It is not a pleasure.

[Ula Jolly]

The U-93 has been lost.

Captain Wilhelm Früder lead more than fifty of his men into the port of Reykjavik in late April, 1942, and half a week later reported two corvettes and three cargo ships sunk. This was the 22nd patrol of this vessel, and would turn out to be the very last.

En route home, contact was lost near BE6. British radio traffic from that night has been intercepted, reporting the sinking of a submarine by use of guns.

While the report leaves us wondering why the U-93 would not return fire, it is clear as crystal that this submarine has been of the more important during this war. 22 patrols, each more daring than the last, collected more than 160,000 tons of sunk shipping. Not on a single patrol had any fatality occured; the crew was a highly decorated one, of the finest to ever leave port.

BdU has speculated in the bad mix of surface running, a national soccer match between Norway and Belarus, and high TC to be important factors in the loss. The British reported she was slow to dive, which could mean that the captain pressed the E button several times in despair, causing the ballast tanks to be blown...

Oh, the humanity...

There is little doubt that the captain and his crew would have been more, much more than happy to have seen the war through.