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The Vanished Golden Submarine’s Final Journey and Fate

Khalid Elhassan December 8, 2024 14 min

I-52 - Underwater wreckage of the Golden Submarine — Underwater wreckage of the Golden Submarine. National Geographic

15. Technology in Exchange for Raw Materials

I-52 - A German WWI merchant U-boat in Baltimore Harbor — A German WWI merchant U-boat in Baltimore Harbor. Owlcation

Japan was desperate for German technology, while Germany was desperate for raw materials. However, Allied control of the waters in between eliminated bulk exchanges via surface transports. During World War I, while America was still neutral and selling goods and armaments to both sides, the Germans had partially gotten around the Entente’s dominance of the Atlantic by sending cargo submarines to the US. There, they were laden with rare and high value goods, before returning to Germany.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.