Hi John I updated our page for U-86 today: Sunk 29 Nov, 1943 east of the Azores, in position 40.52N, 18.54W, by depth charges from the British destroyers HMS Tumult and HMS Rocket. 50 dead (all hands lost).
Forum: General Discussions

Hi John The ship mentioned was FAIRPORT, sunk by U-161 on 16 July 1942: You can find more informations about the emergency shipping of Sherman tanks to North Africa here:
Forum: General Discussions

Yes, the mine operations are one thing to come, but at the moment I am working mainly on a database with unsuccessful attacks by U-boats.
Forum: General Discussions

Well, our database for the mine operations is still in the Admin section only, not yet ready to be published in the Conning Tower.
Forum: General Discussions

The only U-boat laid mines in that area came from U-220, which dropped 66 SMA-type mines in the southern approaches to St. Johns on 9 Oct, 1943. They resulted in the loss of PENOLVER and DELISLE:
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Paul No, Maracaibo was never attacked, because the harbour lies protected behind a narrow in shallow waters. The war came close to the city when U-502 operated in the Gulf of Venezuela and sank the three small tankers TIA JUANA, MONAGAS and SAN NICOLAS in February 1942.
Forum: General Discussions

Hmm.. there was also a German light cruiser KÖLN. It could be that Heinicke told this name to the British master as deception, indicating that a German cruiser was operating in the North Atlantic and to let the Royal Navy search for a phantom.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Mark According to Ritschel, Heinicke told the crew to stay near the wreck and then tried to stop the British steamer ROTHESAY CASTLE with red flares and two shots across her bow, but the ship fled and was chased by the U-boat for 90 minutes, before he decided to return to the survivors of CHEYENNE and tow them towards Ireland.
Forum: General Discussions

The second WINKLEIGH was launched on 24 February 1940 and completed in May 1940, so this ship was very likely a replacement for the early war loss of the company.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi On this page: You can search for all Mexcian vessels hit by U-boats by choosing "Mexican" in the field country. The JUAN CASIANO was lost during a storm after sustaining damage in a collision in October 1944. If you are interested in more informations about the actions in the Gulf of Mexico, I suggest to get a copy of this book: Or this one in Spanish:
Forum: General Discussions

In the night of 16/17 June 1942, the American steam merchant COLUMBIAN (4964 grt) was slightly damaged in a gun duel with the Italian submarine ARCHIMEDE (Gazzana-Priaroggia) in 07°18N/41°03W, after the ship evaded the torpedoes fired by the submarine, which was herself slightly damaged in the action.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Dave I'm only aware of the harbour of Kirkenes in Northern Norway. Is there one in Iceland with that name? Already in May 1940, Iceland was occupied by British forces due to its importance for the war in the North Atlantic, so it was impossible for U-boats to enter its harbours afterwards. As Hans mentioned above, U-30 entered the neutral Reykjavik in September 1939 to land a wounde
Forum: General Discussions

I found another description of the loss of USAT ONEIDA here: According to this, the survivors heard thumps and assumed that they came from two torpedoes hitting the ship without detonating. This is unlikely, because there was no U-boat operating in this area around that day, the closest being U-129 further south. This U-boat reported encountering twice an US submarine in late April, so if th
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hi Axel The convoy pages of warsailors.com lists 14 Canadian escorts for ON-292: So you should ask Siri Lawson, she probably has further informations about ON-292. Otherwise NA lists ON-292 in ADM 237/780 and ADM 217/138 is dealing with the movements of Escort Group B-3 while escorting HX-345 Hope this helps
Forum: General Discussions

As far as I know, the U-boats were usually armed with one belt-fed MG34 and 6000 rounds of ammunition. It was stored inside of the conning tower, brought on the bridge through the hatch and placed on one of four mouting points available.
Forum: General Discussions

COUNSELLOR struck a mine and sank off Liverpool on 8 March 1940. U-32 laid 12 mines in the area, but in the night of 9/10 March. So it is likely that she struck one of the mines that U-30 laid in the area on 6 January.
Forum: General Discussions

At least three U-boats sought shelter in St. Peter Port on Guernsey when operating in the English Channel against the invasion fleet off the Normandy in June 1944. The boats were U-269, U-275 and U-984, which recharged their batteries under cover from the AA guns of the island. Each U-boat was attacked by aircraft while in the harbour, but no damages sustained.
Forum: General Discussions

