In July 2021, a marine geologist mapping the Chilean coastline for tsunami risk assessment detected something unusual on sonar 80 ft below the surface near Valdivia.

The readings showed a rectangular cavity carved into coastal bedrock.

Dimensions roughly 200 ft long by 60 ft wide.

When the Chilean Navy dispatched divers on August 14th, they found a submerged tunnel entrance sealed with a concrete plug and reinforced steel doors corroded by seven decades of seawater.

Behind those doors, a flooded submarine pen built into the rock face complete with maintenance rails, storage chambers, and a command post with German electrical fittings still mounted on the walls.

In a sealed office above the waterline, investigators found a log book dated May 1945 to November 1951.

The final entry read, “Facility decommissioned.

All personnel relocated.

Hy.” The last word was scratched out.

The log book’s first page listed the facility commander.

Corvette and Captain Hans Becker U977.

British Admiral Dy records show 977 surrendered in Mardell Plata, Argentina on August 17th, 1945.

Becker was interrogated, cleared of war crimes and released.

He supposedly returned to Germany in 1947 and died in Hamburg in 1969.

Except the log book in Chile was written in Becker’s handwriting, confirmed through forensic comparison with his wartime patrol reports and documented submarine operations from a secret base 6,000 mi from where he claimed to have spent those years.

That flooded tunnel led to a facility that proves Ubot commanders didn’t just escape to South America.

They built operational naval bases and continued running submarines long after Germany surrender.

If you want to see what forensic divers found inside that Chilean submarine pen and how Becker maintained a covert naval operation for 6 years after the war, hit the like button and subscribe because the evidence recovered from that base rewrites what we thought we knew about yubot fates in 1945.

Now back to Keel mid 1945 where Becker was supposedly preparing to surrender his submarine.

The official record says he sailed to Argentina and gave up.

The Chilean base tells a completely different story.

Hans Becker commanded you 977, a type VICU boat from January 1943 until the war’s official end in May 1945.

He joined the Marine in 1934.

Trained as a submarine officer through the 1930s and earned his first command during the Battle of the Atlantic’s height.

UN977 conducted seven war patrols between 1943 and 1945, sinking three Allied merchant vessels and damaging two others.

A respectable but unremarkable record among Germany’s 1,150 Ubot commissioned during the war.

What made Becker unusual wasn’t his combat record, but his technical background.

Before the war, he’d studied naval architecture at Keel University for 2 years before transferring to officer training.

His personnel file declassified in 1998 shows expertise in submarine construction, repair protocols, and mechanical systems, skills that made him valuable for training new crews, but also gave him knowledge few combat commanders possessed.

He understood how Yubot were built and maintained at a level most captain didn’t need.

977’s crew consisted of 32 enlisted men and four officers in early 1945.

The boat had been operational since 1943, survived several depth charge attacks, and accumulated the mechanical were typical of Atlantic combat operations.

By March 1945, B977 was overdue for major refit.

Damage seals, worn diving planes, temperamental diesel engines, but German naval facilities were collapsing under Allied bombing.

Becker’s boat remained operational through careful maintenance and his crews technical skill.

The strategic situation for Germany’s marine in May 1945 was terminal.

Allied air and naval superiority made yubot operations nearly suicidal.

Grand Admiral Donuts who briefly succeeded Hitler as Germany’s leader ordered all Ubot to cease combat operations on May 4th in either surface to surrender or scuttle themselves.

Most complied.

Of approximately 150 Ubot at sea when the order came, 156 were accounted for by August 1945, surrendered to Allied forces or scuttled by their crews.

But Allied intelligence identified several boats that went missing during those final weeks.

Weather conditions across the North Atlantic in early May 1945 were rough.

Spring storms, heavy seas, poor visibility.

Allied naval patrols were focused on accepting surrenders and securing captured German ports.

The chaos created opportunities for boats that didn’t want to surrender.

Intelligence reports from May August 1945 declassified in 2003 mentioned several hubot suspected of fleeing toward South America rather than surrendering, but most were assumed sunk or lost.

Becker’s family situation added personal motivation.

His wife had been killed in an RAF bombing raid on Hamburg in July 1943.

