Unterseeboot 234
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Unterseeboot 234 (U-234) was a WWII German Type X submarine (U-boat), designed as a mine-layer, whose first and only mission into enemy territory consisted of the attempted delivery of uranium and other German advanced weapons technology to the Empire of Japan. The submarine surrendered to the United States after Germany's unconditional surrender on 9 May 1945.
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An anecdote regarding the name, U-234, of this vessel: Reportedly the German crew were bemused when the two Japanese military officials to travel on the craft had cargo brought on board that was labelled "U-235" — their thinking was something like: "Look, they didn't even get the name of the ship right." According to the report, the cargo was however labelled accurately — it contained uranium 235. It is extremely unlikely though that it was truly all uranium 235, as this would have been more of the material than even the U.S. Manhattan Project produced during the war, and would have been enough material for around eight crude atomic bombs, considerably further along than the German nuclear energy project has ever been thought to have gone.
The U-234 sailed from Kiel in March 1945 with 240 metric tons of cargo for Japan. Its passengers included five German VIPs in addition to the two Japanese. The German personnel included General Ulrich Kessler of the Luftwaffe, who was to take over the Luftwaffe liaison duties in Tokyo, a Naval Fleet Judge Advocate to try cases of German traitors in Japan, Dr. Heinz Schlicke (renowned German scientist later recruited by the USA in Operation Paperclip), and an expert on the V-2 rocket. The two Japanese passengers, upon learning that the U-boat was to surrender, took an overdose of luminal (a barbiturate sleeping pill), died in their sleep, and were buried at sea.
The U-234 had suffered a collision with another U-boat whilst submerged in the Baltic, so it had to be repaired before continuing its voyage from Kristiansand in Norway. On surfacing on 10 May 1945, and learning of Germany's surrender, her commander KaptLt Fehler consulted with another U-boat (U-873?) and radioed that he would sail for Halifax to surrender. The USS Sutton intercepted the U-234 on 14 May 1945 and took her crew off. The prize crew turned her south for Casco Bay, Maine, where it is suggested by U.S. scientist Dr. Velma Hunt that the U-234 may have unloaded some cargo in secrecy. The U.S. Navy reportedly unloaded about 1,200 lb (550 kg) of uranium oxide from the U-234 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The cargo of two dismantled Me-262 jet fighters was not listed at Portsmouth, fueling speculation that they had previously been unloaded elsewhere. Author Robert K. Wilcox notes a discrepancy in cargo weights between the USN manifest and the cargo loaded in Germany.
Wolfgang Hirschfeld was radioman on U-109 under Korvettenkapitän Hans-Georg Fischer and then under Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt when they hunted in American waters during the late phases of Operation Paukenschlag, or Drumbeat. At the end of the war, he was Oberfunkmeister (Master Chief - Radio) aboard the U-234. Hirschfeld has revealed since the war that U-234 crew members believed that Japan had succeeded in test-firing an atomic weapon before their departure from Germany in March 1945.
During World War II, Dr. Erich Bagge had developed a gas centrifuge for enrichment of uranium. Japan was also working on an atomic weapons program under Dr. Yoshio Nishina. By late in the war, Japan's A-bomb project was shifted to Hungnam in northern Korea with the 8th Imperial Japanese Army laboratory.
Rainer Karlsch, in his recent book, has suggested that Nazi Germany had successfully test-fired a radiological weapon (not an actual atomic bomb) at Ohrdruf in March 1945 and conducted other tests on Rügen Island.
U-boats like the U-234 were involved in shipments of uranium oxide to Japan, as were some I-class Japanese submarines that sailed for France under the Yanagi scheme. The I-52 was sunk in the Atlantic before reaching France but Enigma decrypts disclosed that 800 kg of uranium oxide awaited at Lorient for the return voyage. The I-30 also sailed to Lorient and returned to Singapore, but struck a mine after leaving there for Japan. The I-29 made a voyage to France in late 1943, reaching Lorient in March 1944; it returned to Singapore, but on the next stage of her voyage was also sunk.
An interesting suggestion has also been made that uranium was sealed in solid gold cases aboard the U-234.
In November 1947, the U-234 was sunk off Cape Cod as a torpedo target.
[edit] Further reading
- Scalia, Joseph Mark Germany's Last Mission to Japan: The Failed Voyage of U-234 Naval Institute Press (2000) ISBN 1-55750-811-9
- Hirschfeld, Wolfgang Feindfahrten: Das Logbuch eines U-Boot-Funkers" Neff Verlag (1982) ISBN 3-7014-0189-6
- Hirschfeld, Wolfgang; Brooks, Geoffrey The Story of a U-Boat Nco 1940-1946 Naval Institute Press (1996) ISBN 1-55750-372-9
