U-167

Type

IXC/40

Ordered

15 Aug 1940

Laid down

12 Mar 1941

Deutsche Schiff und Maschinenbau AG, Bremen (werk 706)

Launched

5 Mar 1942

Commissioned

4 Jul 1942

Kptlt. Kurt Neubert

Commanders

4 Jul 1942 - 8 Feb 1943	Kptlt. Kurt Neubert
8 Jan 1943 - 16 Jan 1943	Ltn. Günter Zahnow
5 Feb 1943 - 6 Apr 1943	Kurt Sturm

Career

2 patrols

4 Jul 1942 - 30 Nov 1942 4. Flottille (training)
1 Dec 1942 - 6 Apr 1943 10. Flottille (front boat)

Successes

1 ship sunk for a total of 5,449 GRT
1 ship damaged for a total of 7,200 GRT

Fate

Scuttled on 6 Apr 1943 near the Canary Islands, in approximate position 27.47N, 15.00W, after a depth charge attack by a British Hudson aircraft (Sqdn. 233/L) on 5 April.

Raised in 1951 and transferred to Spain. Used commercially for filming etc. Broken up. 50 survivors (No casualties).

See the 2 ships hit by U-167 - View the 2 war patrols

Wolfpack operations

U-167 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
   Falke (31 Dec 1942 - 14 Jan 1943)
   Unverzagt (12 Mar 1943 - 22 Mar 1943)
   Seerauber (22 Mar 1943 - 30 Mar 1943)

General notes on this boat

U-167 was heavily damaged in April 1943 after being attacked by British Hudson aircraft. The I WO, Ltnt. Zahnow, was wounded and therefore the commander Fregkapt. Sturm decided to scuttled the boat in the bay of Las Burras of Gran Canaria. Local fishermen helped to bring the crew to shore. The crew was interned for a few days onboard the German merchant ship Corrientes, which had been interned for years in the Canaries.

Amazing escape
A few days later the entire crew of 52 men was taken aboard the U-455, a type VIIC-boat! (The VIIC normally had a crew of about 48 so things must have been crowded). U-455 then headed back towards her French base. At sea they joined up with the returning U-154, U-159 and U-518 and those boats also took much of U-167's crew from the loaded U-455. In April 1943 the crew of U-167 was back in Lorient and St. Nazaire in France.

On 16 June, 1943 Fregkpt. Sturm, along with the entire original crew of U-167, took command of the U-547 and went, after a short training period, out on patrol again.

Men lost from the boat

8 Jan 1943
The first man lost from a U-boat in 1943 was during a storm when one man was washed overboard while saving the I WO. Also the commander was wounded and so the boat was brought back to base with the IWO in command on 16 Jan. [Obersteuermann Walter Schliephake]

Related: For more info on such losses see - Men lost from U-boats -

U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 2
Wynn, Kenneth