U-123
Type | IXB | |||||||
| Ordered | 15 Dec, 1937 | |||||||
| Laid down | 15 Apr, 1939 | AG Weser, Bremen (werk 955) | ||||||
| Launched | 2 Mar, 1940 | |||||||
| Commissioned | 30 May, 1940 | Kptlt. Karl-Heinz Moehle | ||||||
| Commanders |
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| Career | 12 patrols | 30 May, 1940 - 30 Sep, 1940 2. Flottille (training) 1 Oct, 1940 - 17 Jun, 1944 2. Flottille (front boat) 18 Jun, 1944 - 1 Aug, 1944 2. Flottille (Frontschulboot) | ||||||
| Successes | 42 ships sunk for a total of 219.924 GRT 1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 3.209 GRT 1 warship sunk for a total of 683 tons 5 ships damaged for a total of 39.584 GRT 1 auxiliary warship damaged for a total of 13.984 GRT | |||||||
| Fate | Taken out of service at Lorient, France 17 Jun 1944. Scuttled there 19 Aug 1944. Surrendered to France in 1945 and became the French submarine Blaison. Stricken 18 Aug 1959 as Q165. | |||||||
See the 50 ships hit by U-123 - View the 12 war patrols
Wolfpack operations
U-123 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
Without name (17 Oct, 1940 - 19 Oct, 1940)
Spitz (24 Dec, 1942 - 31 Dec, 1942)
Jaguar (12 Jan, 1943 - 23 Jan, 1943)
Seerauber (22 Mar, 1943 - 30 Mar, 1943)
Attacks on this boat
23 Nov, 1940
While attacking convoy OB-244 (4 ships sunk) the boat hit an unknown object (probably accidentally rammed by a convoy vessel) and was seriously damaged and had to abort to France for 50 days of repairs. (Sources: Blair, vol 1, page 208)
27 Jun, 1941
Having torpedoed 2 ships from convoy SL-78 the boat was depth charged for 11 hours but escaped by going very deep - down to 654 feet, below the range of the British depth charges. (Sources: Blair, vol 1, page 302)
12 Aug, 1941
The boat was attacked by convoy escorts near Portugal. All in all 126 depth charges were dropped, including 30 "close by" as reported by the Germans. The boat suffered some medium damages and headed for France, having been at sea for over 60 days when this attack took place. (Sources: Blair, vol 1, page 336)
21 Oct, 1941
After damaging the British Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Aurania, U-123 took one seaman of this ship on board as a prisoner. In the evening the boat was attacked by a British Sunderland aircraft with two bombs. U-123 suffered slight damage.
19 Jan, 1942
Kosmos II tried to ram the surfaced U-123 off Oregon Inlet. The U-boat was in shallow water, without any torpedoes left and one of the diesel engines out of order. The Germans managed to get the engine running when the ship was only 75 metres away and slowly out-distanced her at full speed.
27 Mar, 1942
The American Q-ship Atik (Carolyn) and U-123 had a gunnery duel off the US east coast. One man from U-123 was fatally wounded in the action and died a few hours later, the Atik was sunk. [Fähnrich zur See Rudi Holzer]
25 Aug, 1943
Depth charged off Cape Finisterre by allied escort vessels. Date is approximate. (Sources: Blair, vol 2, page 406)
7 Nov, 1943
At 09.44 hours, the inbound U-boat was attacked by a Mosquito aircraft (RAF Sqdn 618, pilot F/O Al Bonnett RCAF) in the Bay of Biscay. This was the first attack by a "TseTse" Mosquito (equipped with a 57mm cannon) and the hit scored on the conning tower killed 1 man, wounded 2 others and left the U-boat unable to dive due to a hole of 18 x 6,5cm. [Bootsmaat Günther Struve] (Sources: Ritschel)
8 recorded attacks on this boat.
General notes on this boat
U-123 was one of the most famous U-boats in the war. U-123 took part in the opening of the Paukenschlag (Drumbeat) operations in January 1942 and completed two very successful patrols on the US east coast.
Men lost from the boat
17 Nov, 1940
The U-123 lost a seaman overboard. [Mechanikergefreiter Fritz Pfeifer]
27 Mar, 1942
The American Q-ship Atik (Carolyn) and U-123 had a gunnery duel off the US east coast. One man from U-123 was fatally wounded in the action and died a few hours later, the Atik was sunk.
[Fähnrich zur See Rudi Holzer]
7 Nov, 1943
The famous U-boat was attacked by a Mosquito aircraft from the 618 Squadron suffering 1 man dead and 2 wounded.
Related: For more info on such losses see - Men lost from U-boats -
 Submarines versus U-boats Jones, Geoffrey Buy this title at amazon.co.uk See more sellers |
Books dealing with this subject include: The Approaching Storm, Chewning, Alpheus J., 1994  Auf Gefechtstationen, Hardegen, Reinhard, 1943 German U-Boat Losses During World War II, Niestle, Axel, 1998 The Iron Time, Previtera, Stephen Thomas, 1999 Operation Drumbeat, Gannon, Michael, 1991 (transl.) Q-ships versus U-boats, Beyer, Kenneth, 1999 Submarines versus U-boats, Jones, Geoffrey, 1986 U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 1, Wynn, Kenneth, 1998 U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 2, Wynn, Kenneth, 1998 |
There was another U-123 in World War One
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 26 Jan, 1918 and commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 20 Jul, 1918. The Naval war in WWI was brought to an end with the Armistice signed on 11 Nov, 1918. Read about the U 123 during WWI.