Patrol 3
U-178, 10th Flotilla
Left at: October 7, 1942, 09:44
From: Lorient
Mission Orders: Patrol grid ET43.
07 October 1942
09:44
Depart Lorient.
U-178 Departs for its 3rd war patrol.
26 October 1942
1333 ET43
Arrive assigned patrol grid.
0519 somewhere in the south atlantic, just before the daily dive for the day.
30 Oct 1942
0530 ET61
Aircraft spotted, Crash dived.
Moderate flooding and equipment damage. Repairs underway, nothing further to report.
0840 ET61
Sound reports two merchant contacts. Gathered bearings. Will need a short dash on surface in order to gain firing position.
0845 ET61
Brought boat to perisope depth. Persiscope observation shows clear skys, calm seas. Surfacing boat for flank speed dash.
0849 ET61
Aircraft spotted, mediem range crash diving.......
One min or so after ordering a crash dive. That plane was a little closer then i thought....
Boat was severly damaged. Radioroom was killed. Looked recoverable. at 70 meters i had changed my mind. Blew ballast. Between the flooding, and the downward momentum of the boat from crash diving, she was out of control. blew ALL high pressure air into the ballast. Went to flank speed. boat was not responding. Max speed was 3kts. Tried to enact repairs, flooding too fast, main pump out of action.
Everything is smashed! The deck equipment absorbed most of the blast from the aircrafts bombs.
Boat is too heavy, despite best efforts. u-178 cannot stop its decent.
Never give up! Maybe we can get this main pump repaired and save our asses!
U-178 disappears from view into the depths, never to be seen again.
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Name: HANS IBEKKEN
Date of Birth: 04SEP13
Place of Birth: HEIDAU/LIEGNITZ
Date of Intake: 01APR36 (CREW 36)
Promotions
08DEC36 SEEKADETT
01JUL37 FÄHNRICH Z. S.
01DEC39 OBERFÄHNRICH Z. S.
01JUN40 LEUTNANT Z. S.
23AUG42 OBERLEUTNANT Z. S.
Medals
23AUG42 IRON CROSS, SECOND CLASS
23AUG42 IRON CROSS, FIRST CLASS
U-Bootwaffe Postings
25JUN41 1st Flotilla (Commander training)
05FEB42 10th Flotilla (3 patrols)
U-Boat Commands
05FEB42 U-178, Type IXD2 (3 patrols)
Patrol1:
05FEB42 - 01MAY42 (86 days) 13 ships for 71710 tons.
02JUN42 - 23AUG42 (83 days) 12 ships for 86268 tons.
07OCT42 - 30OCT42 (24 days) boat lost.
TOTALS:
3 patrols (193 days) 25 merchants for 157,978 tons
2 enemy planes downed
56 crew lost
Summary
Lieutenant Sr. Hans Ibekken and U-178 were lost sometime on 30OCT42.
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