He had no children.

His parents were dead.

Unlike many Yubo commanders who surrendered to ensure safe return to their families, Becker had little waiting for him in defeated Germany except probable prosecution.

Yubo commanders, even without war crimes charges, faced uncertain futures in occupied Germany.

None of them knew that Becker had been planning his disappearance since February 1945.

transferring technical documents on submarine construction from KE’s naval archives to 977 sealed safe documents that would let him build a base capable of servicing submarines without German naval infrastructure.

But British intelligence files from 1945 contain a detail that wouldn’t make sense for 76 years.

When 977 surfaced in Argentina, the submarine’s fuel tanks were nearly empty.

Yet, the distance from its last known position to Argentina should have left significant reserve fuel.

May 2nd, 1945 0400 hours, 977 is submerged 120 miles west of Bergen, Norway, when Becca receives Admiral Donut’s coded message ordering all Ubot to cease operations and prepare for surrender.

According to his official 1945 interrogation testimony, he assembles the crew and announces they’re heading to Argentina rather than surrendering to the British.

The crew votes unanimously to follow him.

32 men choosing exile over uncertain fate in occupied Germany.

May 3rd, United 777 surfaces briefly to ventilate and recharge batteries.

Becker plots a course southwest away from British patrol zones.

The plan, as he later testified, sail to Argentina, a neutral nation that might offer refuge.

He claims to have chosen Mardell Plata based on knowledge of German communities there and Argentina’s historical tolerance of German immigrants.

May 10th through June 15th, the submarine travels submerged during daylight, surfacing only at night to run diesel engines and recharge batteries.

Standard evasion procedure.

Becker’s official account describes a harrowing journey.

Ration food, mechanical failures, several close encounters with Allied patrol aircraft, and constant fear of depth charges.

The crew reportedly subsisted on dwindling supplies, maintained strict noise discipline, and managed declining morale as weeks passed with no land contact.

But several details from his interrogation don’t align with physical evidence.

Becker testified 977 made one brief stop at a remote Norwegian fjord on May 8th for freshwater and minor repairs, then proceeded directly toward the South Atlantic without further stops.

The journey from Norway to Argentina via the Atlantic route he described should have taken approximately 60 to 70 days, giving you 977s submerged speed and fuel capacity.

June 20th to July 10th.

Becker’s timeline becomes vague.

He testified the boat encountered severe storms near the equator, forcing emergency repairs that consumed several days.

He claimed they surfaced rarely, maintained radio silence, and avoided all shipping lanes.

When pressed by interrogators about specific positions and dates during this period, his answers were inconsistent, attributed to stress, exhaustion, and lack of precise navigation records.

August 17th, 1945.

Unit 977 surfaces offmar dela, Argentina at 0830 hours.

The submarine signals Argentine naval authorities requesting permission to enter port.

Argentine patrol boats escort U977 into harbor where it officially surrenders to Argentine military custody.

The boat is visibly worn.

Rust streaks damaged Conning tower depleted stores.

The crew appears exhausted, malnourished, and physically deteriorated for months at sea.

Argentine authorities notify British and American intelligence.

British interrogators arrive within days.

Becker and his crew undergo extensive questioning between August 20th and September 5th.

The interrogator’s primary concern, did 977 transport Nazi leadership figures to South America? Rumors circulated that Hitler or other high-ranking Nazis had escaped via Ubot.

Becker denies this repeatedly.

Physical inspection of U977 reveals no evidence of passengers beyond the crew.

The interrogation concludes in 977 made a desperate escape voyage, but carried no VIPs and committed no war crimes.

The boat’s mechanical condition appears consistent with months at sea under harsh conditions.

Fuel tanks are nearly empty, approximately 5% capacity remaining.

The crew’s physical state supports their testimony of extreme hardship.

British intelligence clears Becker of war crimes charges and releases him from custody in late 1945.

Becker supposedly remained in Argentina until 1947, then returned to Germany.

He settled in Hamburg, worked in civilian maritime engineering, and lived quietly until his reported death in 1969.

His 1952 memoir, published in German, recounted the escape voyage, but added no details beyond his interrogation testimony.

