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Urban Legends have been circulating about a World War II German submarine that sank off the British coast because of a toilet malfunction.

iRumorMill.com Determination: Real

The account is real according to a March 20, 2015 article by War History Online.  The article said, "The U-1206 was commissioned on March 16, 1944 and a type 7C U-boat." There was a new type of toilet with a "complicated high pressure valve system" that was installed on the sub which permitted it to dive deeper to avoid Allied attack.

The crew was all briefed on its operation and on the sub's first patrol a crew member had a problem with the newly designed head. An engineer assisted him with the flushing operation and accidently opened the wrong valve, sending sea water into the forward compartment of the U-boat. When salt water immersed the sub's batteries, toxic chlorine gas was vented the sub. The captain immediately ordered an emergency surface and the sub was spotted off the coast of Scotland where Allied aircraft took off to defend shores from the German invaders. Because Chlorine gas had not yet been vented Captain Schlitt decided to let his new U-Boat sink and ordered the crew to abandon ship. Three crew members drowned, the rest were captured and sent to POW camps.

The sub was discovered in 1970's during the laying of an underwater pipeline.

Posted 11/06/15

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