German submarine U-106 (1940)
 A Type IXB submarine, believed to be U-106, under attack by a Sunderland flying boat
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| History | |
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 Nazi Germany | |
| Name | U-106 |
| Ordered | 24 May 1938 |
| Builder | |
| Yard number | 969 |
| Laid down | 26 November 1939 |
| Launched | 17 June 1940 |
| Commissioned | 24 September 1940 |
| Homeport | Lorient, France |
| Fate | Sunk, 2 August 1943, northwest of Spain, by British and Australian aircraft[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Type IXB submarine |
| Displacement | |
| Length |
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| Beam |
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| Draught | 4.70 m (15 ft 5 in) |
| Speed |
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| Range |
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| Armament |
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| Service record | |
| Part of: |
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| Identification codes: | M 34 486 |
| Commanders: |
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| Operations: |
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| Victories: | |
German submarine U-106 was a
U-106 was one of the most successful German submarines of World War II. She completed 10 wartime patrols and sank 22 ships totalling 138,581 gross register tons (GRT). She also damaged two ships totalling 12,634 GRT, one auxiliary warship of 8,246 GRT and the battleship HMS Malaya. U-106 helped to catalyze Mexico's entry into World War II on the side of the Allies by sinking one of two oil tankers; the Faja de Oro. (The other was the Potrero del Llano, sunk by U-564).
Design
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 18.2 knots (33.7 km/h; 20.9 mph) and a maximum submerged speed of 7.3 knots (13.5 km/h; 8.4 mph).
Service history
1st patrol
U-106 departed
The boat docked in Lorient in occupied France on 10 February.
2nd patrol
For her second patrol, U-106 departed Lorient on 26 February 1941. She would not return to France until 17 June 112 days later. The boat headed for the coast of west Africa. Her first victim on this patrol was Memnon, which went to the bottom 200 nmi (370 km; 230 mi) west of
3rd patrol
Sortie number three and the U-boat failed to find any targets. She had left Lorient on 11 August 1941 and returned there a month later (on 11 September), having covered the ocean west of Ireland, also west of the Azores and from north of that island chain to the Portuguese mainland.
On 2 Sept., the submarine met the German freighter Anneliese Essberger at 37 degrees 55 minutes N and 37 degrees 24 minutes W. She then escorted the freighter until 8 Sept., when they reached western cape of the Spanish north coast. The freighter then continued onwards to Bordeaux.[3]: 100–105
4th patrol
Any success on the boat's fourth sally was marred on 23 October 1941 by the discovery that an entire watch, (four men), had been washed overboard in heavy seas on the western edge of the
5th patrol
For her fifth patrol, U-106 sailed along the eastern coast of the United States and sank five ships, during the so-called "Second Happy Time". Amongst them were the SS Empire Wildebeeste and the tanker SS Rochester, the latter ship being dispatched with her 10.5 cm deck gun. She had left Lorient on 3 January 1942 and returned on 22 February.
6th patrol
Patrol number six also benefitted from a change of operational area to the Gulf of Mexico, where the boat sank five more ships and damaged a sixth. One of them, the tanker Faja de Oro, on 21 May 1942, was the second ship to be sunk which helped to facilitate Mexico's declaration of war on Germany on 1 June.
7th and 8th patrols
U-106 was attacked by a
The submarine crossed the Atlantic once more, sinking Waterton in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on 11 October 1942.
9th patrol
This foray was comparatively uneventful, starting on 17 February 1943 and finishing on 4 April. No ships were attacked.
10th patrol
The U-boat's 10th and final patrol began on 28 July 1943; she was sunk on 2 August of that year off northern Spain, after being damaged by a Wellington of
Fate
While trying to join a fleet of E-boats (German surface torpedo boats), U-106 was spotted by a Sunderland flying boat of 228 Squadron flown by Flying Officer Reader Hanbury. Although the anti-aircraft guns on U-106 fended off the British flying boat that sighted it, U-106 was hit by a Sunderland from No. 461 Squadron RAAF flown by Flight Lieutenant A. F. Clarke.[1]
According to the Allied crews and photographs taken of the attack, the U-boat partially exploded before sinking vertically.[4] Of U-106's 48-man crew, 22 were killed. The 26 who survived the attack were later picked up by German E-boats.[citation needed]
Wolfpacks
U-106 took part in three wolfpacks, namely:
- Raubritter (1 – 15 November 1941)
- Westwall (1 – 16 December 1942)
- Unverzagt (12 – 22 March 1943)
Summary of raiding history
References
Notes
- gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.
Citations
- ^ a b Kemp 1999, p. 138.
- ^ a b c d Gröner 1991, p. 68.
- ISBN 1557503079
- ^ Bowyer 1977, p. 46.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-106". German U-boats of WWII – uboat.net. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
Bibliography
- Bishop, C. Kriegsmarine U-Boats, 1939–45. Amber Books, 2006.
- Bowyer, Chaz. Coastal Command at War. Ian Allan. 1979, ISBN 0-7110-0980-5
- Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II : a biographical dictionary. Translated by Brooks, Geoffrey. London, Annapolis, Md: Greenhill Books, Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-186-6.
- Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999). Deutsche U-Boot-Verluste von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 [German U-boat losses from September 1939 to May 1945]. Der U-Boot-Krieg (in German). Vol. IV. Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn: Mittler. ISBN 3-8132-0514-2.
- Evans, J. The Sunderland: Flying Boat Queen Paterchurch Publications, 2004 ISBN 1-870745-13-2
- Gröner, Erich; Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin (1991). German Warships 1815–1945, U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels. Vol. 2. Translated by Thomas, Keith; Magowan, Rachel. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-593-4.
- Kemp, Paul (1999). U-Boats Destroyed – German Submarine Losses in the World Wars. London: Arms & Armour. ISBN 1-85409-515-3.
External links
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type IXB boat U-106". German U-boats of WWII – uboat.net. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- Hofmann, Markus. "U 106". Deutsche U-Boote 1935–1945 – u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 30 January 2015.
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in August 1943 | |
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