This boat was damaged by a German mine in the North Sea off Lister on 23.10.1944, eventually brought back to Kristiansand by the 26th. Is the name of the minefield known? John
Forum: General Discussions

Hi, I wonder if the cause of her loss could be attributed to both the Thompson Lykes and the USAAF aircraft. As you state there were no enemy submarines present and with no American submarine losses reported lost, the fact is Thompson Lykes certainly hit an under water object. But what?. 1. Looking at the photo of the damage to the bow of T.L, compared to a few photo's of HMS ships bows
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This officer at the end of the war is stated as being a P.O.W under the British until July 1945, is it known how he ended up being executed in Moscow on 27th December 1950, being found guilty of espionage? John
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This boat in March 1945 is listed of making two sailings within the Baltic Sea, one from Hela on the 7th to arrive at Swinemunde on the 10th. The second states she sailed also from Hela but on the 10th to arrive at Warnemunde on the 13th. Seeing the time it took [3 days] to cover these it would not be possible for her to arrive at Swinemunde on the 10th then sail from Hela again on the same date.
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Hi Chris, not my main interest, however I have the following which may be of some use. Dynamite for Hire by A. V. Sellwood , concerning in part U234 attempt in 1945. U-boat far from Home by David Stevens which concentrates on U862, Reluctant Allies by Hans-Joachim Krug, Yoichi Hirama, Berthold J. Sander-Nagashima and Axel Niestle , which deals with German / Japanese lack of trust with each other
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Hi In the report of U111 survivors interrogation, in the listing of Officers it states A Boatswain Mate 2ND class went on eight cruises on U30 before transferring to U111. There are two Boatswain listed as being on U111, Hermann Gedrat and Hubert Haberstroh ,however in the crew listing for U30 neither of these two are mentioned as having served on U30. Was this a typo or a deliberate mis-informat
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This boat sailed from Kristiansand on 22.01.1945 on a joint war and supply patrol. She eventually reached St Nazaire on 18.02.1945. Does any one know the cargo she carried?, notably on her return, sailing March 14th to Kristiansand she carried two technicians, technical equipment and 35 tons on non ferrous metals as well as sinking the minesweeper HMS Guysborough SW of Brest on the 17th. John
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Hi This story resembles the loss of U576, which was reported sunk following an attack from American aircraft and also gunfire from a American merchant ship on 15.07.1942. However on finding her wreck it was recorded as with U215 the hatch sealed, lying upright with no visible damage. Which like you state there were men alive, with the possibility of a controlled dive to escape rather than actuall
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Hi Michael many thanks for the reply. Regards John
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Hi, taken from a newspaper article 29.06.2022, quote "The medals of a Second World War hero who took on a German submarine in just a canoe are going on sale. Sergeant Derek Ellis, with Major Harry Holden-White, used a mini-torpedo to score a direct hit in an Algerian harbor. The vessel was forced to slow and was sunk by a British submarine." "The raid was part of Operation Reservis
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This boat having transferred to the Japanese base at Penang, did on 28.01.1942 only to return on February 3rd, the reason the 1ST W.O. became ill with appendicitis. She re-sailed on the 7th to go on and reach Batavia on March 24th. If the watch officer had not become ill, was she under orders to have continued on to Batavia?, if so the sailing on January 28th would be an aborted patrol?. John
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Hi Tony On checking Polmar / Carpenter Japanese Submarines, only three are listed as being sunk in December 1941, Ro-60 on 29th, Ro-66 on 17th and I-70 on the 10th, none in the area mentioned. In Meister's book on Russian Warships, two are listed, Shch-204 on 16th and Shch-212 on the 17th again not in the area. However there are two others L-7 and L-13 just listed as missing 1941-1942 in the
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This Doctor was part of U119 58 man crew, when U119 met U449 on the 23rd June 1943 he transferred across to the U449 which had a crew of 49 to attend some of them. However they boats were intercepted by naval ships and at 0830 U119 was sunk with no survivors. U449 managed to survive until she too was sunk at 1600 also with no survivors. Should Dr Baunhardt be listed as being an additional loss to
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Hi Gerard, although Kentrat served as you state his longevity would a lot be by his commands. His early success on U74 were all in 1941, before the Allied anti-U-boat took the incentive away from the U-boats. There followed while at a shore posting from March until September 1942, which was followed by being appointed C/O of U196, which saw his achieve his last successes in 1943/44, not in the ki
