German submarine U-37 (1938)
U-37 at Lorient in 1940
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History | |
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Nazi Germany | |
Name | U-37 |
Ordered | 29 July 1936 |
Builder | |
Yard number | 942 |
Laid down | 15 March 1937 |
Launched | 14 May 1938 |
Commissioned | 4 August 1938 |
Fate | Scuttled, 8 May 1945 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Type IXA submarine |
Displacement | |
Length |
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Beam |
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Height | 9.40 m (30 ft 10 in) |
Draught | 4.70 m (15 ft 5 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range |
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Test depth | 230 m (750 ft) |
Complement | 4 officers, 44 enlisted |
Armament |
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Service record[1][2] | |
Part of: |
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Identification codes: | M 21 204 |
Commanders: |
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Operations: |
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Victories: |
German submarine U-37 was a
Between August 1939 and March 1941, U-37 conducted eleven combat patrols, sinking 53 merchant ships, for a total of 200,063
Design
As one of the eight original
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 18.2 knots (33.7 km/h; 20.9 mph) and a maximum submerged speed of 7.7 knots (14.3 km/h; 8.9 mph).
Service history
First patrol
U-37 left
Second patrol
U-37 left Wilhelmshaven on 5 October 1939 to conduct operations in the North Atlantic now under the command of Korvettenkapitän Werner Hartmann. During this patrol she sank eight ships: four British, two Greek, one French and one Swedish, including the British steam freighter Yorkshire which was traveling with the Allied convoy HG-3, sailing from Gibraltar to Liverpool, England. Hartmann returned his boat to port on 8 November after nearly five weeks at sea.[7]
Third patrol
On 1 January 1940 U-37 was reassigned to the 2nd U-boat Flotilla based at Wilhelmshaven. On 28 January 1940 the U-boat departed for the North Atlantic, with Werner Hartmann in command. As on his previous patrol, Hartmann sank eight ships, this time three British, two Norwegian, one Danish, one French and one Greek. Of these ships, two were in convoy at the time. U-37 returned to Wilhelmshaven on 27 February.[8]
Fourth patrol
U-37 departed Wilhelmshaven on 30 March for Werner Hartmann's third consecutive patrol, this time around Norway. Again, Hartmann proved successful, sinking three ships; the Norwegian Tosca, the Swedish Sveaborg and the British Stancliffe. After patrolling for over two weeks, the U-boat returned to Wilhelmshaven on 18 April.[9]
Fifth patrol
Under a new captain, Kapitänleutnant Victor Oehrn, U-37 departed from Wilhelmshaven on 15 May for a patrol around Portugal and Spain. U-37 had her most successful mission, hitting eleven ships, sinking ten of them. Three French ships were sunk, two Greek, two British, one Swedish, one Argentinian, one Finnish; one British ship was damaged. After three and a half weeks at sea, U-37 returned to Wilhelmshaven on 9 June.[10]
The neutral
Sixth patrol
U-37 sailed from Wilhelmshaven on 1 August, again with Victor Oehrn in command. This week and a half long patrol in the Atlantic off the west coast of Ireland resulted in the sinking of a single British ship, Upwey Grange. U-37 returned to port on 12 August, but rather than head back to Wilhelmshaven, she made for Lorient in France, where the 2nd U-boat Flotilla was now based.[12]
Seventh patrol
For the first time, U-37 began a patrol from a location other than Germany, in Lorient on 17 August, with Victor Oehrn in command once more. It was to focus on operations off the south-west coast of Ireland. Seven ships were sunk during this voyage; five of which were British, one Norwegian, and one Greek. Of these ships, one was from convoy OA 220, the British Brookwood, traveling from Britain to the Australia, two were from convoy SC 1, the British sloop HMS Penzance (L28) and Blarimore, sailing from Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, to the United Kingdom. After two weeks at sea, U-37 returned to Lorient on 30 August.[13]
