Diver who identified Nazi submarine coming to speak at convention

SANDUSKY — A diver who gained fame helping to identify a wreck off New Jersey as a lost Nazi submarine will be the main speaker when Bay Area Divers hold the group's 34th Annual Shipwrecks and Scuba Symposium Oct. 21 at Kalahari.Diver Richie Kohler helped explore and identify U-869, a German submarine that sank during World War II. He has dived many different shipwrecks, including the Titanic. When he's at Kalahari, he plans to focus on his dives at the wreckage of the hospital ship Britannic, the largest ship lost during World War I.Kohler, 56, who lives in Massachusetts, became known for his U-869 dives, the subject of a bestselling book, "Shadow Divers" by Robert Kurson. Three men died during the U-869 dives."No one could answer the simple question, what submarine was this, and how did it end up 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey?" Kohler said in a telephone interview.The divers discovered that it wasn't a captured submarine that had been scuttled by the U.S. government. They discovered the bones of the crew, still in uniform.The reason for the submarine's demise is still debated. The Coast Guard claims to have sunk it, but Kohler favors the theory that the sub accidentally sank itself, firing a torpedo which circled back and struck the vessel. It's the theory best supported by the evidence, he argues, though he admits that coming to a definite conclusion is hard."I wasn't there 75 years ago. I don't know what happened," he said.There's a lot Kohler could talk about when he comes to Sandusky. He was the host for 57 episodes of a show on the History Channel, "Deep Sea Detectives." He has dived many wrecks, including famous ones such as the Titanic and the Andrea Doria.But he'll talk about his dives of the hospital ship Britannic, a British ship that sank in 1916 in Greek waters after hitting a mine. It's the subject of Kohler's book, "Mystery of the Last Olympian: Titanic's Tragic Sister Britannic" (co-authored with Charlie Hudson.)The dives required Kohler to go 400 feet beneath the surface.Such dives are known as "technical" diving, and they are difficult and dangerous, he explained.To avoid death from decompression, you have to ascend slowly, making stops at various depths. It can take about eight hours to return to the surface, he said.Kohler said he'll probably have to stop deep technical dives when he's 60 or 65, although he'll keep diving for years."I plan on being able to dive into my 70s," he said.Want to Go?WHAT: 34th Annual Shipwrecks & Scuba Symposium. Annual event with speakers and displays.WHEN: Oct. 21.WHERE: Kalahari Convention Center and Resort.INFORMATION: The displays can be viewed free from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., but to attend the talks and the evening banquet requires registration and paying a fee. For information, visit www.shipwrecksandscuba.com.Richie Kohler. The crew of the U-869, when the German submarine was commissioned.