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Hi MaschMtdR Karl Heinz Bock had died due to illness the day before the loss of the boat. John
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Hi on checking the sites on your post, the finding the wreck of Octavian, which as been identified by the diving team, as being only 700 yards from where Hardegen in U123 recorded sinking a ship, which had been reported in error as being the San Jose. The Octavian having been assumed to be the ship attacked by the U203 some 150 miles further north on the assumption she was heading for St Johns Ne
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Yes, seems a reasonable answer. As you probably know the area off the Biscay coastal ports had been divided in to areas around the entrances to each port, Lorient = Artichokes, Brest =Jellyfish V, St Nazaire = Beech and La Pallice = Cinnamon. The RAF continually kept replenishing each one by dropping mines throughout the later war years. Of other possible causes of her loss, she being relatively
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Hi on a related topic, the sinking area for the U-boats was designated XX with demolition charges to be used. With ZZ and YY as alternate positions if conditions were not suitable. As it turned out both many U-boats and the weather were not and many boats foundered or sunk en-route with a few reaching both ZZ and YY. The latitude and longitude positions for ZZ and YY are listed, is XX position or
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When this boat was lost with all her crew were there four P.O.w's also lost with her, the ships masters from the Oakbank plus an apprentice, the master from Baron Dechmont and from the Yorkwood.? John
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This boat sailed from La Pallice on January 1st 1944 but was forced to abort due to battle damage from an aircraft attack. Was she on a mining patrol? john
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This boat being one of sixteen U-boats transferred from Lisahally to Loch Ryan to ease congestion at that port, the others all seem to have sailed on September 1st 1945, is U481 date known? John
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Of the many U-boats lost within the Baltic Sea area's, is it known if the following have been left in situ or raised and broken up? U80, U236, U272, U367, U393, U416, U579, U580, U583, U649, U670, U718, U768, U904, U983, U1015, U1210, U3032 and U3523?. Also U272 were there five trainee L.I. crewmen on board when she was lost? John
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Many thanks for supplying the answer. Regards John
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Was this boat destroyed at Hamburg on the 30.03.1545 in a USAAF bombing raid or on the 31.03.1945 in an RAF bombing raid? Date sources Mighty 8th War Diary and Bomber Command War Diaries. John
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Hi Rainer, re-guarding your statement that only U2511 and U3008 were the only two type XXI boats that sailed on patrols, I wonder if you would kindly give your opinion on U2506. Listed by Uootarchiv as having sailed on a war patrol, sailing on the 26.04.45 from Horten to arrive at Kristiansand from where she sailed on the 28th. she is listed as going to operate off Gibraltar but developed a prob
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The listed cause of the sinking of her is stated on several sites, the general agreement being having been on her way home sighted a convoy metal work missing. Her position suggests that she came down in a controlled dive supported with lack of evidence of an impact and no damage to her dive planes , screws or rudder. All escape hatches being still firmly closed meaning although alive no crew ap
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Hi having just watched on National Geographic the NOAA footage of the search for the wreck of U576 (UK BBC TV) it revealed the boat was resting upright leaning on her starboard side with much of the hull above the sea bed. It however also showed NO sign of any battle damage from both gunfire and depth charge attacks but not having plunged out of control down into the sea bed, but more of a contro
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Hi Thomas, have you tried any of the following, HMS SIBYL - Clyde Maritime, HMS Sibyl - Wikpaedia or HMS Sibyl bing.com/images. John
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Hi, in his revised 2014 U-boat losses Axel states Regards John
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Hi Tony, the RAF did mine and name the entrances to the Biscay ports, Brest , one confirmed sinking, Lorient, two sinking's, La Pallice one successful sinking, St Nazaire , no record of a U-boat loss in Beech. Regardless a drifting Allied or German mine could have caused her demise. I don't, however have details of the German Biscay defensive mining areas. John
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