Type IXB - most succesful convoy hunter of the war

[CV-707]

Those of you who think the Type IX is slow, huge and otherwise horrible; you may be right but it sure was succesful back in WWII!

I hereby make a note from the book SUBMARINES-WAR BENEATH THE WAVES FROM 1776 TO THE PRESENT DAY.

"Germany's Type IXB submarine was the most succesful of all U boat classes in World War II, sinking 282 ships displacing a total of 1,526,510 tons. U 107, under Kptlt Gunther Hessler, mounted the most succesful U boat patrol between March 29 and July 2, 1941, sinking 14 ships, totalling 86,699 tons, between the Canary Islands and the west coast of Africa."

~S~

[CV-707]

I forgot to mention that only one IXB survived the war!

:nope: :nope: :nope: :damn: :damn: :damn: :nope: :nope: :nope:

~S~

[Karl-Heinz Jaeger]

Nice tonnage for a single patrol!! Especially when you consoder the loadout on those boats was limited to what, 15 torpedoes?? A pity we don't know if he came home with one fish remaining or fired and missed, whichever is the case thats either a 90%-100% hit percent per torpedoes fired. I'll bet Weps got an Iron Cross for his work on that patrol!!

[davidaspy]

The XIBs were the killer uboats. On average they each sunk 100,000 tonnes.

[Crash Dive]

The Type IXB carried like 22 or 24 torpedos. :yep:

[Spaxspore]

Those of you who think the Type IX is slow, huge and otherwise horrible; you may be right but it sure was succesful back in WWII!

I hereby make a note from the book SUBMARINES-WAR BENEATH THE WAVES FROM 1776 TO THE PRESENT DAY.

"Germany's Type IXB submarine was the most succesful of all U boat classes in World War II, sinking 282 ships displacing a total of 1,526,510 tons. U 107, under Kptlt Gunther Hessler, mounted the most succesful U boat patrol between March 29 and July 2, 1941, sinking 14 ships, totalling 86,699 tons, between the Canary Islands and the west coast of Africa."

~S~

OH i believe you, me and U-110 (IXB) sank a ton of ships
U-Boat Commands
01SEP39 U-48, Type VIIB (14 patrols)
18FEB41 U-110, Type IXB (17 patrols)
27SEP42 U-566, Type VIIC (19 patrols

I just calculated how many ships i sank with U-110 before i got my Type7c. (thanks for SubCmDr)

152(including merchant & warship) On avg 9 ships sunk per for a total of 17patrols

[CV-707]

You're right, Knights Cross indeed!
This is from uboat.net

U-107
Type IXB

Laid down 6 Dec, 1939 AG Weser, Bremen
Commissioned 8 Oct, 1940 Kptlt. Günther Hessler
Commanders
8 Oct, 1940 - 1 Dec, 1941 KrvKpt. Günter Hessler (Knights Cross)
1 Dec, 1941 - 6 Jun, 1943 Kptlt. Harald Gelhaus (Knights Cross)
Jul, 1943 - Aug, 1944 Kptlt. Volker Simmermacher
Aug, 1944 - 18 Aug, 1944 Ltn. Karl-Heinz Fritz
Career 14 patrols 8 Oct, 1940 - 31 Dec, 1940 2. Flottille (training)
1 Jan, 1941 - 18 Aug, 1944 2. Flottille (front boat)
Successes 37 ships sunk for a total of 207.375 GRT
2 auxiliary warships sunk for a total of 10.411 GRT
3 ships damaged for a total of 17.392 GRT
1 auxiliary warship damaged for a total of 8.246 GRT
Fate Sunk 18 Aug, 1944 in the Bay of Biscay west of La Rochelle, in position 46.46N, 03.49W, by depth charges from a British Sunderland aircraft (Sqdn 201/W). 58 dead (all hands lost).

U-107 under Kptlt. Günther Hessler put out from Lorient, France at 19:30 on 29 March, 1941 for what would become the most successful patrol of the entire war against allied merchant shipping. She left the base along with U-94 commanded by Kptlt. Kuppisch but then U-107 headed southwards.

Her operational area was around the Canary Islands and nearby Freetown where she sank 14 ships for a total of 86,699 tons, starting with the British merchant SS Eskdene which required some 2 torpedoes and 104 rounds from the heavy 105mm fast firing deck cannon. The largest ship sunk during that patrol was the British Calchas of 10,305 tons. On 1 June, 1941 they sank the British U-boat-trap Alfred Jones of 5,013 tons.

On 3 and 4 of May U-107 refuelled from the German support ship Nordmark. There they also met U-105. Five days later they took on board 14 torpedoes and some food, fuel and water from the support ship Egerland. The boat returned to Lorient on 2 July 1941.

Kptlt. Hessler married Karl Dönitz's daughter, Ursula, in November 1937. At that time Hessler was serving on the torpedo boats but in April 1940 he joined the U-boat force. Because Hessler was his son-in-law Dönitz had trouble giving Hessler his deserved Knights Cross and eventually Grand Admiral Raeder signed the papers.

Unlike many other U-boats, which during their service lost men due to accidents and various other causes, U-107 did not suffer any casualties (we know of) until the time of her loss.

~S~

[CV-707]

OH i believe you, me and U-110 (IXB) sank a ton of ships
U-Boat Commands
01SEP39 U-48, Type VIIB (14 patrols)
18FEB41 U-110, Type IXB (17 patrols)
27SEP42 U-566, Type VIIC (19 patrols

I just calculated how many ships i sank with U-110 before i got my Type7c. (thanks for SubCmDr)

152(including merchant & warship) On avg 9 ships sunk per for a total of 17patrols

LOL Spaxspore! I'll quote from the book again! (Not good luck, huh?)

