Events on this day

13 May

This is a run-down from several databases on our site. It's meant to give a clear picture of events on this date, all year round.

U-boat Shipyard report

Ordered (0)	Laid down (0)	Launched (2)	Commissioned (0)
No U-boat orders on this date	No boats laid down on this date	1943: U-747, U-748	No boats commissioned on this date
These are commissioned boats. For more see our Shipyard pages.

Allied Ships hit on this date

	U-boat	Commander	Name of ship	Tons	Country	Convoy
1941
	U-105	Schewe	Benvrackie	6,434	br	OB-312
	U-111	Kleinschmidt	Somersby	5,170	br	SC-30
	U-98	Gysae	HMS Salopian (F 94)	10,549	br	SC-30
1942
	U-128	Heyse	Denpark	3,491	br	SL-109
	U-156	Hartenstein	City of Melbourne	6,630	br
	U-156	Hartenstein	Koenjit	4,551	nl
	U-162	Wattenberg	Esso Houston	7,699	am
	U-506	Würdemann	Gulfpenn	8,862	am
	U-507	Schacht	Gulfprince (d)	6,561	am
	U-69	Gräf	Norlantic	2,606	am
	U-94	Ites	Batna	4,399	br	ONS-92
	U-94	Ites	Tolken	4,471	sw	ONS-92
1943
	U-176	Dierksen	Mambi	1,983	cu	NC-18
	U-176	Dierksen	Nickeliner	2,249	am	NC-18
				75,655
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk. (d) = damaged See all Allied ships hit by U-boats during WWII.

Attacks on this day

1943

U-527. As U-527 was attacking a large damaged ship under tow off the Bay of Biscay, a corvette was summoned and dropped 15 depth charges. U-527 escaped unscathed. (Blair, vol 2, page 348)

U-640. Following an unsuccessful attack on convoy ON(S) 7, U-640 was bombed by an aircraft from Iceland, forcing the boat to dive and lose contact with the convoy. U-640 was sunk by aircraft the next day. (Blair, vol 2, page 331)

U-616. Convoy escorts in the Mediterranean pounded U-616 with 64 depth charges. Severe damage forced the boat to return to base.

U-753. The sinking of U-753 0830hrs, North Atlantic: the boat was sighted by a Canadian Sunderland flying boat (423 Sqn RCAF/G, pilot F/L J. Musgrave) ten miles from convoy HX-237. Flak from U-753 prevented a depth charge attack, so the Sunderland shadowed the boat for the next 20 minutes, firing approx. 2,000 rounds and being hit by once by flak. HMCS Drumheller then forced the boat to dive with gunfire and the Sunderland immediately dropped two depth charges ahead of the diving point. A Swordfish aircraft from the British escort carrier HMS Biter arrived and marked the spot with smoke markers. The corvette was soon joined by HMS Lagan, and together they sank U-753 with depth charges. (Franks/Zimmerman)

U-boats lost

1943: U-753 +
1944: U-1224

47 men died when those 2 U-boats were lost on this date.
U-boats marked with + were lost with all hands.

- For more information on U-boat losses check out our Fates section.

U-boat Men Lost or Wounded

1944

U-183
One man was killed in an accident working in a diving cell while preparing U-183 for the next patrol in the Far East. The boat sailed from Penang on 17 May. [Obermaschinenmaat Erich Adelsheimer]

- For more information on Men lost from U-boats check out this page.

Personnel Information

The following men were born on this day:
Werner Henke (1909), Hans-Jürg Schild (1920), Oskar Staudinger (1917), Gernot Thiel (1922), Herbert A. Werner (1920).

The following men died on this day:
Friedrich Guggenberger (1988), Wolfgang Lüth (1945), Alfred Manhardt von Mannstein (1943), Heinrich Müller-Edzards (1966).

See the entire U-boat commander listing showing all U-boat commanders.
We might include more officers (Allied and Axis) at a later date.

U-boat departures and arrivals on 13 May

This section shows the U-boat departures and arrivals from bases on this day of the year. Current country names shown with harbour names. Boats entering port display days at sea during that patrol.

1940

Sailed:
From Wilhelmshaven, Germany: U-43

1941

Sailed:
From Bergen, Norway: U-143
From Kiel, Germany: U-66, U-557

U-boats entering base:
To Bergen, Norway: U-143 (25 days)
To St. Nazaire, France: U-95 (32 days)

1942

U-boats entering base:
To Bergen, Norway: U-376 (7 days), U-403 (4 days)
To Skjomenfjord U-251 (5 days), U-703 (4 days)

1943

Sailed:
From Kiel, Germany: U-199 (lost days later), U-951 (lost 56 days later), U-953
From La Spezia, Italy: U-414 (lost 13 days later)

U-boats entering base:
To Bordeaux, France: U-117 (44 days)
To La Spezia, Italy: U-410 (18 days)
To Lorient, France: U-183 (104 days)
To St. Nazaire, France: U-598 (69 days)

1944

Sailed:
From Bergen, Norway: U-241 (lost 6 days later)
From Hammerfest, Norway: U-737
From Kiel, Germany: U-477, U-671, U-987, U-1060, U-1192
From Kristiansand: U-240 (lost 3 days later)
From Kristiansand-Marviken: U-668
From Marviken: U-742
From Stavanger, Norway: U-992

U-boats entering base:
To Marviken U-988 (3 days)
To Narvik, Norway: U-312 (15 days), U-347 (5 days)
To Trondheim, Norway: U-739 (3 days)

1945

U-boats entering base:
To Emden, Germany U-739 (43 days)
To Loch Eriboll, UK U-532 (121 days), U-825 (43 days), U-956 (42 days)
To Shelbourne, Canada U-889 (39 days)

U-boats at sea on 13 May

Boats entering port on this day are not counted, but boats departing for patrol are. (+) indicates the boat was lost during this patrol.

1940

U-7, U-9, U-32, U-43, U-65.
5 boats at sea.

General Events on 13 May

1941

U-98 was damaged by the explosion of her victim, the British merchant Salopian.

1943

U-217 laid 15 mines in St. Georges Channel (between Ireland and Wales), but without result.

Injured crew were transferred from U-218 to U-461.

1944

Klaus Dönitz, only surviving son of Admiral Dönitz (his younger son, Peter, died on U-954 a year earlier) was killed on his 24th birthday when he hitched a ride with friends aboard E boat S-141 for a raid on Selsey on the Channel coast. S-141 was sunk, and although six of her crew were captured, Klaus Dönitz was not among them.

On U-107, some of the crew suffered carbon monoxide poisoning.

1945

U-889 surrendered and entered harbour at Shelburne, Nova Scotia.

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Add more events! - If you know of an interesting event that happened on this day that's missing, or an upcoming event that you'd like to share, please contact us. We already have 782 entries that will appear in due course, so your suggestion may not appear immediately, but we are continuously updating the database.

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Commander file

U-boat of the day

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Events on this day

13 May

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U-boat Shipyard report

Allied Ships hit on this date

Attacks on this day

1943

U-boats lost

U-boat Men Lost or Wounded

1944

Personnel Information

U-boat departures and arrivals on 13 May

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

U-boats at sea on 13 May

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

General Events on 13 May

1941

1943

1944

1945

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