy called A Schicklgruber had stowed away on board when they called in at the Azores (was a long cruise given Churchill kept steering into all the fleshpots of the North African and Brazilian coasts) and was cabin boy.

Unknown to Roosevelt, the Russkies had tried to intercept the mission and as they came out of Havana harbour they were confronted by the newly completed secret battleship Stalin, one of crewmen taken on board, Fidel Castro, monkeyed around the torpedoes and the first shot missed, JFK lost his bet he could sink it with one shot and swore revenge on Castro. Eventually Churchill just rammed the Stalin and and rolled over and sank without trace, but the iron hull opened up the ancient cursed Bermuda Triangle rift as it hit the seabed. A Schicklgruber, who once said, "on land I am macho, on sea a wimp", wisely suggested they beat the hell out of there and they did.

The log book was lost overboard when A Schicklgruber and Chief Engineer Rudolf Hess got into an argument about the lack of carrots aboard. Fuel then ran short and Churchill traded the deck gun for gas at Pernambuco. Finally after an all-night binge party they ran aground off Argentina because they discovered that Greta Garbo (who had come aboard for the fun) was actually Josef Stalin in disguise and were too busy having a water pistol fight to notice the approaching shore.

The gang then broke up and went their separate ways leaving Wermuth holding the can and having to explain to the confused Argentine officials what had happened. Everyone denied everything and only a few know the truth.

But, no mention about the lost Flight 19 of Avenger aircraft off the coast of Florida...

 

[CJGibson]

 

[ArmchairSamurai]

It is entirely likely that said Uboat was supposed to carry someone, but for whatever reason, that person was unaccounted for and the submarine left without them--perhaps in a hurry. That being said if you were the authorities receiving this submarine and its crew, who have been out after the surrender, had orders to transport someone important and said person was not onboard, would you, in such wartime hysteria, not be suspicious? Perhaps ditching the logs prevented any unnecessary questions for what would have been an otherwise uneventful, routine trip by a crew who just wanted to stop fighting and go home.

 

[Michel Van]

It is entirely likely that said Uboat was supposed to carry someone, but for whatever reason, that person was unaccounted for and the submarine left without them--perhaps in a hurry.

if need to transport a high rang Nazi in Submarine.
Your give that mission NOT to 24 year old rookie on his first commando Mission, like Otto Wermuth !
But well trained crew under veteran Commander, who is absolut loyal to party...

 

[Dilandu]

The Top Party Leader and Martin Bormann boarded land safely in Mar del Plata without incident.

Then apparently Bormann have a so serious case of homesickness, that he teleported through space and time back into 1 May 1945, and committed suicide by cyanide when faced capture by Soviet troops. For the record - Bormann remains were positively identified with the DNA testing, using material from his living relatives.

 

[Arjen]

Spoilsport Going all rational on poor, gullible babbies.

 

[ArmchairSamurai]

Spoilsport Going all rational on poor, gullible babbies.

Sometimes they are fun to speculate haha!

 

[Hood]

But, no mention about the lost Flight 19 of Avenger aircraft off the coast of Florida...

Well Spielberg already told us what happened to them; beamed up by romper suit wearing alien kids for a larff, who then dumped the planes in the Gobi for bants and then swapped the pilots for some serious faced NASA folks to instil proper humanoid parenting skills and some random nutty telephone engineer while parked on top of a mountain made out of paper mache and mashed spud.