"U 110 was captured by British warships (contrary to Hollywood's perception) during an attack on convoy OB 318, south of Iceland on May 9, 1941. The boat was forced to surface after depth charging by the corvette and was abandoned as Bulldog appeared to be on course for ramming her. During the rapid clearing of the boat's equipment and documents by British personnel, her Enigma cipher machine was recovered which provided the last link in Britain's efforts to decode naval signal traffic. U 110 sank the following day whilst under tow." :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

[CV-707]

This again is from uboat.net, this time about U 110! (Better luck next time, Spaxspore!) :down: :down: :down: :down: :down: :down:

U-110
Type IXB

Laid down 1 Feb, 1940 AG Weser, Bremen
Commissioned 21 Nov, 1940 Kptlt. Fritz-Julius Lemp
Commanders
21 Nov, 1940 - 9 May, 1941 Kptlt. Fritz-Julius Lemp (Knights Cross)
Career 2 patrols 21 Nov, 1940 - 28 Feb, 1941 2. Flottille (training)
1 Mar, 1941 - 9 May, 1941 2. Flottille (front boat)
Successes 3 ships sunk for a total of 10.149 GRT
2 ships damaged for a total of 8.675 GRT
Fate Captured on 9 May, 1941 in the North Atlantic south of Iceland by the destroyers HMS Bulldog, HMS Broadway and the British corvette HMS Aubretia. The boat was allowed to sink the day after to preserve the secret capture. 15 dead and 32 survivors.


"The Secret Capture"


U-110 met its end on May 9, 1941 when it was captured . This is what most people view as the most important capture of the entire war and it was so secret that even the crew of U-110 did not know of it! U-110, under the command of Kptlt. Fritz Julius Lemp, had been attacking a convoy along with U-201 (Oblt. Adalbert Schnee) when Lemp left his periscope up too long (probably to confirm a kill, he sank two ships on that day amounting to 7500 GRT) and the escort HMS Aubretia spotted it and rushed to the scene dropping depth charges.

U-110 survived the first attacks but then HMS Bulldog and HMS Broadway came and joined in the hunt. U-110 was forced to surface and HMS Bulldog immediately went onto ramming course (its commander realized at the very last moment that a capture might come off and tried to avoid hitting U-110 which he almost did) which Lemp noticed and ordered "Abandon Ship". Lemp figured that since the boat was going to be rammed (and presumably sunk) its secrets were safe within it. Only when he was in the water did he realize that the boat was not sinking and attempted to swim back and prevent capture and that was the last seen of him. Many say he was shot in the water by a British sailor but that may not be at all true.

The British made several journeys between U-110 and HMS Bulldog to collect whatever they could get their hands on inside the boat. This must have been a real treat as U-110 was abandoned in a hurry and being a IXB class she did not sink as rapidly as VIIC would likely have done. It is very likely that numerous U-boats were sunk using the material found inside U-110.

The day after the boat was captured someone realized that the allies already had the most important part of U-110, namely the secret documents and Enigma machine and that the Germans might find out that the British had the boat soon and, assuming the worst, change all codes and cipher system. The boat thus "accidentally" sank when being towed to Britain. 15 men were killed in the action and 32 captured. Lemp himself did not survive as noted above.

Men lost from the boat:
23 Mar, 1941
U-110´s 105mm deck gun exploded during firing wounding 3 men.

[Crash Dive]

Poor unfortunate Kptlt. Lemp. :cry:

[CV-707]

Poor unfortunate Kptlt. Lemp. :cry:

Poor Lemp Kptlt. indeed! :down: :down: :down:

[Spaxspore]

OH i believe you, me and U-110 (IXB) sank a ton of ships
U-Boat Commands
01SEP39 U-48, Type VIIB (14 patrols)
18FEB41 U-110, Type IXB (17 patrols)
27SEP42 U-566, Type VIIC (19 patrols

I just calculated how many ships i sank with U-110 before i got my Type7c. (thanks for SubCmDr)

152(including merchant & warship) On avg 9 ships sunk per for a total of 17patrols

LOL Spaxspore! I'll quote from the book again! (Not good luck, huh?)

"U 110 was captured by British warships (contrary to Hollywood's perception) during an attack on convoy OB 318, south of Iceland on May 9, 1941. The boat was forced to surface after depth charging by the corvette and was abandoned as Bulldog appeared to be on course for ramming her. During the rapid clearing of the boat's equipment and documents by British personnel, her Enigma cipher machine was recovered which provided the last link in Britain's efforts to decode naval signal traffic. U 110 sank the following day whilst under tow." :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:


Dude..... IF u read.... that was MY patrols not the actually Boat...
If you already knew that i apolize, and yes i knew the real boats histroy it was on my sig during the 17 patrols i was commanding u110.
"bags head on his desk"

[CV-707]

LOL! :P :P :P

[Spaxspore]

LOL! :P :P :P

well at lest my u110 had a happier ending then the real one... sad panda

[CV-707]

Be happy about that! I doubt that you'd enjoy being a POW!

:yep: :yep: :yep:

~S~

[Ducimus]

Call me a cynic, but i think the various captains (with alot of torpedos) alot to do with the IXBs sucess.

[Hartmann]

The 22 torpedo load makes the difference, and the dive times it´s not very different tha a type VII

[CCIP]

IX's are also the fastest boats of all. In totally calm weather, I managed to sustain a constant 22 knots during one of my attack runs.

They're great boats if you know how to carry out surfaced attacks and penetrate convoy escorts before diving. :up:

[CV-707]

True so true.
Of course captains had a lot to do with the IXB's success, torpedoes apart. But i'd say that the boat still was better than if the same captains would have been placed in Type II's, or dugout canoes!
:know: :know: :know: