Unterseeboot 48 (1939)

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U-48
Type VIIB


Launch Date March 5, 1939
Commission Date April 22, 1939
Construction yard Germaniawerft, Kiel
Patrols
Start Date End Date Assigned Unit
August 19, 1939 September 17, 1939 Wegener Flotilla
October 5, 1939 October 25, 1939 Wegener Flotilla
November 20, 1939 December 20, 1939 Wegener Flotilla
January 24, 1940 February 24, 1940 7th Flotilla
April 4, 1940 April 20, 1940 7th Flotilla
May 26, 1940 June 29, 1940 7th Flotilla
August 7, 1940 August 27, 1940 26th Flotilla
September 8, 1940 September 25, 1940 26th Flotilla
October 5, 1940 October 28, 1940 26th Flotilla
January 20, 1941 February 27, 1941 26th Flotilla
March 17, 1941 April 8, 1941 26th Flotilla
May 22, 1941 June 22, 1941 26th Flotilla
No Patrols 21st Flotilla
No Patrols ULD Flotilla
Commanders
April, 1939 May, 1940 Kptlt. Herbert Schultze
May, 1940 September, 1940 Kptlt. Rudolf Rösing
September, 1940 December, 1940 Kptlt. Heinrich "Ajax" Bleichrodt
December, 1940 July, 1941 Kptlt. Herbert Schultze
August, 1941 September, 1942 Kptlt. Siegfried Atzinger
September, 1942 October, 1943 Kptlt. Diether Todenhagen
Successes
Type of Ship Sunk Number of Ships Sunk Gross Registered Tonnage
Commercial Vessels 54 320,869
Military Vessels 1 1,060

The Unterseeboot 48, or U-48 was the most successful U-boat commissioned into the Kriegsmarine during the Second World War. During her two years of active service, U-48 sank 55 ships for 321,000 tons, and damaged two more at 12,000 tons on twelve war patrols conducted during the opening stages of the Second Battle of the Atlantic. She was a Type VIIB submarine with five torpedo tubes and an 88mm deck gun. She was very fast and agile, thanks to her dual rudders, and could patrol for approximately a month at a time, giving her a range comfortably across the North Atlantic.

U-48 was built at the Germaniawerft in Kiel during 1938 and 1939, being completed a few months before the outbreak of war in September, 1939 and given to Kplt Herbert Schultze. When war was declared, she was already in position in the North Atlantic, and received the news of war via radio, giving her immediate powers to operate against allied shipping.

Contents

[edit] War Patrols

As the U-48 cruised to the West of the Western Approaches, two days after Britain and Germany went to war, she spotted her first target, the 5,000 ton SS Royal Sceptre, sinking her and two more unescorted ships as she returned to Kiel via the North Sea on the 17 September. Her second patrol was even more successful, catching several allied ships unawares in the same area as her previous victories, including the large French tanker SS Emile Miguet on the 12 October ([1]). Four more freighters were sunk on this cruise, during which the U-48 was largely untroubled by allied countermeasures.

She sank another three on her final patrol of 1939 and damaged another, including two neutral ships operating in allied controlled areas. After a brief break over the Christmas period, she again put to sea, sinking the British Blue Star Line liner SS Sultan Star in the Western Approaches, although thankfully it was only carrying freight ([2]). A string of mines she laid off St Abbs Head failed to have effect, but two neutral Dutch ships were added to her tally shortly afterwards, as well as a Finnish ship, all of them operating in the North Atlantic in co-operation with the allied convoy system.

Her fifth patrol, in June 1940 was one of her most successful, making full use of the confusion in Europe following the Fall of France to leave a trail of destruction on her passage around the British Isles sinking three ships on her passage to the Atlantic Ocean, and enjoying an extended patrol thanks to the newly established refuelling facilities available at Trondheim in Norway. In all she claimed eight ships from the convoys in the Eastern Atlantic on this cruise, and bagged five more on her sixth patrol in August, which finished with her stationed at Lorient in France, greatly extending her raiding abilities.

