Unterseeboot 219

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Unterseeboot 219 (U-219) was a German Type XB minelaying submarine (U-boat). This type of u-boat had a series of vertical flooded mineshafts ahead of the bridge along her centerline and a further bank of shafts either side of her conning tower. These vertical tubes were in excess of a metre wide. Her sister, U-234, which famously was found carrying uranium-oxide to Japan in 1945, when she surrendered, had a similar mine chute arrangement.

She first ventured through the South Atlantic with the second Monsun Gruppe to the Indian Ocean in late 1943. This group of U-boats upon reaching Penang became part of U-Flotte 33, also comprised of U-848 U-849, U-850, U-177 and U-510. U-219's mission had been to lay mines off Cape Town and Colombo but, when the group's U-tanker was destroyed, U-219 was required to refuel the rest of the group at sea so they could return to Germany. Of this group, only U-510 continued to Penang Island. U-219 returned to France and was prepared for a transport mission at Bordeaux.

During the War 19, u-boats or Italian transport submarines reached the Far East out of 42 attempted voyages. Several of these craft remained in the far east when Germany surrendered in 1945. On her next voyage east, U-219 departed Bordeaux on 23 August 1944.

Her voyage from Bordeaux in France in 1944 was as a cargo carrying transport. Her cargo included part of a consignment of twelve dismantled V-2 rockets for Japan.

U-219 and U-195 both sailed for the far east from France in August 1944 [see notes #2] along with U-180. U-219 and U-195 shared the consignment of twelve V-2 rockets^[1] and both reached Djakarta in December 1944. U-180 is thought sunk in the Gironde estuary by a mine and thus remains in shallow French waters with her cargo aboard.

After Germany's surrender, U-219 was seized by the Japanese and eventually captured at Surabaya.

Notes:

(1) Information via Japanese historians cited at www.combinedfleet.com in the voyage logs of I-class boats voyaging to France. (see "Sensukan")

(2) From the book "U-boat Far from Home, The epic voyage of U-862 to Australia and New Zealand" by David Stevens, Allen and Unwin Pub'

^[2] From the book "Stalin's Silver" by John Beasant, Reed Business Pub'