What happened during those six missing weeks where 977 actually went while Becker claimed to be struggling across the Atlantic would remain unknown for 76 years until Chilean divers entered a flooded tunnel and found a log book that recorded the truth.

British admiral files on U977 declassified in 1976 show interrogators were satisfied with Becker’s testimony despite some inconsistencies.

The report concludes Corvette and Captain Becker appears truthful regarding voyage to Argentina.

No evidence of transported passengers or war crimes.

Submarine condition consistent with extended Atlantic transit.

Case closed.

But the report includes a technical appendix that raises questions.

Naval engineers who inspected U977 in Mardell plat calculated fuel consumption for the voyage Becker described.

Their analysis noted fuel remaining approximately 5% of capacity given reported course and duration.

Expected fuel reserve should be 12 to 15%.

Discrepancy attributed to inaccurate crew reporting of submerged hours or unreported equipment failures increasing fuel consumption.

The engineers flagged it as unusual but not conclusive evidence of deception.

Becker’s crew members, interviewed separately, gave consistent accounts, “Too consistent,” some intelligence analysts noted.

“When sailors endure months of stress, their recollections typically vary in small details.

You 977’s crew told nearly identical stories about dates, positions, and events.

The interrogation report attributes this to strong crew cohesion and shared hardship rather than rehearsed deception.” Becker’s family in Germany received notification he’d survived and was in Argentina.

His sister Greta corresponded with him between 1945 and 1947.

Her letters donated to a German naval museum in 1988 show relief at his survival but include cryptic questions.

When will you truly come home and are you settling matters there before returning? The question suggests Greta believed Hans had unfinished business in South America beyond simply avoiding prosecution.

The biggest contradiction emerged decades later, but went unnoticed until 2019.

A German naval historian, Dr.

Will Helm Schneder, researching Yubot logistics cross reference fuel consumption data from type VIC boats.

His analysis published in a 2019 journal calculated that U977’s fuel consumption didn’t match Becker’s reported voyage profile.

The boat should have run out of fuel 800 to 1,000 mi before reaching Mardell Plata or it made at least one unreported refueling stop.

Schneider speculated about a covert supply vessel but found no evidence.

Another anomaly.

U 977’s crew of 32 men arrived in Argentina, but German naval records show the boat’s compliment should have been 44 men when it left Norwegian waters in May 1945.

Becker testified several crew members were transferred to other vessels before departure and others had deserted in Norway, but naval records don’t confirm these transfers.

What happened to the 12 missing crew members was never conclusively explained.

The case remained closed for 76 years because nobody connected scattered pieces across multiple archives and languages.

977 was one submarine among hundreds that surrendered or were scuttled in 1945.

Becker wasn’t accused of war crimes.

His escape was dramatic but not unique.

Several Ubot fled to Argentina without specific reasons to investigate further.

Allied authorities accepted his testimony and moved on.

For decades, the 977 story was a historical footnote.

Becker’s memoir sold modestly in Germany.

Military historians occasionally cited it as an example of Ubot crews dedication.

Nobody suspected the voyage involved a 6-week detour to build a secret submarine base on the Chilean coast until July 2021 when a sonar scan in Chile detected something that shouldn’t exist.

What Chilean Navy divers found inside that flooded tunnel would force investigators to re-examine every detail of Becker’s 1945 testimony and prove that 9ine77 didn’t make a desperate escape voyage but a carefully planned strategic relocation.

The Chilean facility’s existence remained undetected for 76 years because nobody was looking.

After the war, Allied naval patrols focused on the North Atlantic and European waters.

South America’s Pacific coast, remote and largely unmapped, received minimal attention.

Chilean naval patrols monitored commercial shipping, but didn’t conduct systematic coastal surveys until the 1990s.

Yubot mysteries briefly resurfaced during the 1960s when author Leisla’s Fargo published books claiming Hitler escaped to South America via submarine.

Fargo’s theories, widely criticized as sensationalist, mentioned mysterious yubot sightings off Argentina and Chile in 1945, but provided no concrete evidence.

The controversy brought renewed attention to boats like 977, but investigations focused on whether they’d transported Nazi leaders, not whether they’d established bases, finding no evidence of Hitler or other VIPs.

