Arthur Baudzus was an electrician at the U-Boat yard who was drafted into the silent service without prior training because KptLt Johann Jebsen wanted an electrician quickly without prior training. His accounts of the sinking, to me, seem doubtful.
1) He claimed that a single torpedo hit the sub and broke it into half before sinking. He also claimed in an interview that he shouted out for the last depth sounding reading and someone yelled back in the darkness "50 meters!" How was he, an untrained electrician, being blasted out of his bunk just moments prior to that, had any time or opportunity to ask for depth readings when the first thing he should be doing is to get the hell out of that tomb. I was a skydiver and have been in a situation where our one of the two engines of our aircraft had caught fire as the aircraft was climbing after take off. We all bailed out without asking any question such as, "Is there enough altitude for me to bail out safely?"
Going back to the torpedo blast, had it hit amidships, that would have killed the captain and the sonar operator - the two men who would have known the last depth reading.
2) Penang was a Japanese port. Allied subs were always waiting for opportunities. If the depth was 50 meters, why hadn't the sub dived to avoid unnecessary detection?
3) Mr Baudzus also mentioned that he had put on his Tauchretter prior to leaving the sub. This is what the Tauchretter manual says:
My German may be crappy but paragraph A clearly indicates that the Tauchretter can only be used in depths not exceeding 20 meters.
4) Mr Baudzus authored the book
U-859 based on his experiences aboard the U-859. However, the book is categorised under FICTION.
The wreck was dived by several recreational divers that included a reporter and photos and story was published in a local daily several years back. They were all diving single cylinders of compressed air.
The depth I extracted from
http://www.recntec.com/diveshop/wrecks_db/wreck_det.php?recordID=27 which in turn was based on the salvage documents. I had made preparations to go there end of 2006.
The wreck is a haven for both anglers and commercial fishermen. Deeper wrecks in the area such as the HMIJNS Kuma, HMIJNS Haguro, submarine UIT-23, all have parts of them covered by fishing nets and lines. It would be unwise to assume that the U-859 is free from physical obstacles, what more in the given visibility of the Malacca Strait with proximity to both Penang and the mainland.