Eighth patrol
On 24 September, U-37 departed Lorient on Victor Oehrn's fourth patrol, in which he would sail to the North Atlantic. During this month-long operation U-37 sank six ships, four of which were in convoy at the time of attack, all of which were British. Five of these six ships were sailing under the British flag, while the sixth was from Egypt. The British ship Corrientes was sunk as part of OB-217, sailing from Liverpool to North America. Heminge was sailing as part of OB-220, also sailing from Liverpool to North America. British General was sunk while sailing as part of convoy OA 222, sailing from Britain to North America. The fourth ship sunk was the British Stangrant, sailing as part of convoy HX 77 from Halifax to the United Kingdom. The U-boat returned to Lorient on 22 October.[14]
Ninth patrol
After over a month in port, U-37 departed with a new captain,
Tenth and eleventh patrols
U-37 left Lorient on 30 January 1941 to patrol off the coast of Portugal. On 8 February she spotted Convoy HG-53. The next day, U-37 sank two British ships, Courland and Estrellano. The third merchant vessel that U-37 sank on her tenth patrol was the British ship Brandenburg, on 10 February. The U-boat then returned to Lorient on 18 February after spending 20 days at sea and sinking 4,781 GRT of shipping.[16]
Leaving Lorient for the final time on 27 February 1941, U-37's last patrol took her to the waters south of Iceland. There she sank two vessels, the Greek cargo ship Mentor on 7 March, and the Icelandic trawler Pétursey on the 12th. After spending 24 days at sea, U-37 entered the port of Kiel on 22 March.[17]
Training boat
On 1 May 1941 U-37 was reassigned to the
She was scuttled by her crew on 8 May 1945.[1]
Film Portrayals
The British war propaganda film 49th Parallel (1941) uses the name U-37 for the German submarine whose crew comes ashore in Canada during WW2. The craft is shown being blown up in Hudson Bay. The film was released shortly after the real U-37 was removed from active service.
In the 1943 war film Action in the North Atlantic, the U-boat in the opening scenes is titled U-37.
Summary of raiding history
Date | Name of Ship | Nationality | Tonnage[Note 1] | Fate[18] |
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8 October 1939 | Vistula | Sweden | 1,018 | Sunk |
12 October 1939 | Aris | Greece | 4,810 | Sunk |
15 October 1939 | Vermont | France | 5,186 | Sunk |
17 October 1939 | Yorkshire | United Kingdom | 10,183 | Sunk |
24 October 1939 | Ledbury | United Kingdom | 3,528 | Sunk |
24 October 1939 | Menin Ridge | United Kingdom | 2,474 | Sunk |
24 October 1939 | Tafna | United Kingdom | 4,413 | Sunk |
30 October 1939 | Thrasyvoulos | Greece | 3,693 | Sunk |
4 February 1940 | Hop | Norway | 1,365 | Sunk |
4 February 1940 | Leo Dawson | United Kingdom | 4,330 | Sunk |
10 February 1940 | Silja | Norway | 1,259 | Sunk |
11 February 1940 | Togimo | United Kingdom | 290 | Sunk |
15 February 1940 | Aase | Denmark | 1,206 | Sunk |
17 February 1940 | Pyrrhus | United Kingdom | 7,418 | Sunk |
18 February 1940 | Elin | Greece | 4,917 | Sunk |
18 February 1940 | P.L.M. 15 | France | 3,754 | Sunk |
10 April 1940 | Sveaborg | Sweden | 9,076 | Sunk |
10 April 1940 | Tosca | Norway | 5,128 | Sunk |
12 April 1940 | Stancliffe | United Kingdom | 4,511 | Sunk |
19 May 1940 | Erik Frisell | Sweden | 5,066 | Sunk |
22 May 1940 | Dunster Grange | United Kingdom | 9,494 | Damaged |
24 May 1940 | Kyma | Greece | 3,994 | Sunk |
27 May 1940 | Sheaf Mead | United Kingdom | 5,008 | Sunk |
27 May 1940 | Uruguay | Argentina | 3,425 | Sunk |
28 May 1940 | Brazza | France | 10,387 | Sunk |
28 May 1940 | Julien | France | 116 | Sunk |
28 May 1940 | Maria Rosé | France | 2,477 | Sunk |