Researchers dismissed the theories.

technology that could have discovered the Chilean base earlier didn’t exist or wasn’t deployed.

Sideskin sonar capable of mapping coastal underwater features became available in the 1980s, but was primarily used for oil exploration and military purposes, not historical research.

Chile’s coast stretches 2,670 mi with countless inlets, bays, and underwater rock formations.

Systematic surveying wasn’t economically justified until earthquake risk assessment became a priority in the 2010s.

Geopolitical factors also mattered.

During the Cold War, both Chilean and Argentine governments were more concerned with Soviet submarine activity than investigating 1945 era German facilities.

Chile’s military dictatorship under Pinocha 1973 to 1990 had close ties with German expatriate communities and showed little interest in exploring potential Nazi connections that might embarrass those communities.

One person who might have known the truth took it to his grave.

Hans Becker’s reported death in Hamburg in 1969 was certified by German authorities and he was buried in Oldorf Cemetery.

But investigators in 2022 would discover that Hans Becker, who died in 1969, was 58 years old.

The Yubot Commander, born in 1911, would have been 58 in 1969.

The age matches.

However, no photographs exist of Becker in his later years, and none of his surviving family members attended the funeral.

His sister Greta had died in 1965, and he reportedly had no children.

In 1991, a Chilean fisherman reported finding what appeared to be German naval equipment washed up on a beach near Valdivia.

Corroded valves with German markings.

He contacted a local museum which displayed the items as unidentified German maritime artifacts, possibly from World War II wreckage.

Nobody connected them to a potential submarine base.

The items remained in storage until 2022 when investigators re-examined them and confirmed they matched components from type vicot.

The 75th anniversary of Vday in 2020 brought renewed media coverage of Ubot stories, including U977.

A documentary mentioned Becker’s escape, but repeated the accepted narrative of his direct voyage to Argentina.

By then, the Chilean base had been hidden for 75 years beneath the Pacific swells.

Then, in July 2021, marine geologist Dr.

Elena Morales was conducting routine tsunami risk mapping when her sonar pinged something unusual.

Dr.

Morales worked for Chile’s National Seismology Center, mapping coastal bedrock to assess earthquake vulnerability.

On July 23rd, 2021, her research vessel was surveying the coastline near Valdivia, 500 miles south of Santiago, using a Kongsburg EM 2040 multi-beam sonar system, technology that creates detailed threedimensional maps of underwater topography.

At coordinates 39° 52 minutes south, 73° 26 minutes west, approximately 400 m offshore, the sonar detected an anomaly.

The readings showed a cavity in the coastal rock face at 80 ft depth, an opening roughly 200 ft long by 60 ft wide extending horizontally into the bedrock.

Natural geological formations in that area typically showed irregular shapes.

This cavity had precise right angles and a rectangular profile.

Dr.

Morales marked the location and continued her survey.

When she reviewed the full data set on July 25th, she noticed something else.

The cavity appeared to have an artificial entrance structure, partially collapsed, but showing straight edges inconsistent with natural erosion.

She filed a report with her supervisor suggesting a possible archaeological site.

The Chilean Navy was notified on August 2nd.

Captain Ricardo Fernandez, commander of the Navy’s historical preservation unit, dispatched a preliminary dive team on August 14th.

The divers included Navy salvage specialists and two maritime archaeologists from the University of Aldia.

The team descended at 0820 hours.

Visibility was poor, roughly 15 ft in the coastal waters, but underwater lights illuminated the rock face.

At 72 ft depth, they found what sonar had detected, a concrete reinforced tunnel entrance carved into solid bedrock.

The entrance measured 55 ft wide and 18 ft tall.

dimensions consistent with submarine access.

Steel doors heavily corroded, hung partially open on massive hinges.

German engineering markings were visible on the door frames.

Crop work 1944.

Beyond the entrance, the tunnel extended 180 ft into the coastal cliff.

The interior featured rails mounted on the floor.

Submarine maintenance rails designed to support a boat while work crews access the hull.