The Avenger aircraft (pilot Lt. William R. Gillespie, USNR) was from VC-6, embarked on the US escort carrier USS TRIPOLI (CVE 64) in TG 47.7, a hunter-killer group searching west of the Cape Verde Islands for U-219 and U-1062. Shortly after sunset on 28 September 1944, the radar-equipped Avenger located U-219 on the surface and went in for a rocket attack, but was shot down by AA fire. An Aven
Forum: General Discussions

Hi John Here you find a list of all warships sunk by U-boats: You can sort the list by type or U-boat by clicking on the row title. U-371 is the U-boat with the most confirmed hits on escorts, sinking a destroyer and damaging two destroyer escorts.
Forum: General Discussions

The Germans had scuttled 23 U-boats in Wilhelmshaven, but only old training boats or boats that had been taken out of service due to age or damages by Allied bombing raids. I don't think that any service personnel from those boats remained in Wilhelmshaven, so the U-boat officer was more likely from one of the 22 U-boats that were collected in Wilhelmshaven by the Allies in May 1945. They ha
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Rob I'm not aware that any U-boat surrendered in Wilhelmshaven, the boats there were scuttled prior to the capture of the city. But the port was later used to collect all usable U-boats to transfer them to British ports. Here you can find a list of U-boats that were at sea when they were ordered to surrender: Only two of them (U-739 and U-2336) returned to Germany to surrender.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Easty No, our database only shows the actual sinkings and not the claims. Your idea is interesting nevertheless, but there are some problems if we want to do this. Axis Submarine Successes lists the claims before they were approved or dismissed by the BdU Staff. Awards and promotions were given according to the BdU lists, so this would be the more interesting data. Unfortunately I don�
Forum: General Discussions

I only found one USAAF attack on the harbour of Danzig by the USAAF: On 9 October 1943, as part of the Combat Mission 113 of the 8th AF: 41 of 51 B-24's hit the U-boat yards at Danzig and the port area at Gdynia, Poland at 1305 hours; they claim 7-3-4 Luftwaffe aircraft; 2 B-24's are lost, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 19 damaged; casualties are 1 WIA and 21 MIA. Both lost B-
Forum: General Discussions

The first US prisoners taken by U-boats were Charles H. Carter and James M. Brown from USS CYTHERA, which was sunk by U-402 in March 1942: I think Paul is looking for one of these two men.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Bruce Well, the number one in Roman numerals is I (the uppercase letter of i). So it looks typed like AI but actually means A1. The Kriegsmarine used the Roman numerals for numbering, for example the I.WO and II.WO or the U-boat types (VII, IX, etc). A naval staff had four Asto and they were numbered I, II, IV (III was not used because this was the Flotteningenieur - Fleet Engineer).
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Gina Ok, I will give it a try: "While the flotilla was en route to the ordered anti-submarine sweep, observed anti-aircraft fire from automatic weapons on starboard aft between Cap d'Antifer and Le Havre and interpreted it as test firing the AA on "T-19", which was quite a distance behind and was rejoining at high speed." Fla.M.W. = Flugabwehr-Maschinenwaffe = a
Forum: General Discussions

U-61 did not lay a minefield on her patrol from 7 to 18 December 1939. They tried to lay one in the Firth of Forth from 9 to 13 December, but due to a strong presence of patrol craft and extinguished navigation lights at night, they had to give up and returned with the mines still on board.
Forum: General Discussions

I now did some research about the minefields of U-22 and U-61 and their victims: On 1 Dec, 1939, U-61 laid 9 mines in AN5464 off Newcastle (approx. 55°03N/01°25W) I have the map from the KTB which shows that the U-boat laid the first mine off Cullercoats, continued southwards and then eastwards off South Shields. On 22 Dec, 1939, U-22 laid 9 mines in AN5461 off Blyth (approx. 55°09N/01°2
Forum: General Discussions

Hi John FERRYHILL was not lost in the Firth of Forth, she sank near the St. Mary's Lighthouse near Blyth. U-22 laid mines there on 20 December 1939, so this U-boat is responsible for her loss.
Forum: General Discussions

The first war patrol of U-129 was broken off due to illness of a crew member (diphtheria). On the second patrol they rescued the crew of KOTA PINANG as Lio wrote. On the third patrol they rescued the crew of the raider PYTHON. They did not fire a single torpedo on the three patrols because there was simply no opportunity to do so.
Forum: General Discussions