German submarine U-129 (1941)
| Career (Nazi Germany) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-129 |
| Ordered: | 7 August 1939 |
| Builder: | DeSchiMAG AG Weser in Bremen |
| Laid down: | 30 July 1940 |
| Launched: | 28 February 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 21 May 1941 |
| Fate: | Taken out of service at Lorient 4 July 1944; scuttled on 18 August, raised and broken up, 1946 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type: | Type IXC submarine |
| Displacement: | 1,120 t (1,100 long tons) surfaced 1,232 t (1,213 long tons) submerged |
| Length: | 76.76 m (251 ft 10 in) overall 58.7 m (192 ft 7 in) pressure hull |
| Beam: | 6.76 m (22 ft 2 in) overall 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) pressure hull |
| Height: | 9.6 m (31 ft 6 in) |
| Draft: | 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged 9-cylinder diesel engines, 4,000 hp (2,983 kW) 2 × SSW 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors, 1,000 hp (746 kW) |
| Speed: | 18.3 knots (33.9 km/h; 21.1 mph) surfaced 7.3 knots (13.5 km/h; 8.4 mph) submerged |
| Range: | 13,450 nmi (24,910 km; 15,480 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced 64 nmi (119 km; 74 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged |
| Test depth: | 230 m (750 ft) |
| Complement: | 48 to 56 |
| Armament: |
|
| Service record | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
4th U-boat Flotilla (21 May 1941–30 June 1941) 2nd U-boat Flotilla (1 July 1941–1 July 1944) |
| Commanders: |
|
| Operations: |
1st patrol: 3 August–30 August 1941 2nd patrol: 27 September–8 October 1941 3rd patrol: 21 October 1941–28 December 1941 4th patrol: 25 January–5 April 1942 5th patrol: 20 May–21 August 1942 6th patrol: 28 September 1942–6 January 1943 7th patrol: 11 March–29 May 1943 8th patrol: 27 July–9 September 9th patrol: 9 October–11 October 1943; then 12 October–31 January 1944 10th patrol: 22 March 1944–19 July 1944 |
| Victories: | 29 commercial ships sunk (143,748 GRT) |
German submarine U-129 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was laid down at the AG Weser yard, Bremen as yard number 992 on 30 July 1940, launched on 28 February 1941 and was commissioned on 21 May with Kapitänleutnant Nicolai Clausen in command.
Her service life began with training in the 4th U-boat Flotilla; she moved to the 2nd Flotilla for operations on 1 July 1941.
She sank 29 ships, a total of 143,748 gross register tons (GRT), on ten patrols.
Operational career
She made the short journey from Kiel, arriving in Horten in Norway on 24 July 1941.
1st, 2nd and 3rd patrols
The boat's first patrol involved her departure from Horten, crossing the North Sea and entering the Atlantic Ocean by passing close to the Faroe Islands on the Icelandic side. She arrived at Lorient (where she would be based for most of her career), in occupied France on 30 August 1941.
Her second sortie saw her cross the Bay of Biscay to a point north of the Azores.
Her third patrol was further south, as far south as a similar latitude to Rio de Janeiro, but success continued to elude her.
4th patrol
Things improved dramatically when as part of Operation Drumbeat,[2] she attacked Nordvangen on 20 February; this ship sank in one minute northeast of Trinidad. Staying in the West Indies / northern South America region, she sank another six vessels.
5th and 6th patrols
The submarine returned to her sunshine haunts; included in the toll was Hardwicke Grange, which was sunk with torpedoes and the deck gun north of Puerto Rico on 12 June 1942. She also sank Millinrocket on 17 June off La Isabela, Cuba and a ship from the Soviet Union, Tuapse, in the Gulf of Mexico on 4 July.
Her sixth patrol included the sinking of Trafalgar about 1,100 nmi (2,000 km; 1,300 mi) northeast of Guadeloupe on 16 October 1942 and West Kebar some 350 nmi (650 km; 400 mi) northeast of Barbados.