29 May 1940 | Telena | United Kingdom | 7,406 | Sunk |
1 June 1940 | Ioanna | Greece | 950 | Sunk |
3 June 1940 | Snabb | Finland | 2,317 | Sunk |
8 August 1940 | Upwey Grange | United Kingdom | 9,130 | Sunk |
22 August 1940 | Keret | Norway | 1,718 | Sunk |
23 August 1940 | Severn Leigh | United Kingdom | 5,242 | Sunk |
24 August 1940 | Brookwood | United Kingdom | 5,100 | Sunk |
24 August 1940 | HMS Penzance | Royal Navy | 1,025 | Sunk |
25 August 1940 | Blairmore | United Kingdom | 4,141 | Sunk |
25 August 1940 | Yewcrest | United Kingdom | 3,774 | Sunk |
27 August 1940 | Theodoros T | Greece | 3,409 | Sunk |
27 September 1940 | Georges Mabro | Egypt | 2,555 | Sunk |
28 September 1940 | Corrientes | United Kingdom | 6,863 | Sunk |
30 September 1940 | Heminge | United Kingdom | 2,499 | Sunk |
30 September 1940 | Samala | United Kingdom | 5,390 | Sunk |
6 October 1940 | British General | United Kingdom | 6,989 | Sunk |
13 October 1940 | Stangrant | United Kingdom | 5,804 | Sunk |
1 December 1940 | Palmella | United Kingdom | 1,578 | Sunk |
2 December 1940 | Gwalia | Sweden | 1,258 | Sunk |
2 December 1940 | Jeanne M. | United Kingdom | 2,465 | Sunk |
4 December 1940 | Daphne | Sweden | 1,513 | Sunk |
16 December 1940 | San Carlos | Spain | 223 | Sunk |
19 December 1940 | Rhône | Vichy France | 2,785 | Sunk |
19 December 1940 | Sfax (Q 182) | Vichy French Navy
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1,379 | Sunk |
9 February 1941 | Courland | United Kingdom | 1,325 | Sunk |
9 February 1941 | Estrellano | United Kingdom | 1,983 | Sunk |
10 February 1941 | Brandenburg | United Kingdom | 1,473 | Sunk |
7 March 1941 | Mentor | Greece | 3,050 | Sunk |
12 March 1941 | Petursey | Iceland | 91 | Sunk |
References
Notes
- gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type IXA boat U-37". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "War Patrols by German U-boat U-37". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Type IXA". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Most Successful U-boats". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
- ^ a b c d Gröner 1991, p. 68.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol info for U-37 (First patrol)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol info for U-37 (Second patrol)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol info for U-37 (Third patrol)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol info for U-37 (Fourth patrol)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol info for U-37 (Fifth patrol)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Uruguay (Steam merchant)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol info for U-37 (Sixth patrol)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol info for U-37 (Seventh patrol)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol info for U-37 (Eighth patrol)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol info for U-37 (Ninth patrol)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol info for U-37 (Tenth patrol)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol info for U-37 (Eleventh patrol)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-37". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
Bibliography
- 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.
- Gröner, Erich; Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin (1991). U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels. German Warships 1815–1945. Vol. 2. Translated by Thomas, Keith; Magowan, Rachel. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-593-4.
External links
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type IXA boat U-37". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- Hofmann, Markus. "U 37". Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 - u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 7 December 2014.
- "U-boat Archive - U-boat KTB - U-37 2nd War Patrol". Retrieved 13 April 2017.
- UFA Newsreel of Werner Hartmann and U-37 in 1940 (in German)