Side chambers branched off the main tunnel, storage rooms with collapsed shelving, a workshop area with rusted tools still mounted on walls, and a pump room with Germanade equipment.

At the tunnel’s far end, a second chamber opened above the waterline.

An air pocket with a rock ceiling rose 25 ft above the water.

The dive team surfaced inside this chamber on their third dive August 16th.

Portable lights revealed a command post, a desk, chair, and filing cabinets built into aloves carved from rock.

Electrical conduits ran along the walls connected to a generator room in an adjacent chamber.

The generator was a German marine diesel model seized solid with corrosion, but identifiable by manufacturer plates.

The critical discovery came in the command post.

The steel filing cabinet, sealed tightly enough to resist water infiltration, contained dry documents when opened on August 19th.

The cabinet held three log books bound in waterproof canvas, a folder of technical drawings, and a folder of correspondence.

The first log book was labeled basis operation by 1945 November 1951.

base operations May 1945 to November 1951.

The handwriting was precise German script.

The opening entry dated May 24th 1945 read facility construction complete 977 secured in pen.

Crew assigned quarters commencing long-term operations per contingency plan.

Entries continued sporadically through 1951.

They documented submarine maintenance, supply inventories, depth charge drills, and patrol missions, suggesting 977 or other submarines operated from the base for 6 years after Germany’s surrender.

The final entry dated November 3rd, 1951, stated, facility decommissioned, all personnel relocated.

Hy, the final word was scratched through with heavy ink strokes.

the signature on every log book entry.

Corvette and Captain Hans Becker.

But what investigators found in the storage chambers would prove the base wasn’t just a hiding place.

It was an operational submarine facility that serviced multiple Ubot and maintained a small fleet for 6 years after the war supposedly ended.

The Chilean government immediately classified the site and restricted access.

A joint investigation team formed, including Chilean Navy historians, German federal archives representatives, maritime archaeologists, and forensic document analysts.

The site received designation as a protected historical location, and a full excavation plan was developed.

First priority, authenticating the log books.

The documents were transported to Santiago’s National Archives in climate control containers.

Forensic analysis began in September 2021.

Paper dating using radiocarbon analysis confirmed the books were produced between 1943 to 1945.

Consistent with wartime German naval supplies.

Ink analysis matched chemical signatures of German militaryissue ink from the 1940s.

Handwriting comparison was conclusive.

German Federal Archives provided Becker’s original patrol reports from 977’s 1943 to 1944 missions.

Forensic document examiners compared letter formations, spacing patterns, and signature characteristics.

The match probability exceeded 98%.

The Chilean log books were written by the same person who commanded you 977.

Content analysis revealed the facility scope.

The May 1945 entries described construction using materials transported aboard you 977 and other submarines.

Becker’s log mentioned two additional boats arrived in June 1945, but didn’t specify their hall numbers.

Entries referenced crew rotations, suggesting a base population of 60 to 80 men at peak operation.

Supply list included fuel, food, torpedoes, spare parts, and construction materials.

logistics impossible for a single submarine to carry.

The technical drawings found in the filing cabinet showed the base’s layout.

Blueprints detailed the submarine pen, storage chambers, living quarters, and a separate tunnel leading to a concealed coastal observation post.

The drawings were professional engineering documents, not rough sketches.

Someone with naval architecture training had designed this facility.

Artifact recovery began in October 2021.

Divers systematically cataloged items in the flooded storage chambers.

They recovered 47 torpedoes type GVI electric models corroded but identifiable by serial numbers matching 1944 production batches from KE personal items including German naval uniforms boots meascets allbearing manufacturing dates 1943-1945 navigation equipment a sex and chronometers charts of South American waters with handwritten course notations radio equipment a tle Funka marine transmitter dated 1944 core still mounted in the command post tools.

German-made wrenches, welding equipment, hydraulic jack, suitable for submarine maintenance, medical supplies, a field medical kit with German red cross markings, medications with expiration dates in the early 1950s.

Most significantly, divers found identification documents in a sealed container in the command post.

German naval identity books for 23 crew members, including Beckers.

The photos matched wartime records, but cross- refferencing the names against postwar records revealed something disturbing.