In September, on her seventh patrol she shocked the world by sinking the SS City of Benares, one of eight ships in six days from Convoy SC-3 and Convoy OB-213. Benares was a refugee ship, carrying children from Britain to Canada to keep them safe from The Blitz on Britain's cities. 248 people, including 77 pre-teen children, were killed. Amongst the other sinkings was the British frigate HMS Dundee. Her eighth patrol was also highly successful, sinking seven ships out of Atlantic convoys, including one from Convoy SC-7. The operating zone for both these patrols was far to the North of her previous areas, being south of Greenland.

Although on her ninth and tenth patrols the U-48 claimed two and five victims respectively, she was clearly beginning to become obsolete in the face of improving technology on both sides despite a winter refit. Her range and torpedo capacity were too small for the widening nature of the sea war, and she would be a risk to her crew and other U-boats if she continued much longer in the main battlefield of the North Atlantic. On her final patrol she sank five more ships, the boat boosted by the award of the Knight's Cross to Erich Zürn, the boat's executive officer, for his success and judgement during the ships's career.

[edit] Retirement

U-48 returned to Kiel on the 22 June 1941, where her crew were removed, and she was transferred to a training flotilla operating exclusively in the Baltic Sea. Unlike many of her contemporaries, U-48 never sailed on patrols against Soviet targets following Operation Barbarossa the following month, and in 1943 was deemed unfit even for this reduced service, being laid up at Neustadt in Holstein with only a skeleton crew performing minor maintenance. It was there she remained for the next two years, until the maintenance crew, realising that the war was ending and the boat would be captured, scuttled her in the Bay of Lübeck on the 3 May 1945, where she remains.

[edit] The Sinking of the City of Benares

In the early hours of the 18 September 1940, U-48 put a single torpedo into the 11,000 ton liner SS City of Benares, flagship of Convoy OB-213, as she was silouetted against the moonlight in the mid-Atlantic. Unbeknownst to Käpitanleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt, on board the liner were 90 children being evacuated to Canada under the Children's Overseas Recepton Board's initiative in order to escape the effects of the Blitz.

The sinking ship took on an immediate list, thus preventing the launching of many of the liferafts and trapping numerous crew and passengers below decks. As a result, many of the 400 people on board were unable to escape. As hundreds of survivors struggled in the water, the U-boat's powerful searchlight swept once over the chaotic scene, before the boat left the area for good. The survivors in the boats were not rescued for nearly 24 hours, as the nearest allied units were 300 miles away, and in that time dozens of children and adults died from exposure, or drowned, leaving only 147 survivors. One boat was not picked up for a further eight days. In total 255 people[1], including 77 of the evacuees, died in the disaster, which effectively ended the overseas evacuation program.

The controversy of the City of Benares disaster has been debated ever since. It is likely that had the British openly declared that the ship was carrying evacuees, then the Germans would have taken pains not to sink it, recognising the potential for a propaganda crisis, which indeed occurred. However, the ship was not only travelling unlit at night in an allied convoy, but it was also the flagship of Rear-Admiral Edmund Mackinnon[2], the convoy commander. This role meant that the ship was instantly a legitimate military target, even with the evacuees aboard. Finally, it is unlikely that Bleichrodt was able to see that there were children amongst the wreckage from his single sweep, and was also keenly aware of his vulnerable position close to his two latest victims, which compromised his ability to provide aid even he had wished to do so.

