submarines

Feb

2

1942

The unpopular U-boat officers from U-581

An interesting view of the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Westcott, pictured in 1943.

It was said of him that on one occasion, when a British destroyer had been sighted, he had excused himself with the remark: “I’ve got to go to the lavatory for a moment,” despite the entreaties of his junior officers to take offensive action. When he returned the destroyer was not in a favourable position for attack. Such lack of enthusiasm had a depressing effect on his crew, who were not slow to show their dislike of returning to port with no pennants flying, whereas other U-Boats would usually fly several, one for each ship claimed sunk.

Jan

25

1942

U-boat versus merchantman in mid Atlantic gun duel

A close up view of the deck gun on U-123 taken from the same sequence. Gunfire from the Culebra passed between the conning tower and the gun - the Royal Navy gun crew were were unlucky not to have caused more damage.

Deck gun ready and opened fire. The first shots hit the stern, then one each under the bridge and in the engine room. Steamer mans the gun and fires. The firing pin of our MG C30 is broken, so we fired with the deck gun at his gun. Several hits underneath, but he continues to fire until a direct hit struck the pivot. Gun crew out of action, the barrel can’t be moved anymore. We received 5 hits, which did not penetrate the pressure hull. Because they hit very low, I assume that they fell short, burst on the surface and only the splinters hit our hull. Some shots passed between conning tower and deck gun, one could hear them whistling past.

Jan

17

1942

U-Boats move to the U.S. east coast

U -123 returning to the French port of Lorient after a successful patrol in 1941.

Fired stern torpedo. Target angle 90°, distance 750 meters. Running time 57 seconds. A very heavy detonation, strong, dark black smoke plume. Hit bridge. The steamer sinks immediately. As the smoke from the detonation cleared, only the masts were still visible above the water, and shortly thereafter sank. Water depth of 45 meters. I depart at maximum speed eastwards because the day is dawning and I need some more water under our keel during the day.

Jan

2

1942

A U-boat commander hunts for his first kill

The forward gun crew of U-123 prepare to engage a surface vessel sometime in January 1942.

Slowly the outline of a tanker revealed itself still too far away to get in a shot. Behind me the sky was black and overcast, but the air was cold and clear, and by chance the moon came out of the clouds. I turned at maximum speed towards the tanker, offering her a slim silhouette – and then I had her about 400 metres in front of me.

Dec

17

1941

The first and last cruise of U-boat U-131

The carrier HMS Audacity was the first of the Escort carriers designed to provide much needed air cover for merchant convoys in the Battle of the Atlantic

The renewed lease of life which “U 131″ had brought for herself by this success was short. Her best speed, even if she could maintain it, was not enough to out distance the destroyers and, at seven miles range, “Exmoor,” “Blankney” and “Stanley” opened fire, the former making particularly excellent shooting. “Stork” opened fire about five minutes later. Baumann now recognized that his position was hopeless. His one effective gun at such range was trained forward and could not be brought to bear without a disastrous alteration of course.

Nov

16

1941

U-433 sunk by HMS Marigold

A Flower Class Corvette of the same type as HMS Marigold (K-87). The distorting camouflage pattern can be seen here although it is much faded.

All of a sudden there was a terrific sound of propellers to starboard. The devil had been lying in wait quite close to us, with engines stopped. We put our nose down to dive again, and she came directly over us. We could hear her propellers inside the boat – we weren’t very deep and she probably saw our wake. She then dropped depth charges. They were terribly close.

Oct

4

1941

U-111 sunk and crew captured

The captured crew of a U-boat are brought ashore. Naval Intelligence interviewed suvh men in some depth

The petty officer manning “U 111′s” machine gun on the bridge had fired fifty rounds at this juncture, and was firing the second clip of ammunition handed to him by Kleinschmidt himself, when the latter, together with Rösing and Fuchs, was killed by a direct hit on the conning tower; the above petty officer was the only man left alive on the bridge out of the eight who had been there.

Sep

10

1941

HMCS Moose Jaw sinks U-501

The Canadian corvette HMCS Moose jaw was still in a period of training when she was ordered to sea to intercept a U Boat wolf pack.

I managed to go alongside the submarine, starboard side to, and called on her to surrender. To my surprise, I saw a man make a magnificent leap from the submarine’s deck into our waist, and the remainder of her crew move to do likewise. Not being prepared to repel boarders at that moment, I sheered off. The submarine altered across my bows and I rammed her, increasing to 185 revolutions to do so, and altering course in order to hit her forward diving rudders, so as to prevent her submerging.

Jul

19

1941

Trapped in the sunken HMS Umpire

A submarine of the same class as HMS Umpire - a U class British submarine from 1941 proceeding on the surface.

Even if they had not yet left the submarine, they might already have started flooding the compartment in preparation for an escape, and if the flooding had gone beyond a certain point it would be impossible to get that door open again. I listened, but could hear nothing beyond the monotonous, pitiless sound of pouring water.

Jun

29

1941

The interrogation of a U Boat crew

Some of the U-boat men felt that fraternisation with the French was not good for security.

Nevertheless, some officer and Chief Petty Officer prisoners suspected a hidden subtle and organised opposition on the part of the French, which they feared as likely to become dangerous. It was noted by the Germans that in spite of the polite and obliging attitude of the French officials and workmen, something important always went wrong with the German arrangements in which any reliance had been placed on French co-operation.

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