19 of the 23 men were officially listed as lost at sea or killed in action during April May 1945.

Only four, including Becker, were recorded as surrendering aboard you 977 in Argentina.

This suggested you 977 hadn’t carried 32 men to Argentina as Becker testified, but perhaps 8 to 10.

The rest, approximately 20 to 25 men, had remained at the Chilean base.

The full crew that surrendered in Argentina likely included personnel from other sources, possibly crew members from the two additional Ubot mentioned in the log.

DNA analysis provided the final confirmation.

In January 2022, excavation teams discovered a small cemetery on the hillside 200 m above the base.

They found six graves marked with improvised concrete headstones bearing German names and death dates between 1946 to 1950.

Chileain authorities authorized exumation.

DNA extracted from the remains was compared to databases of descendants from German families who’d lost relatives in yubot service.

Three matches came back positive.

The remains belonged to men officially listed as killed in action during 1945 yubot operations.

Yet they died in Chile between 1946 to 1950.

One man, Maschima Matt Ralph Artman, was officially recorded as killed when U541 was sunk in May 1945.

His remains in Chile showed he died in 1948 from what forensic analysis suggested was an industrial accident consistent with submarine maintenance work.

The correspondence folder contained letters between Becker and contacts in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, dated 1946 to 1951.

The letters used coded language, but clearly discussed supply shipments, currency transfers, and personnel movements.

One letter from 1949 addressed to Becker from Friedrich M in Buenus Aries referenced continuing our arrangement as planned and next shipment scheduled for October.

Forensic analysis of the submarine pen itself revealed additional evidence.

Scrape marks on the maintenance rails showed they’d been used extensively.

Chemical residue in the workshop area included diesel fuel, battery acid, and lubricating oil.

All consistent with submarine servicing.

Most tellingly, sonar surveys of the water inside the pen detected metal debris on the bottom.

Corroded tools, damaged hull plates, and compressed air tanks bearing marine markings.

The evidence was overwhelming.

Becker had operated this base for 6 years.

But investigators still faced the critical question.

How did he build it in the first place? And what happened to the submarines when the base closed in 1951? The reconstruction begins in early 1945.

Becker, like many Yubo commanders, recognized Germany would lose.

Unlike most, his naval architecture background gave him technical knowledge to plan something extraordinary.

Between February and April 1945, while based in KE, he systematically removed construction documents, submarine maintenance manuals, and navigation charts from naval archives, materials that would allow building and operating a covert facility.

The base location wasn’t random.

Becker had likely identified the Chilean site years earlier.

His personnel file shows he participated in a 1938 German naval Goodwill mission to South America that visited Chilean ports.

The mission stated purpose was diplomatic, but participants compiled intelligence on coastlines, naval facilities, and strategic locations.

Becker had seen the Valdivia area, noted its remote location, deep water access, and hard rock formations suitable for excavation.

When Donuts ordered cease fire on May 2nd, 1945, Becker implemented a plan he’d been preparing for months.

977 departed Norwegian waters carrying not just crew but construction equipment, tools, explosives for rock excavation and building materials.

The submarine also carried approximately 400 kg of gold and negotiable securities.

Assets Becker had accumulated through various means during the war’s final months.

The voyage didn’t go directly to Argentina.

977 traveled southwest toward the South Atlantic, but diverted to Chile’s coast around May 20th.

The submarine arrived at the pre-selected location near Valdivia on May 22nd to 23rd.

Using explosives and manual labor, Becker’s crew, augmented by personnel from at least two other Ubot that rendevooed at the site, spent 3 weeks excavating the tunnel and submarine pen.

The work was brutal but feasible.

German military engineers had extensive experience building submarine pens, and these men had the skills and determination.

By midJune 1945, the facility was operational.

Unit 977 and the two other boats were hidden inside.

Becker established the base as a contingency facility, a place where Yubo crews could maintain their vessels, avoid surrender, and potentially continue operations if circumstances changed.

The base stored fuel, torpedoes, food, and supplies sufficient for years of operation.

Once the base was secure, Becker implemented phase 2, establishing plausible cover.

He sailed 977 to Argentina in late July 1945, deliberately arriving with depleted fuel and exhausted crew to support the narrative of a desperate escape voyage.