7th, 8th and 9th patrols
Patrol number seven saw ships such as the Melbourne Star and Panam consigned to the deep. On the return journey U129 was refuelling from the 'milk cow' supply submarine U-459 when two men were swept overboard. One was recovered fairly swiftly but the other could not be found.[3] Her eighth patrol was west of the Canary Islands and produced no results.
U-129 's ninth patrol was divided into two; she departed Lorient on 9 October 1943, but put into Saint-Nazaire on the 11th. A day later she headed for the US east coast, sinking Libertad on 4 December off North Carolina.
10th patrol
The boat began her last operation which at 111 days, was her longest, on 22 March 1944. Steaming south, she encountered Anadyr about 600 nmi (1,100 km; 690 mi) south southeast of Recife in Brazil and sank her.
Fate
The boat was taken out of service at Lorient 4 July 1944; she was scuttled on 18 August. She was raised and broken up in 1946.
Summary of raiding history
| Date[4] | Name | flagcountry | Tonnage | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 February 1942 | Nordvangen |  Norway |
2,400 | Sunk |
| 23 February 1942 | George L. Torian |  Canada |
1,754 | Sunk |
| 23 February 1942 | Lennox | Canada |
1,904 | Sunk |
| 23 February 1942 | West Zeda |  United States |
5,658 | Sunk |
| 28 February 1942 | Bayou |  Panama |
2,605 | Sunk |
| 3 March 1942 | Mary | United States |
5,104 | Sunk |
| 7 March 1942 | Steel Age | United States |
6,188 | Sunk |
| 10 June 1942 | L. A. Christensen | Norway |
4,362 | Sunk |
| 12 June 1942 | Hardwick Grange |  United Kingdom |
9,005 | Sunk |
| 17 June 1942 | Millinrocket | United States |
3,274 | Sunk |
| 27 June 1942 | Las Choapas | .svg.png){kind=small} Mexico |
2,005 | Sunk |
| 27 June 1942 | Tuxpam | Mexico |
7,008 | Sunk |
| 1 July 1942 | Taspe |  Soviet Union |
6,320 | Sunk |
| 12 July 1942 | Tachirá | United States |
2,325 | Sunk |
| 19 July 1942 | Port Antonio | Norway |
1,266 | Sunk |
| 23 July 1942 | Onodaga | United States |
2,309 | Sunk |
| 16 October 1942 | Trafalgar | Norway |
5,542 | Sunk |
| 23 October 1942 | Reuben Tipton | United States |
6,829 | Sunk |
| 30 October 1942 | West Kebar | United States |
5,620 | Sunk |
| 5 November 1942 | Astrell | Norway |
7,595 | Sunk |
| 5 November 1942 | Meton | United States |
7,027 | Sunk |
| 2 April 1943 | Melbourne Star | United Kingdom |
12,806 | Sunk |
| 24 April 1943 | Santa Catalina | United States |
6,507 | Sunk |
| 4 May 1943 | Panam | Panama |
7,277 | Sunk |
| 4 December 1943 | Libertad |  Cuba |
5,441 | Sunk |
| 6 May 1944 | Anadyr | United Kingdom |
5,278 | Sunk |
| 11 May 1944 | Empire Heath | United Kingdom |
6,643 | Sunk |
References
- ↑ Gröner 1985, pp. 105-7.
- ↑ Gannon, Michael Operation Drumbeat – the dramatic true story of Germany's first U-boat attacks along the American coast in World War II, 1990, Harper and Row, ISBN 0-06-016155-8, pp. 129, 489
- ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol info for U-129". U-boat patrols - uboat.net.
- ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-129". WWII U-boat Successes - uboat.net. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
Bibliography
- Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999). Deutsche U-Boot-Verluste von September 1939 bis Mai 1945. Der U-Boot-Krieg (in German) IV (Hamburg; Berlin; Bonn: Mittler). ISBN 3-8132-0514-2.
- Gröner, Erich (1985). U-Boote, Hilfskreuzer, Minenschiffe, Netzleger, Sperrbrecher. Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815-1945 (in German) III (Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe). ISBN 3-7637-4802-4.
External links
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type IXC boat U-129". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
- Hofmann, Markus. "U 129". Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 - u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 7 December 2014.
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