Underwater cultural heritage and underwater archaeology

Events and publications

13.09.2025

The German Society for the Promotion of Underwater Archaeology (DEGUWA) 
Statement on the Illegal Salvage of the Wreck of U 16

The wreck of the German submarine U 16 of the Imperial German Navy (built in 1911; sunk in 1919)
was raised on August 31, 2025, by the Waterways and Shipping Office (WSA) Elbe-North Sea.
The operation took place off the North Sea island of Scharhörn, which belongs to Hamburg.
During the improper salvage operation, the submarine broke into two parts.
The second part was recovered on September 4, 2025.
Both recovered sections of the historic vessel are currently located in Cuxhaven and
are scheduled to be scrapped according to the WSA's plans.

The salvage was conducted in connection with the deepening of the Elbe river,
under the justification of removing a hazard from the shipping lane.
The responsible monument protection authorities of the participatingfederal states were not involved
in this long-planned project (in the specific case of U 16, the City of Hamburg,
which already has a museum for the World War II submarine U 434).

The submarine is the property of the Federal Republic of Germany,
represented by the Federal Agency for Real Estate Management (BImA).
This agency was neither informed of the operation nor did it grant its approval. Likewise, the
German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge),
which is responsible for maritime war graves, was not consulted.

DEGUWA, which for over 30 years has advocated for the protection of
underwater cultural heritage, the promotion of underwater archaeology, and the still-pending
ratification by the German Bundestag of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the
Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, is appalled by this incident.
In this instance, not only was an archaeological monument thoughtlessly
and severely damaged and slated for complete destruction,
but all laws and regulations concerning the handling of cultural monuments were also violated.

The responsible Hamburg State Monument Protection Office was not
informed and did not authorize this salvage operation.
Construction measures and other projects that could destroy or damage archaeological
monuments are, as a matter of principle, subject to approval.
Consequently, the salvage operation is illegal—
even though it was carried out by a government agency.

For underwater cultural monuments, the priority is in situ preservation and protection.
A recovery is always associated with considerable expense and effort for conservation,
storage, and presentation. The standards for underwater archaeology and
monument protectionare detailed in the 2019 guide by the Leopoldina - National Academy of Sciences,
titled "Spuren unter Wasser - Das kulturelle Erbe in Nord- und Ostsee erforschen und schützen"
(Traces under Water - Researching and Protecting the Cultural Heritage in the North and Baltic Seas).

U 16 is one of the earliest German submarines and was launched in 1911
from the Germania Werft shipyard in Kiel.  After the outbreak of war, it conducted several combat patrols
until October 1915 and subsequently served as a training boat in Kiel.
In February 1919, it sank while being towed to England.
It is probable that no personnel were on board at the time.
It is therefore one of the rare monuments to the submarine force of the First World War
and thus possesses significant historical value for the technology and history of that era.

The only German World War I submarine currently exhibited in a museum is UB 46, built in 1915,
which was sunk in the Black Sea in 1916. It is in a considerably poorer state of preservation
than U 16 and can be viewed in the garden of the Naval Museum in Istanbul.

DEGUWA demands an immediate halt to the planned scrapping and
thus the irreversible destruction of this cultural and technological monument.
The financial responsibility for the now necessary and proper conservation
and storage of this cultural monument lies with the WSA,
which is responsible for the improper salvage and the resulting damage to U 16.