U-68
Type | IXC | |||||||||||
| Ordered | 7 Aug, 1939 | |||||||||||
| Laid down | 20 Apr, 1940 | AG Weser, Bremen (werk 987) | ||||||||||
| Launched | 22 Oct, 1940 | |||||||||||
| Commissioned | 11 Feb, 1941 | Kptlt. Karl-Friedrich Merten (Oak Leaves) | ||||||||||
| Commanders |
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| Career | 10 patrols | 11 Feb, 1941 - 31 May, 1941 2. Flottille (training) 1 Jun, 1941 - 10 Apr, 1944 2. Flottille (front boat) | ||||||||||
| Successes | 32 ships sunk for a total of 197.453 GRT 1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 545 GRT | |||||||||||
| Fate | Sunk 10 Apr 1944 north-west of Madeira, Portugal, in position 33.24N, 18.59W, by depth charges and rockets from Avenger and Wildcat aircraft of the US escort carrier USS Guadalcanal (VC-58). 56 dead and 1 survivor | |||||||||||
See the 33 ships hit by U-68 - View the 10 war patrols
Wolfpack operations
U-68 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
Eisbär (23 Aug, 1942 - 29 Aug, 1942)
Attacks on this boat
27 Jul, 1941
The boat was attacked by 24 depth charges from Rhododendrun and driven off a convoy. Another U-boat was also depth charged by Sunflower and Pimpernel at roughly the same time. (Sources: Blair, vol 1, page 328)
2 Apr, 1943
At 16.06 hours, the boat was attacked by an American Mariner aircraft (USN VP-204 / P-9) with 3 bombs and suffered light damage. Since 27 March, U-68 was operating off Puerto Rico and had been attacked three times and kept submerged by aircraft for 127 hours in six days. After this attack the boat began its return voyage. (Sources: Rohwer/Ritschel)
14 Jun, 1943
At 09.33 hours, the outbound boat was strafed by one of four Mosquito aircraft. More details about this incident can be found on the page about U-155. Aboard U-68, the commander, the II.WO and another crew member were wounded. The I.WO Oblt E. Scherraus temporary took over the command. One crew member [Obergefreiter Hans Schaumburg] operating a MG38 machine-gun was apparently hit too, fell overboard and could not be recovered. The boat returned to base due to the casualties together with U-155 and later transferred its doctor to the other boat. (Sources: Norman Franks)
3 recorded attacks on this boat.
General notes on this boat
* U-68 was attacked on 14 June, 1943 by a British Mosquito aircraft and the commander was badly wounded. The IWO took over the command and brought the boat back to her base in Lorient, France.
The survivor, a lookout on the bridge, was rescued by the same US convoy escort group that had sunk Henke's U-515 the day before. The survivor was taken aboard the USS Guadalcanal and kept in isolation from the U-515 survivors already on board for the duration of the vessel's patrol to America. This was an American policy of not publishing U-boat sinkings.
Men lost from the boat
14 Jun, 1943
A Mosquito aircraft attacked the U-68 killing 1 and wounding 3 more. U-68 later was given the doctor onboard of U-155 for some medical treatment.
[Obergefreiter Hans Schaumburg]
Related: For more info on such losses see - Men lost from U-boats -
 | We have an emblem for this boat! You can view it here. (The emblem on the left is not the emblem for this boat). |
 U-Boot Gruppe Eisbär Pfitzmann, Martin Buy this title at amazon.de |
Books dealing with this subject include: German U-Boat Losses During World War II, Niestle, Axel, 1998 Goodnight, Sorry for Sinking You, Barker, Ralph, 1984  Nach Kompaß, Merten, Karl-Friedrich, 1994 Paukenschlag vor Kapstadt, Mielke, Otto, 1954 Raider 16, Hoyt, Edwin, 1988 (transl.) Schiff 16, Rogge, Bernhard, 1955 (transl.) 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 U-Boot Gruppe Eisbär, Pfitzmann, Martin, 1986 |
There was another U-68 in World War One
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 1 Jun, 1915 and commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 17 Aug, 1915. The Naval war in WWI was brought to an end with the Armistice signed on 11 Nov, 1918. Read about the U 68 during WWI.