
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 18, 1993                   TAG: 9306180152
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: BOSTON                                LENGTH: Short

GERMANY WANTS U-BOAT PROTECTED FROM DIVERS

The German government apparently has gained U.S. government agreement that no divers will be allowed to explore a Nazi submarine sunk close to the Cape Cod coast in 1944 while on a high-priority espionage mission.

"The peace of those [submarine crew members] buried down there should not be disturbed," a German Embassy spokesman said. If that basic tenet could be guaranteed, some observers said videotaping the wreck may be permitted.

The U-1226 was discovered June 5 by a team using side-scan sonar to search waters 40 feet deep about four miles off Chatham, Mass.

The news coverage alerted German Embassy officials to the case, prompting them Wednesday to officially tell the State Department that Germany is asserting its ownership of the vessel and wants it preserved as a memorial.

U.S. Coast Guard spokesmen in Washington and Boston could not immediately confirm the German Embassy spokesman's statement that the Coast Guard will be charged with protecting the sunken vessel and whatever remains it contains.

Michaud and German officials fear that rival dive teams may seek the wreck. If the memorial's sanctity is threatened, said a German Consulate General spokesman, options include removing any bodies for burial elsewhere or sealing the vessel from intruders.

by CNB