information on the discovery of a German Submarine in the waters North of Ibiza.

A

Amber Ann

New Member
Hi,

I am looking for information on the (re)discovery of a German submarine (circa 2001) sunk close to the island of Tago Mago, North of Ibiza during ww2, and any information on the possible survival of its captain, Philipp Schüler after the war, and well into the 1950s. I am not sure where to even ask, as not much of what I find online makes any sense. My grand mother was born in Ibiza in 1928 and lived there till after the war: She died a few weeks ago and left us a bunch of letters signed by a Philipp Schüler, written in the 50s, as well as photos of submarines, and German newspaper clippings. To our knowledge she didn´t speak a word of German. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

thanks.
A.
 
Amber Ann said:
Hi,

I am looking for information on the (re)discovery of a German submarine (circa 2001) sunk close to the island of Tago Mago, North of Ibiza during ww2, and any information on the possible survival of its captain, Philipp Schüler after the war, and well into the 1950s. I am not sure where to even ask, as not much of what I find online makes any sense. My grand mother was born in Ibiza in 1928 and lived there till after the war: She died a few weeks ago and left us a bunch of letters signed by a Philipp Schüler, written in the 50s, as well as photos of submarines, and German newspaper clippings. To our knowledge she didn´t speak a word of German. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

thanks.
A.
Click to expand...

Hi, this is an intriguing post! Did you come across this list of ARTICLES from 2005? Not sure how helpful because they're more about the history of the sinking than the captain. But this one from DDI does indicate that he died in 1943 with the rest of the crew, so those letters you refer to are a bit of a mystery!

El comandante del U-602 era Philipp Schüler, nacido el 17 de octubre de 1911 en Frankfurt. Falleció junto con el resto de la tripulación en abril de 1943. Su submarino envió su última comunicación el 19 ó 20 de abril de ese año. J. Ll. F.

Fuente: Diario de Ibiza, 22 de mayo de 2005.

I'd guess you're probably best off contacting the main museums or universities in Baleares?
 
The Sun God said:
Hi, this is an intriguing post! Did you come across this list of ARTICLES from 2005? Not sure how helpful because they're more about the history of the sinking than the captain. But this one from DDI does indicate that he died in 1943 with the rest of the crew, so those letters you refer to are a bit of a mystery!

El comandante del U-602 era Philipp Schüler, nacido el 17 de octubre de 1911 en Frankfurt. Falleció junto con el resto de la tripulación en abril de 1943. Su submarino envió su última comunicación el 19 ó 20 de abril de ese año. J. Ll. F.

Fuente: Diario de Ibiza, 22 de mayo de 2005.

I'd guess you're probably best off contacting the main museums or universities in Baleares?
Click to expand...

The Type VIIC U-boat U-602 - German U-boats of WWII - 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.
uboat.net uboat.net

Also intrigued! The above link suggests all perished, but I have no idea of it's accuracy.
 
Buckley said:

The Type VIIC U-boat U-602 - German U-boats of WWII - 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.
uboat.net uboat.net

Also intrigued! The above link suggests all perished, but I have no idea of it's accuracy.
Click to expand...
Another article on the same site corrects the location as being found off Ibiza
 
what makes it more bizarre is that nobody survives a submarine sinking. It isn't physically possible.

No reason to believe this is a hoax. Which suggests to me:

a. he wasn't onboard
b. he somehow jumped before it went down
c. someone else somehow assumed his identity

?
 
Hi, thanks for the info, I have read/translated most of those forum posts already, its been my main occupation for the last few weeks! Thanks anyway.
Various people over the years have dived and affirmed they saw a submarine they claimed was the U602 in the waters east of Tago Mago, there are a few articles in the local press and various forum posts mentioning a group of divers who tried to identify formally the submarine circa 2001 - 2005 but it never came to anything, I have contacted some of them, who didn´t really add anything to what I found online. Various divers and captains from the island have heard of the submarine story, I have also contacted a couple of historians, here and in Palma, I am just trying to have a bit more concrete information really. it is a bit of a weird thing emotionally, where, through those letters, I discover a part of my grandmother ́s life I had literally no idea about. I never met my grandfather, and my grandmother never talked about him, through my grandma ́s letters there is this very real possibility that this German guy could be my grandfather, and weirdly,- finally - I have a face for him (not sure I find any resemblance!) I was wondering if there are more history oriented forums I could direct my questions to, specific to Ibiza. Here is a photo of the submarine book (I was told by one of the historians every uboat captain had those to identify allied ships through their silhouette) and some of the clippings (I´d rather keep her letters private). I have a box full of those, along with naval charts, German coins and nazi broaches. It’s freaking me out! Anyway hopefully someone will pick up on it, again, any help very much appreciated.
 