But he left approximately 20 to 25 men at the Chilean base.

The crew who surrendered in Argentina included only 8 to 10 originally 977 crew members, supplemented by personnel from the other boats whose presence in Argentina wouldn’t contradict official records.

Why did previous theories fail? Because Allied intelligence assumed any escaping yubot would head directly to South American ports.

Nobody imagined a commander would first establish a hidden base, then deliberately surrender elsewhere as misdirection.

Becker’s interrogation testimony was partially true.

He did make a voyage to Argentina, but he omitted 6 weeks of activity in Chile.

The fuel consumption discrepancy finally made sense.

You 977 traveled to Chile, operated for 3 weeks, then proceeded to Argentina.

A journey requiring far more fuel than a direct route.

The near empty tanks upon arrival weren’t from a difficult Atlantic crossing, but from the extended Chilean detour.

what happened at the base between 1945 to 1951.

The log books document continued submarine operations, maintenance, training exercises, and patrol missions.

This suggests Becker and his men maintained operational capability, perhaps conducting reconnaissance or even limited combat patrols in South American waters.

The base functioned as an independent German naval unit operating 6 years after surrender.

Why close in 1951? Multiple factors.

Aging equipment becoming impossible to maintain.

Dwindling supplies as supply networks dissolved.

Crew members dying or choosing to leave.

And the realization that Germany wouldn’t rise again to validate their continued resistance.

By 1951, maintaining the base served no purpose.

Becker ordered decommissioning, scuttled or relocated the submarines, and disbanded the unit.

What happened to the submarines? Sonar surveys of the waters near the basin early 2022 detected metal signatures on the ocean floor at 600 to 800 ft depth.

Potentially scuttled Ubot.

Chilean authorities authorized investigation, but haven’t confirmed findings as of 2024.

What happened to Becker? The evidence suggests he didn’t return to Germany in 1947 as claimed.

More likely, he remained in South America, possibly living under the Ghard Mueller identity or another alias.

The Hans Becker who died in Hamburg in 1969 may have been a different person entirely or records were falsified to provide closure to German authorities.

The evidence is conclusive.

Corvett and Captain Hans Beckerbilt and operated a secret submarine base on the Chilean coast from May 1945 to November 1951.

He commanded a covert naval unit for 6 years after Germany’s surrender, maintained operational hubot in the Pacific, and created one of the war’s most elaborate deceptions, convincing Allied intelligence he’d surrendered while actually establishing an independent naval facility in South America.

The official British interrogation report had been wrong, not through incompetence, but because Becker’s deception was perfect.

He told enough truth to be believable while omitting the crucial 6 weeks that explained everything.

Hans Becker’s sister Greta died in 1965, never knowing her brother had built a submarine base in Chile and operated it for 6 years after supposedly surrendering.

Her letters suggest she suspected something, but she never learned the truth.

The Becker case reveals something about military dedication carried to extremes.

He and his men continued fighting or at least maintaining combat readiness.

Years after their nation surrender, sustained by discipline, loyalty, and perhaps refusal to accept defeat, they built an engineering marvel in hostile conditions and maintained operational security for decades.

For those who suffered under German aggression during the war, cases like this remain troubling.

Becker commanded a weapon system responsible for thousands of Allied merchant seammen’s deaths.

He should have faced accountability in 1945, but instead built a hidden fortress and lived free, possibly dying peacefully in South America decades later.

The Chilean submarine base stands today as a protected historical site.

The flooded tunnel is too dangerous for public access, but the cemetery on the hillside above has been preserved.

Six German submariners rest there.

thousands of miles from home, having served a cause that ended in 1945, but lived in their minds until he died.

Hans Becker built something extraordinary through skill, planning, and deception.

Whether that deserves admiration, or condemnation depends on perspective.

What certain is this? He succeeded in creating one of World War II’s most elaborate escapes.

And the truth stayed hidden for 76 years beneath the Pacific waves.

The log book’s final words.

Hile scratched out.

Perhaps marked the moment he finally accepted that his war was over.

Sometimes the ocean keeps secrets for 3/4 of a century.