UB-85 monster (hoax)

The episode is reported as occurring during the capture of SM UB‑85 in April 1918. A quotation attributed to Kapitänleutnant Günther Krech appears in James B. Sweeney's 1977 book, describing a nocturnal beast boarding the surfaced boat while it recharged batteries. Historians and wreck investigators (notably Innes McCartney and subsequent commentary following the 2016 rediscovery of the wreck) argue the monster narrative was likely created or popularized after the event—spread by journalists or informal recollection—and that contemporary interrogation records do not corroborate the account. Cryptozoology writers later absorbed the anecdote into sea‑monster folklore, while mainstream scholarship treats it as hoax or misattribution tied to mechanical failure and crew handling.

The only detailed physical description appears in Sweeney (1977), quoting an alleged 1918 interrogation: a beast with "large eyes set in a horny sort of skull," a "small head" and teeth "glistening in the moonlight." Later retellings add inconsistent details (e.g., varying eye size, claims it bit the gun mount). Contemporary primary records do not reliably corroborate these descriptive elements.

Later popular accounts report the creature climbed aboard the surfaced submarine, putting sufficient weight to list the boat to starboard, clung to the forward gun mount so the crew engaged it with small arms fire during a "vicious struggle," and then dropped back into the sea. Skeptical historians interpret these reported behaviors as embellishment or a post‑hoc narrative to explain mechanical failure, capture, or crew inexperience rather than confirmed animal behavior.