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The Sun God said:
what makes it more bizarre is that nobody survives a submarine sinking. It isn't physically possible.

No reason to believe this is a hoax. Which suggests to me:

a. he wasn't onboard
b. he somehow jumped before it went down
c. someone else somehow assumed his identity

?
Click to expand...
yup or survived and made it to ibiza, it´s just totally wild really
 
The Sun God said:
Hi, this is an intriguing post! Did you come across this list of ARTICLES from 2005? Not sure how helpful because they're more about the history of the sinking than the captain. But this one from DDI does indicate that he died in 1943 with the rest of the crew, so those letters you refer to are a bit of a mystery!

El comandante del U-602 era Philipp Schüler, nacido el 17 de octubre de 1911 en Frankfurt. Falleció junto con el resto de la tripulación en abril de 1943. Su submarino envió su última comunicación el 19 ó 20 de abril de ese año. J. Ll. F.

Fuente: Diario de Ibiza, 22 de mayo de 2005.

I'd guess you're probably best off contacting the main museums or universities in Baleares?
Click to expand...
yup i have read and combed all offical accounts, thanks anyway.
 
After ww2 a lot of German warcriminals went to the french/spanish legion.
The legions change names/passport sometimes by using names of dead people.
What if Grandpa is not the blond,blueeyed,well educated Kapitänleutnant who will pickup Grandma?
Maybe you find out that Grandpa was one of the most badass Nazis ever
Dont dig deaper,99,99% Philipp Schüler died with his crew somewhere,maybe next to Ibiza or not,nobody will ever find out.
R.I.P
U 602
 
The Sun God said:
what makes it more bizarre is that nobody survives a submarine sinking. It isn't physically possible.

No reason to believe this is a hoax. Which suggests to me:

a. he wasn't onboard
b. he somehow jumped before it went down
c. someone else somehow assumed his identity

?
Click to expand...
There are a number of accounts of U-boats being disabled by Allied warships in the Atlantic and forced to surface (I would guess by having their propulsion systems damaged or completely disabled and then jettisoning ballast if they were near the surface), and the crews being rescued by the ship(s) that disabled them and held as prisoners of war during WWII. It seems to be a rarity but it did happen.
 
Last edited:
602?

Anyone thought about the number?
Iberia Flight 602 of January 7th 1972
U-602 said to be discovered first sometimes in the 70's

Only a co-incidence? Or is there more behind it?
 
Padster said:
There are a number of accounts of U-boats being disabled by Allied warships in the Atlantic and forced to surface (I would guess by having their propulsion systems damaged or completely disabled and then jettisoning ballast if they were near the surface), and the crews being rescued by the ship(s) that disabled them and held as prisoners of war during WWII. It seems to be a rarity but it did happen.
Click to expand...

My history is a bit rusty but I do remember reading that until around '43 the U-boats were causing serious disruption in the Atlantic, sinking a lot of supply ships but the development of depth charges was a gamechanger for the Allies.

*Hope the OP doesn't mind but I wrote - hopefully sensitively - about this amazing story on my Spanish blog this week. I also speculated about whether someone could really have survived incognito in postwar Ibiza? Obv the island was less populated and less developed then and I guess there was no extradition agreement (even when Franco did gradually try to improve relations with the Americans)

I added that Franco is widely said to have really disliked Ibiza and had nothing to do with it, which may be another reason why the centralised authorities perhaps weren't that interested in this accident? (again, am speculating wildly here) which perhaps explains why the island was freer to some extent than elsewhere, perhaps the kind of place you could hide without too much interest?

El Mariachi made a good point above that a lot of Nazis would have assumed fake ids as they went on the run, so there are all sorts of possible explanations
 
Namaste said:
602?

Anyone thought about the number?
Iberia Flight 602 of January 7th 1972
U-602 said to be discovered first sometimes in the 70's

Only a co-incidence? Or is there more behind it?
Click to expand...

#MakesYouThink

For some reason (going wildly offtopic), having flashbacks to that transhumanist who came on the forum a few years back, convinced that the Solomun Pacha logo had something to do with the Freemasons
 
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