U-234 is an element that is sometimes called uranium II. It has an Atomic Mass of 234.0409456 +- 0.0000021 amu. There is nothing strange about this in itself, but U-234 was also a World War II German submarine that was picked to smuggle atomic material to Japan so they could make a dirty bomb to drop on the western coast of the U.S. and kill many thousands of our citizens.

In the race to develop a nuclear bomb the Germans knew that they were in trouble. They decided to take an alternate route, one that would be deadly, spewing out radioactive particles for miles, from a conventional explosive. The Germans had the perfect delivery weapon, the V2 rocket. It would take them time to get enough radioactive material for the warheads. Allied bombing raids delayed their efforts and finally the war ended. But just before the end of the war the Germans decided to use the U-234, one of the biggest undersea boats in the fleet to send 1200 pounds of Uranium Oxide to Japan. Interesting things were happening. In route to Japan, Germany surrendered. The Japanese decided to round up all Germans in Japan. On board the U-234 there were two Japanese Officers. The captain of the U-234, Lt. Johann Heinrich Fehler, decided to arrest the two Japanese Officers but continued his journey. The two Japanese officers were distraught and took drug overdoses. They lay in a coma. Fehler decided he had to get rid of them and had the ships doctor finish them off. They were buried at sea. Still they continued toward Japan. Hitler had killed himself and Admiral Karl Doenitz was now in charge of the German government.

German UBoat (No Enlargement Available)
Source: U.S. Coast Guard

Doenitz surrendered. and sent a radio message to the U-234 to surrender. Fehler believed the message was a fraud and continued his mission. In Japan the Japanese had two huge submarines, the biggest boats in the world, over 400 feet long, awaiting the arrival of the German submarine with it's deadly cargo. The two submarines were actually undersea aircraft carriers. Each sub was able to carry 3 planes and launch them. The plan was to create crude atomic weapons, by making dirty bombs. These bombs were made by putting atomic material in with the conventional explosive. When the bomb exploded, it would spread the radioactive material for miles rendering the area uninhabitable after subjecting its population to a lingering death over a period of weeks. The Japanese mission to bomb the west coast of America was set, all it needed was the uranium. Even a date was set.

What happened next changed the course of history. Fehler decided to surrender. He wanted to surrender to the Americans. While off the banks of Newfoundland, he surrendered. to the destroyer Sutton which escorted the submarine into Portsmouth. When the workers there realized what the cargo was, they refused to unload it and the crew had to do it. The cargo was kept secret. In with the shipment of uranium oxide was a disassembled Me-262 Jet fighter and assorted drawings. It is rumored that a V2 rocket was also aboard. According to the website of the U.S. Coast Guard, the U-234 surrendered to the USS Forsyth. Well, at any rate, it was escorted to Portsmouth.

As to the fate of the U-234, it surrendered at Portsmouth on May 16, 1945 and was sunk by a torpedo from the USS Greenfish about 40 miles off Cape Cod on November 20, 1947. The U-234 was 286 feet long and 30 feet wide.

Now for the irony, it is said that the uranium oxide was used in the two atomic bombs we dropped on Japan.

To explore a World War II Uboat copy this address and paste it into your browser:
http://www.msichicago.org/exhibit/U505/