U-196

Type

IXD2

 
Ordered4 Nov 1940
Laid down 10 Jun 1941 AG Weser, Bremen (werk 1042)
Launched24 Apr 1942
Commissioned11 Sep 1942Kptlt. Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat (Knights Cross)
Commanders
11 Sep 1942 - 21 Sep 1944  KrvKpt. Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat (Knights Cross)
1 Oct 1944 - 1 Dec 1944  Oblt. Werner Striegler
Career3 patrols 11 Sep 1942 - 31 Mar 1943  4. Flottille (training)
1 Apr 1943 - 30 Sep 1944  12. Flottille (front boat)
1 Oct 1944 - 1 Dec 1944  33. Flottille (front boat)
Successes3 ships sunk for a total of 17,739 GRT
Fate

Missing since 1 Dec, 1944 near the Sunda Straits south of Java, exact position unknown, possibly because of a diving accident. 65 dead (all hands lost).

See the 3 ships hit by U-196 - View the 3 war patrols

Attacks on this boat

25 May 1943
During a convoy attack the boat fired two torpedoes but only one ejected - the other one being stuck in the tube (a very possible detonation that would destroy the boat had to be averted). The boat was steeply dived and the torpedo harmlessly slid out the tube. During all of this the convoy escorts dropped 4 depth charges on the boat without results. Date is approximate. (Sources: Blair, vol 2, page 298)

1 recorded attack on this boat.

General notes on this boat

23 Oct 1943. U-196 under Korvkpt. Kentrat completed from 13 March, 1943 to 23 Oct, 1943 the longest patrol a submarine in WWII ever did (225 days at sea).

Men lost from U-boats

Unlike many other U-boats, which during their service lost men due to accidents and various other causes, U-196 did not suffer any casualties (we know of) until the time of her loss.



U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 2

Wynn, Kenneth


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Books dealing with this subject include:

German U-Boat Losses During World War II. Niestle, Axel, 1998.
Hitler's U-boat War. Blair, Clay, 1996.
Hitler's U-boat War, Vol II. Blair, Clay, 1998.
U-Boat Adventures. Wiggins, Melanie, 1999.
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.
Unterseeboot U 196. Mielke, Otto, 1956.



Related page:
U-boats Missing in Action.