[edit] Raiding career

Date Ship Nationality Tonnage Fate Date Ship Nationality Tonnage Fate
5 September 1939 SS Royal Sceptre British 4,853 Sunk 15 September 1940 SS Alexandros Greek 4,343 Sunk
8 September 1939 SS Winkleigh British 5,055 Sunk 15 September 1940 HMS Dundee British 1,060 Sunk
11 September 1939 SS Firby British 4,869 Sunk 15 September 1940 SS Empire Volunteer British 5,319 Sunk
12 October 1939 MV Emile Miguet French 14,115 Sunk 15 September 1940 SS Kenordoc British 1,780 Sunk
12 October 1939 SS Heronspool British 5,202 Sunk 18 September 1940 SS City of Benares British 11,081 Sunk
13 October 1939 SS Louisiane French 6,903 Sunk 18 September 1940 SS Marina British 5,088 Sunk
14 October 1939 SS Sneaton British 3,677 Sunk 18 September 1940 SS Magdalena British 3,118 Sunk
17 October 1939 SS Clan Chisholm British 7,256 Sunk 21 September 1940 SS Blairangus British 4,409 Sunk
26 November 1939 SS Gustav E Reuter Swedish 6,336 Sunk 21 September 1940 SS Broompark British 5,136 Damaged
8 December 1939 SS Brandon British 6,668 Sunk 11 October 1940 MV Brandanger Norwegian 4,624 Sunk
9 December 1939 MV San Alberto British 7,397 Damaged 11 October 1940 SS Port Gisborne British 8,390 Sunk
15 December 1939 SS Germaine Greek 5,217 Sunk 12 October 1940 MV Davanger Norwegian 7,102 Sunk
10 February 1940 SS Burgerdijk Dutch 6,853 Sunk 17 October 1940 MV Languedoc British 9,512 Sunk
14 February 1940 SS Sultan Star British 12,306 Sunk 17 October 1940 SS Scoresby British 3,843 Sunk
15 February 1940 MV Den Haag Dutch 8,971 Sunk 18 October 1940 SS Sandend British 3,612 Sunk
17 February 1940 SS Wilja Finnish 3,392 Sunk 20 October 1940 MV Shirak British 6,023 Sunk
6 June 1940 SS Stancor British 798 Sunk 1 February 1941 SS Nicolaos Angelos Greek 4,351 Sunk
7 June 1940 SS Frances Massey British 4,212 Sunk 24 February 1941 SS Nailsea Lass British 4,289 Sunk
7 June 1940 SS Eros British 5,888 Sunk 29 March 1941 SS Germanic British 5,352 Sunk
11 June 1940 SS Violando N Goulandris Greek 2,375 Sunk 29 March 1941 SS Limbourg Belgian 2,483 Sunk
19 June 1940 MV Tudor Norwegian 6,607 Sunk 29 March 1941 SS Eastlea British 4,267 Sunk
19 June 1940 SS Baron Loudoun British 3,164 Sunk 29 March 1941 SS Hylton British 5,197 Sunk
19 June 1940 SS British Monarch British 5,661 Sunk 2 April 1941 SS Beaverdale British 9,957 Sunk
20 June 1940 MV Moerdrecht Dutch 7,493 Sunk 3 June 1941 SS Inversuir British 9,456 Sunk
16 August 1940 SS Hedrun Swedish 2,325 Sunk 5 June 1941 MV Wellfield British 6,054 Sunk
19 August 1940 SS Ville de Gand Belgian 7,590 Sunk 6 June 1941 SS Tregathen British 5,201 Sunk
24 August 1940 SS La Brea British 6,666 Sunk 8 June 1940 MV Pendrecht Dutch 10,746 Sunk
25 August 1940 MV Athelcrest British 6,825 Sunk 12 June 1941 SS Empire Dew British 7,005 Sunk
25 August 1940 SS Empire Merlin British 5,763 Sunk

[edit] Gustaf E. Reuter

The 6.336-ton Swedish motor tanker Gustaf E. Reuter under Master O. Larsson was torpedoed and sunk by U-48 at 00.30 on 27 November 1939 at the position 59.38N-02.03W, 14 miles west-northwest from Fair Isle and broke in two. The wreck was sunk by an escort vessel the next day. 1 person died while 33 survived.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/532.html.
  2. ^ Mackinnon did not evacuate the sinking ship, and drowned on board.

[edit] References

See Also: List of U-boats

For other U-boats with similar designations, see Unterseeboot 48

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