U-133

Type

VIIC

Ordered

7 Aug 1939

Laid down

21 Aug 1940

Bremer Vulkan-Vegesacker Werft, Bremen-Vegesack (werk 12)

Launched

28 Apr 1941

Commissioned

5 Jul 1941

Oblt. Hermann Hesse

Commanders

5 Jul 1941	-	1 Mar 1942		Kptlt. Hermann Hesse
2 Mar 1942	-	14 Mar 1942		Kptlt. Eberhard Mohr

Career
3 patrols

5 Jul 1941	-	30 Sep 1941	7. Flottille (training)
1 Oct 1941	-	31 Dec 1941	7. Flottille (active service)
1 Jan 1942	-	14 Mar 1942	23. Flottille (active service)

Successes

1 warship sunk, total tonnage 1,920 tons

Fate

Sunk on 14 March 1942 in the Mediterranean Sea south of Salamis, in position 37.50N, 23.35E, by a German mine. 45 dead (all hands lost).

Loss position

See the 1 ships hit by U-133 - View the 3 war patrols

At 1700 hours on 14 March 1942 U-133 left her base at Salamis, Greece. Only about two hours later she hit a mine, broke in two and sank immediately with all hands. The commander of the 23rd Flotilla stated after the incident that U-133 had left the mandatory way that led through the German defensive mine barrages.

The wreck was discovered on 20 January at a depth of 78 meters by Greek diver Kostas Thoctarides which had already discovered the wreck of the British submarine HMS Perseus off the west coast of Greece on 26 December 1997. Since then he discovered more submarine wrecks in the Aegean which had been missing without a trace such as HMS Triumph (found on 26 May 2023 and it's discovery was announced on 7 June 2023) and HMS Trooper (found on 2 June 2024 and it's discovery was announced on 6 October 2024). He also found the wrecks of the Greek submarine RHS Katonis (found on 28 April 2018), Italian submarine Jantina (found on 3 November 2021) and the World War One French submarine Floréal (found on 13 December 2023).

Wolfpack operations

U-133 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
   Stosstrupp (30 Oct 1941 - 4 Nov 1941)
   Raubritter (5 Nov 1941 - 17 Nov 1941)
   Störtebecker (17 Nov 1941 - 22 Nov 1941)

Attacks on this boat and other events

17 Jan 1942
Depth charging by the British destroyer HMS Maori (Cdr R.E. Courage, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) caused minor damage.

U-133 had just torpedoed and sunk the British destroyer HMS Gurkha (Cdr. C.N. Lentaigne, DSO, RN) escorting convoy MW 8B.

1 recorded attack on this boat.

General notes on this boat

Myth involving this boat
There is a great U-boat myth that involves this boat. According to an article from 1996 her last mission was to travel up the Colorado River from Baja California and destroy the Hoover Dam. The article is from the USS Shaw's newsletter. The article states that U-133, piloted by Captain Peter Pfau along with 54 sailors made it to as far as Laughlin, Nevada before sandbars made them abort their mission and scuttle the sub.

This is only a cute story, she never would have made it that far (see map showing its approximate path from St. Nazaire, a suitable base, to the target) as its fuel supply would never have allowed this (not even close, the type VIIC could make it to the US east coast by filling up part of its water tanks with fuel but even then it was stretching it). There was also no U-boat commander named Pfau. Had such an unsual and daring raid been attempted during the war, people would talk and we would know about it by now.

Men lost from U-boats

Unlike many other U-boats, which during their service lost men due to accidents and various other causes, U-133 did not suffer any casualties (we know of) until the time of her loss.