Hi John The three U-boat wrecks located northwest of Cornwall that were lost in the "HW" or "HY" minefields were initially believed to be U-325, U-400 and U-1021 in 2007. However, Axel Niestlé made a detailed analysis of the U-boat wreck found in one of the "Artizan" minefields off Lizard Head in 2010 and subsequently reassessed the fate of U-325. It is now believ
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Hi Richard The wreck of a type VIIC U-boat was discovered by Innes McCartney in position 50.02,7N, 02.01W on 1 June 1999. Its details are described from page 269 to 276 in his book "The Maritime Archaeology of a Modern Conflict" but the author believed the wreck to be U-772. However, further analyzing the details of the wreck it was positively identified as U-1200 by Axel Niestlé, th
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Hi James Yes, there is actually a very good online converter available on the website
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None of the details mentioned can be confirmed from original documents. According to the war diary of USS NEUNZER (DE 150) the ship left New Orleans on 13 October 1943 and headed to Bermuda for her shakedown cruise and training, arriving there on 18 October. They did attack a suspicious sound contact in the evening on 15 October in four attack runs with 72 hedgehog rounds (the half of the 144
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Hi John The photo definitely shows the fishing vessel LARK attacked by U-107, there are only ornaments before and after the name on her name plate. The other sources you mentioned actually misidentified the vessel, there was a steel hull trawler named LARK of 237 tons built in 1938 for Cape Cod Trawling Corp, Boston - but the vessel attacked was a wooden schooner.
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Hi John Found the following other cases: U-203 Mützelburg U-637 Riekeberg U-921 Leu U-957 Saar lost during training In other cases the commander was wounded and another officer had to take command: U-214 Reeder U-333 Cremer U-377 Kluth U-441 von Hartmann U-591 Zetzsche
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Hi Mark More confusing in the case of STELLA CAPELLA is that there are two different dates of death listed for her crew members in the records of the CWGC: most with 19 March 1942, but some are listed with 11 March. Probably because their deaths were originally reported as "between 11 and 19 March 1942"? As I explained in my previous post the STELLA CAPELLA was sunk only four hour
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HMS STELLA CAPELLA left Seydisfjordur in Iceland at 1900A on 10 March 1942 to proceed to Stornoway for repairs and was reported missing on 19 March after she failed to arrive. Only the analysis of German records after the war showed that she must have been the victim of the torpedo attack carried out by U-701 at 0211 on 11 March 1942. However, the U-boats kept German time and reported all even
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Really sad news, a great loss for those interested in naval history. May he rest in peace.
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On 24 December 1941 the destroyer USS DRAYTON (Cdr Laurence Allen Abercrombie) had left Pearl Harbor to escort the small inter-island steamer HUMUULA to Christmas Island (today known as Kiritimati) and claimed to have sunk a submarine about 60 miles south of Oahu a few hours after the departure. The commander was subsequently awarded the Navy Cross, the first of three awarded to him during the Se
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Hi Leif The sources for both is a document that can be found in the National Archives (Reference ADM 199/1786: Proceedings of U-Boat Assessment Committee 1944-45) and yes I have a copy of it. This document contains a precis of the torpedo attack reported by MTB-715 and of course the assessment of the committee. I still concur with the assessment made in 1945 that no U-boat was sunk in this
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No and no. The destroyer USS TURNER was lost by internal explosions either caused by defective ammunition or an accident while handling the ammunition as preparation to enter the Brooklyn Navy Yard for repairs.
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I think I know the photos you mentioned. They show the Bulgarian motor torpedo boats "No 5", "No 6" and "No 7". You correctly recognized their British origin as they were built as boats of the TM-51 class for the Royal Netherlands Navy at the Scheepswerf Gusto in Schiedam in license of the British Power Boat Company type PV. Several incomplete boats of this type w
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Hi Peter Thanks for bringing this discrepancy to our attention. I've corrected our page about U-581 because the complement was 46 (4 killed, 41 taken prisoner and 1 escaped). Lt. Sitek was the second watch officer and not the commander of this U-boat.
