| Career (Germany) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-156 |
| Ordered: | 25 September 1939 |
| Builder: | AG Weser, Bremen |
| Yard number: | 998 |
| Laid down: | 11 October 1940 |
| Launched: | 21 May 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 4 September 1941 |
| Fate: | Sunk on 8 March 1943 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Type IXC submarine |
| Displacement: | 1,120 t (1,100 long tons) surfaced 1,232 t (1,213 long tons) submerged |
| Length: | 76.8 m (252 ft 0 in) overall 58.7 m (192 ft 7 in) pressure hull |
| Beam: | 6.8 m (22 ft 4 in) overall 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) pressure hull |
| Height: | 9.4 m (30 ft 10 in) |
| Draft: | 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × MAN M9V40/46 supercharged 9-cylinder diesel engines, 4,000 hp (2,983 kW) 2 × SSW GU345/34 double-acting electric motors, 1,000 hp (746 kW) |
| Speed: | 18.2 knots (33.7 km/h) surfaced 7.3 knots (13.5 km/h) submerged |
| Range: | 24,880 nmi (46,080 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) surfaced 117 nmi (217 km) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h) submerged |
| Test depth: | 230 m (750 ft) |
| Complement: | 48 to 56 |
| Armament: | 6 × torpedo tubes (4 bow, 2 stern) 22 × 55 cm (22 in) torpedoes 1 × Utof 105 mm/45 deck gun (110 rounds) |
| Service record | |
| Part of: | Kriegsmarine 4th U-boat Flotilla (September 4–December 31, 1941) 2nd U-boat Flotilla (January 1, 1942–March 8, 1943) |
| Commanders: | Werner Hartenstein |
| Operations: | 5 patrols |
| Victories: | 20 ships sunk for a total of 97,504 gross register tons (GRT) 3 ships damaged for a total of 18,811 GRT 1 warship damaged for a total of 1,190 tons |
German submarine U-156 was a Type IXC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine built for service during World War II. The keel for this boat was laid October 11, 1940 at the AG Weser, Bremen, Germany. She was commissioned on September 4, 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Werner Hartenstein (Knight's Cross) and took part in five patrols which included the attack on shipping and the refinery on the island of Aruba, as well as the sinking of the ocean liner Laconia west of Africa and torpedoing and damaging the American destroyer Blakeley.
Contents |
Built and commissioned in Bremen, she sailed her first patrol during which her crew trained from September 1941, at the end of which she arrived at her operations base in Lorient, France, in December 1941.
During her three operational patrols in 1942, U-156 sank 20 ships for a total of 97,205 tons, three ships were damaged for a total of 18,811 tons and one warship was damaged for a total of 1,190 tons. Only one crewman was lost due to action with the enemy. He was Matrosengefreiter (equivalent to an Able Seaman or Leading Seaman) Heinrich Bussinger. He was killed when the deck cannon he was manning exploded. This explosion occurred because the cap in the end of the gun, that prevented water from entering the barrel, was not removed before the gun was fired, thus causing the gun barrel to explode. This occurred at the beginning of the attack on the Lago Oil & Transport Co. Ltd. refinery in Aruba. It was this freak accident that saved what was then the world’s largest refinery. Gunnery Officer Dietrich von dem Borne lost his right leg in the explosion. He was taken below; the boat submerged and left the waters off the coast of Aruba. Von dem Borne was put ashore on the island of Martinique for medical treatment and survived the war.
During her fifth patrol, during which she sank no shipping and made no attacks, U-156 was attacked twice, during the second of which she was sunk east of the island of Barbados, in position , by depth charges dropped from a PBY Catalina (VP-53/P-1) on March 8, 1943. All 53 hands were lost.
U-156 under the command of Werner Hartenstein is credited with the sinking of 20 ships (including the motor boat Letitia Porter on board of Koenjit) for a total of 97,504 gross register tons (GRT), further damaging three ships of 18,811 GRT and damaging one warship, the USS Blakeley, of 1,190 GRT.[1]
| Date | Time | Name of Ship | Nationality | Tonnage | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 February 1942 | 08.01 | Pedernales | Great Britain | 4,317 | damaged at |
| 16 February 1942 | 08.03 | Oranjestad | Great Britain | 2,396 | sunk at |
| 16 February 1942 | 09.43 | Arkansas | United States | 6,452 | damaged at |
| 20 February 1942 | 11.31 | Delplata | United States | 5,127 | sunk at |
| 25 February 1942 | 02.19 | La Carrière | Great Britain | 5,685 | sunk at |
| 27 February 1942 | 10.35 | Macgregor | Great Britain | 2,498 | sunk at |
| 28 February 1942 | 11.17 | Oregon | United States | 7,017 | sunk at |
| 13 May 1942 | 03.58 | Koenjit | Netherlands | 4,551 | sunk at |
| 13 May 1942 | 03.58 | Letitia Porter | Netherlands | 15 | sunk at |
| 13 May 1942 | 22.05 | City of Melbourne | Great Britain | 6,630 | sunk at |
| 15 May 1942 | 02.54 | Siljestad | Norway | 4,301 | sunk at |
| 15 May 1942 | 20.59 | Kupa | Yugoslavia | 4,382 | sunk at |
| 17 May 1942 | 21.04 | Barrdale | Great Britain | 5,072 | sunk at |
| 18 May 1942 | 10.18 | Quaker City | United States | 4,961 | sunk at |
| 18 May 1942 | 18.52 | San Eliseo | Great Britain | 8,042 | damaged at |
| 21 May 1942 | 18.29 | Presidente Trujillo | Dominican Republic | 1,668 | sunk at |
| 25 May 1942 | 15.52 | USS Blakeley | United States | 1,190 | damaged at |
| 29 May 1942 | 01.03 | Norman Prince | Great Britain | 1,913 | sunk at |
| 1 June 1942 | 23.51 | Alegrete | Brazil | 5,970 | sunk at |
| 3 June 1942 | 09.26 | Lillian | Great Britain | 80 | sunk at |
| 24 June 1942 | 08.10 | Willimantic | Great Britain | 4,857 | sunk at |
| 27 August 1942 | 01.00 | Clan Macwhirter | Great Britain | 5,941 | sunk at |
| 12 September 1942 | 22.07 | Laconia | Great Britain | 19,695 | sunk at |
| 19 September 1942 | 15.46 | Quebec City | Great Britain | 4,745 | sunk at |
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