Unterseeboot 69 (1940)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
U-69
Type VIIC


Launch Date October 12, 1940
Commission Date November 23, 1940
Construction yard Germaniawerft, Kiel
Patrols
Start Date End Date Assigned Unit
February 10, 1941 March 1, 1941 7th Flotilla
March 18, 1941 April 11, 1941 7th Flotilla
May 5, 1941 July 8, 1941 7th Flotilla
August 21, 1941 August 27, 1941 7th Flotilla
September 1, 1941 October 1, 1941 7th Flotilla
October 30, 1941 December 8, 1941 7th Flotilla
January 18, 1942 January 26, 1942 7th Flotilla
January 31, 1942 March 17, 1942 7th Flotilla
April 12, 1942 June 25, 1942 7th Flotilla
August 16, 1942 November 5, 1942 7th Flotilla
January 2, 1943 February 17, 1943 7th Flotilla
Commanders
November, 1940 August, 1941 Kptlt. Jost Metzler
August, 1941 August, 1941 Kptlt. Hans-Jürgen Auffermann
August, 1941 March, 1942 Kptlt. Wilhelm Zahn
March, 1942 February, 1943 Kptlt. Ulrich Gräf
Successes
Type of Ship Sunk Number of Ships Sunk Gross Registered Tonnage
Commercial Vessels 16 69,131
Military Vessels None 0

The Unterseeboot 69, or U-69 was the first Type VIIC U-boat commissioned into the Kriegsmarine during the Second World War. This meant that in contrast to previous boats, it could travel further afield for longer, with a payload of eleven torpedoes, an 88 mm deck gun for smaller vessels, and a flak gun for aircraft. U-69 was a very successful boat, succeeding in sinking over 69,000 tons of allied shipping in a career lasting two years, making her one of the longest surviving continuous service U-boats.

U-69 was built at the Germaniawerft in Kiel during 1940, and was ready for service in the November. After her warm up in the Baltic Sea, designed to give her an opportunity to train and repair minor faults, she was deployed into the Atlantic Ocean in February, 1941 and saw immediate success.

Contents

[edit] War Patrols

The U-69 sank three large freighters on her very first voyage: the MV Siamese Prince [1] and SS Empire Blanda [2] were both torpedoed near the Faroe Islands in two days, leaving no survivors from a combined crew of 87. Five days later the SS Temple Moat [3] was similarly destroyed, again with no survivors from the 42 aboard. On the second patrol, she claimed seven victims, including the neutral American ship SS Robin Moor [4] operating near British colonies in Africa. The second of these was conducted down the coast of West Africa, in which the U-69 laid mines off Lagos and Takoradi, claiming one of her victims, and made full use of the failure of the allies to enforce convoy systems along the African coast.

Unfortunately for the crew of the U-69, it was nearly a year before they were able to paint another mark on their conning tower, as the tightening of convoys in the second half of 1941 combined with some frustratingly short patrols, called off because of mechanical failure, or sickness on the boat. Thus it wasn't until May of 1942, five patrols later, that she added to her tally, when she sank the tiny sailing vessel James E. Newson off the United States' seaboard with her guns. This seemed to reverse the boat's run of bad luck, and she sank a further three ships that month, making use of the Second happy time to add to her score.

In June 1942, her captain Ulrich Gräf reported sinking a large ship somewhere off the coast of Surinam, as U-69's patrol entered the Caribbean Sea, but allied researchers after the war have failed to identity this vessel, and it is likely to be an error on the part of the captain.

In October in the mouth of the St Lawrence River, U-69 sank it's most controversial victim, when it torpedoed the unlit Newfoundland ferry SS Caribou, killing 137 people. Time was running out for the boat however, and following another fruitless patrol in the winter of 1942, the boat was caught in February 1943 close to Convoy ONS-165 in the middle of the North Atlantic. Identified on HF/DF radar, she was forced to the surface by depth charges and then rammed by the destroyer HMS Fame. None of her 46 crew survived the sinking.

[edit] The Sinking of the Caribou

Easily the most controversial actions of the U-69 was the destruction of the civilian ferry SS Caribou in the mouth of the St Lawrence River at 3.25am on the 14 October 1942. U-69 had been in the area for a few days, and had sunk the SS Carolus the day before with eleven lives. Early in the moring, the Caribou was spotted, primarily because she produced a lot of smoke, and thus was silouetted against the phosphorescent sea. Gräf then took his time preparing the shot, aided by the lack of escorting warships, before sinking her with one torpedo.

The Caribou had departed Sydney, Nova Scotia, some hours before heading for Port aux Basques in Newfoundland, where it was home berthed. Local military authorities had insisted that the ship travel without lights to not make itself a target. In fact, if the ship had been lit up it is unlikely she would have been hit, as she would clearly have been a civilian vessel. This controversy, which raged in Canada in the weeks which followed her destruction, was further complicated by the presence of at least 57 military personnel from Britain, Canada and the United States on board, thus actually legitimising her as a military target.

Controversy also surrounded the actions of HMCS Grandmére, a minesweeper that was escorting the ferry (thus heightening her military appearance). Instead of searching for the submarine, or dropping depth charges immediately, Lt Cuthbert in Grandmére instead made an effort to rescue survivors. For this he was criticised, as his own ship could have been sunk too, and U-69 was able to escape by hiding under the wreckage of the sinking. Cuthbert refused to apologise for his actions, by which 102 lives were saved, the survivors dropped in Sydney whilst ships from Newfoundland began to collect the bodies from the sea.

In all 57 military personnel, 31 merchant seamen and 49 civilians, including many women, were killed in the sinking, totalling 137 persons lost in the 12 Celsius waters of the Atlantic.

[edit] Raiding career

Date Ship Nationality Tonnage Fate
17 February 1941 MV Siamese Prince British 8,456 Sunk
19 February 1941 SS Empire Blanda British 5,693 Sunk
23 February 1941 SS Temple Moat British 4,427 Sunk
30 March 1941 SS Coultarn British 3,759 Sunk
21 May 1941 SS Robin Moor American 4,999 Sunk
21 May 1941 SS Tewkesbury British 4,601 Sunk
31 May 1941 MV Sangara British 5,445 Damaged
4 June 1941 barge Robert Hughes British 2,879 Mined
27 June 1941 SS Empire Ability British 7,603 Sunk
27 June 1941 SS River Lugar British 5,432 Sunk
4 July 1941 SS Robert L Holt British 2,918 Sunk
1 May 1942 sv James E Newson American 617 Sunk
12 May 1942 MV Lise Norwegian 6,816 Sunk
13 May 1942 SS Norlantic American 2,606 Sunk
21 May 1942 SS Torondoc Canadian 1,927 Sunk
5 June 1942 Unknown Unknown Unknown Sunk
9 October 1942 SS Carolus Canadian 2,375 Sunk
10 October 1942 SS Caribou British 2,222 Sunk

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/766.html
  2. ^ http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/770.html
  3. ^ http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/781.html
  4. ^ http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/940.html

See Also: List of U-boats

For other U-boats with similar designations, see Unterseeboot 69

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../u/n/t/Unterseeboot_69_%281940%29.html"
In other languages