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There is a detailed description of the rescue of the sole survivor from BARON BLYTHSWOOD by U-99 in the book "Night Raider of the Atlantic" written by Terence Robertson shortly after the war (later also released with the titles "Wolf im Atlantik" and "The Golden Horseshoe"). The event is confirmed in the reports of the survivors from INVERSHANNON, who abandoned sh
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Otto Schultze was retired as Admiral in 1937 and reactivated at the outbreak of the Second World War in his old position as commanding officer of "Marinestation der Nordsee" at Wilhelmshaven, but only served three months in this position before being placed in reserve. In March 1941 he became the Commanding Admiral in France until his final retirement on 31 August 1942. His son was H
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I found his award published in the London Gazette on 8 July 1943 as follows: "The KING has been graciously pleased to approve that the following be Mentioned in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in East Africa and Madagascar: The Kenya Regiment: Lt. (temp. Capt.) (actg. Maj.) E. H. C. Luckham." The confirmation that Major Luckham had been aboard HOIHOW can probably
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Hi Tom We can eliminate CITY OF VENICE, this ship carried 3 officers and 154 ratings of the British Army, all other troops aboard were Canadian and Edward Luckham wasn't one of the three British officers. However, I found circumstantial evidence that he probably was a passenger aboard HOIHOW which had been sunk by U-181 off Madagascar on 2 July 1943. There were only four survivors and
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Apparently two such stories exist about U-boats in the First World War. They were discussed several years ago in our WW1 forum:
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I studied the report more closely, for those interested it is available here: In my opinion the report describes a type XXIII submarine, the "thing" under the bow is a Balkon-GHG (hydrophone). In fact one U-boat of this type (U-2344) was stored at the Neptunwerft in Rostock from its salvage in January 1955 until being broken up in 1958. However, the other information provided in
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There was indeed a U-boat recovered and taken to Neptun Werft at Rostock in 1956, but this was U-929 that had been scuttled off Warnemünde at the end of the war and was subsequently broken up. It had been the first of four of the improved type VIIC/41 that were built by the Neptun Werft, but only the first two were finished. So there seems to be some truth in this released CIA report, but most
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Hi Derek Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I've updated our pages about U-570 and HMS GRAPH accordingly.
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Ciao Francesco Grazie mille! I concur with your findings that MARCONI was most likely sunk by the depth charge attack carried out by HMS DUNCAN astern of convoy HG-75 on 28 October 1941. I've added this event to our page about this destroyer.
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Hi Larry COAMO had participated in the Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North Africa and was due to return to the US from Gibraltar. As the ship was capable of maintaining a speed of over 16 knots she could have been routed independently, as such ships were deemed save from U-boat attacks. However, the Admiralty was aware of a large concentration of U-boats directly west of Gibraltar so
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Hi Marinka Thank you for this list of events we apparently missed to include in our database of men lost from U-boats. I've added the following events: U-78 lost a man on 14 Mar 1945 U-237 lost a man on 19 Oct 1944 U-249 lost a man on 3 Oct 1944 U-265 lost three men on 28 Jun 1942 U-351 lost four men on 9 Mar 1945 U-393 lost two men on 4 May 1945 U-404 lost a man on 3 Sep 1941 U-4
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Hi John The transfer of U-317 from Kiel to Egersund was no war patrol. I've corrected this mistake on our page about this U-boat.
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Hi A Dutch seaman named Willem van Rhijn was lost in the sinking of YSELHAVEN on 6 June 1941, born on 17 September 1916 in Den Haag. Your step grandfather had an identical name and was also a Dutch seaman, but born on 1 September 1905 in Katwijk van Zee. He joined the SLOTERDIJK of the Holland America Line as lamp trimmer on 2 December 1940 at Singapore and apparently served aboard this shi
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Hi Ron The Firth of Forth was not really accessible for U-boats during the Second World War as the protection of the approaches to Rosyth were very important for the Admiralty and measures were taken to bolster the defence already before the war, like the anti-submarine detection loop laid to the north and south of May Island in 1937. In September 1939 they also announced a warning about an ex
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Hi Thanks for this information. I've updated our page about U-852 accordingly. I'm looking forward to see more photos of its wreck, but I guess not much more than an empty hull remains today as most parts had already been salvaged by the Royal Navy in 1944 (the periscope and all AA guns including their mountings for example) and all moveable scrap was probably removed by locals po
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Hi Brian Source: Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) 1107 Martin B-26B-35-MA Marauder (41-32014) Air Transport Command Reported missing on ferry flight from St. Mawgan, Cornwall to Casablanca, Morocco following a course on the 12th meridian on 25 October 1943. Five bodies of crew members were washed ashore in the vicinity of Peniche, Portugal. Two others remained missing. Pilot 2Lt Everett
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