English: NOAA and its research partners are now surveying, for the first time since they sank more than 70 years ago, the remains of two ships that were involved in a convoy battle off North Carolina during World War II. This video marks the first time these ships have been seen, painting a greater understanding of a little-known, but important, chapter in the nation’s maritime history.

Many Americans are unaware how close World War II came to home. Within weeks of the attack on Pearl Harbor, German U-boats began patrolling off the coast of North Carolina, sinking merchant ships and allied Naval vessels with impunity. In 1942 alone, more than 80 ships were sunk and over 1,600 men were lost.

In July 1942, the German submarine U-576 sank the freighter SS Bluefields during the battle of Convoy KS-520 off Cape Hatteras, N.C. The convoy and its U.S. military escorts fought back, sinking the U-boat with return fire from a U.S. Navy Armed Guard crew and an aerial depth charge attack.

In 2014, NOAA discovered the two vessels 35 miles offshore in approximately 700 feet of water, resting just 200 yards apart.

In August - September 2016, during the “Battle of the Atlantic: Archaeology of an Underwater WWII Battlefield” expedition, scientists are conducting a comprehensive characterization and interpretation of the shipwrecks and the surrounding battlefield, along with related World War II shipwrecks lost in the area, using advanced data acquisition and visualization technologies. This study will provide data to tell an incredible story of a World War II battlefield just a few miles off America’s coast.

The expedition is being led by NOAA’s Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, in partnership with the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Project Baseline, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, University of North Carolina Coastal Studies Institute, SRI International, and 2G Robotics.

Learn more about the expedition here: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/16battlefield/welcome.html.

Video courtesy of John McCord, UNC Coastal Studies Institute/NOAA - Battle of the Atlantic expedition.

[Source: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/16battlefield/background/media_resources/media_resources.html]