German submarine U-109 (1940) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The German submarine U-109 was a Type IXB U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

of the German

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

Kriegsmarine

The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...

that operated during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. She conducted nine war-patrols, sinking 12 ships and damaging one. All but one of these successes were during the six patrols she carried out under the command of the U-boat ace, Heinrich Bleichrodt

Heinrich Bleichrodt

Lieutenant Commander Heinrich Bleichrodt was one of the most successful German U-boat commander of the Second World War. From October 1939 until retiring from front line service in December 1943, he sank 25 ships for a total of . For this he received the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, among other...

.

On 4 May 1943, she was sunk with all hands by a B-24 Liberator

B-24 Liberator

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...

, operated by 86 Squadron

No. 86 Squadron RAF

No. 86 Squadron RAF was a unit of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Attached to Coastal Command the unit flew reconnaissance and air-sea rescue missions, anti-shipping strikes, and anti-submarine patrols.-Formation:No...

RAF

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

. The aircraft was flying to a rendezvous with an Allied convoy when it detected the boat with its H2S radar

H2S radar

H2S was the first airborne, ground scanning radar system. It was developed in Britain in World War II for the Royal Air Force and was used in various RAF bomber aircraft from 1943 to the 1990s. It was designed to identify targets on the ground for night and all-weather bombing...

, north-east of the Azores

Azores

The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

. The U-boat was attacked with four depth-charges. She was seen to surface, apparently giving the crew enough time to abandon her, although none were seen to emerge before she slowly sank.

Construction

U-109 was ordered by the Kriegsmarine on 24 May 1938 (as part of Plan Z and in violation of the Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...

). Her keel was laid down on 9 March 1940 by AG Weser

AG Weser

Aktien-Gesellschaft Weser was one of the great German shipbuilding companies, located at the Weser River in Bremen. Founded in 1873 it was finally closed in 1983. Altogether, AG Weser built about 1400 ships of different types, including many war ships...

, Bremen

Bremen

The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...

as Werk 972. U-109 was launched on 14 September 1940 and commissioned on 5 December under the command of Hans-Georg Fischer.

Design

Like all Type IXB submarines, U-109 had a total output of 4400 hp on the surface and 1000 hp while submerged. As a result, she could reach a maximum speed of 18.3 knots (35.9 km/h) while surfaced and 7.3 knots (14.3 km/h) submerged. She had a range of 22200 nmi (41,114.4 km) at 10 knots (19.6 km/h) while on the surface and 118 nmi (218.5 km) at 4 kn (7.8 km/h) while submerged. She was equipped with six torpedo tubes (four in the bow, two in the stern) and carried a total of 22 533 mm (21 in) torpedoes. The submarine was also equipped with 44 TMA mines. U-109s main deck gun

Deck gun

A deck gun is a type of artillery cannon mounted on the deck of a ship or submarine.The deck gun was used as a defensive weapon against smaller boats or ships and in certain cases where torpedo use was limited. Typically a crew of three; gunner, loader, and layer, operated the gun, while others...

was a Utof 105 mm/45 with 110 rounds. The last piece of armament that U-109 was equipped with were the standard 2 cm FlaK 30

2 cm FlaK 30

The Flak 30 and improved Flak 38 were 20 mm anti-aircraft guns used by various German forces throughout the Second World War. It was not only the primary German light anti-aircraft gun, but by far the most numerously produced German artillery piece throughout the war...

anti-aircraft guns. U-109s complement was 52 men but could carry up to 56 crew members at any given time. After being commissioned and deployed, U-109 was stationed in the German port city of Kiel

Kiel

Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

Service history

U-109 conducted a total of nine war patrols in her career and sank 12 enemy vessels for a total of 79,969 GRT

Gross Register Tonnage

Gross register tonnage a ship's total internal volume expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of . It is calculated from the total permanently enclosed capacity of the vessel. The ship's net register tonnage is obtained by reducing the volume of non-revenue-earning spaces i.e...

(Gross Register Tons) and damaged another of 6,548 GRT.

First patrol

Following training exercises with the 2nd U-boat Flotilla from 5 December 1940 to 30 April 1941, U-109 was transferred to frontline service as a member of the 2. Unterseebootsflottille on 1 May. U-109 left Kiel on 6 May. For 24 days, she roamed the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

and eventually the North Atlantic in search of any Allied convoys heading to Britain. It was here that U-109 claimed her first enemy vessel, the British steam merchantman Harpagus, which was torpedoed and sunk on 24 May, a loss of 5,173 tons. Following this victory, U-109 entered the German occupied port of Lorient in France. This city was to remain her home base for the remainder of her career.

Second and third patrols

U-109s second and third patrols took place without any victories. Her second voyage began on 28 June 1941 when she left her home port of Lorient. For 51 days, she travelled south past Cape Verde in search of any Allied convoys off the coast of Africa. Having not found any, U-109 returned to Lorient on 17 August.

Her third patrol was much like her second. Having left Lorient on 5 October 1941, she proceeded to travel north into the North Atlantic. The U-boat travelled as far west as Nova Scotia and as far north as Labrador before heading back, arriving in Lorient on 18 November after spending 45 days at sea and without sinking any vessels.

Fourth patrol

U-109s fourth patrol was much more successful than her last two. The U-boat left Lorient on 27 December 1941 and for 59 days she travelled to the eastern seaboard of the United States in search of Allied shipping as part of Operation Paukenschlag (Drumbeat). On 23 January 1942, she sank her first enemy vessel when she torpedoed the British merchant vessel, Thirlby. On 1 February, U-109 sank another British vessel, the Tacoma Star. These victories were followed by the sinking of the Canadian Montrolite on 5 February and the Panamanian Halcyon on 6 February. Following these victories, U-109 returned to Lorient on 23 February 1942, she was reported by the BBC to be sunk and the crew taken prisoner.

Fifth patrol

Her fifth patrol was also eventful. Having left Lorient on 25 March 1942, the U-boat headed to the southern coast of the United States. On 20 April, she sank the British merchant vessel Harpagon. This was followed by the damaging of the British ship La Paz off the coast of Florida on 1 May. Two days later, on 3 May, U-109 torpedoed and sank the Dutch vessel Laertes. She returned to Lorient on 3 June 1942, after 72 days at sea.

Sixth patrol

Much like her second patrol, U-109s sixth foray took place off the coast of Africa. For 81 days, she traveled as far south as the Gold Coast and sank five enemy vessels: the Norwegian Arthur W. Sewall on 7 August; and a further four British vessels, the Vimeira on 11 August, the Ocean Might on 3 September, the Tuscan Star on 6 September and the Peterton on 17 September. U-109 then returned to Lorient on 6 October 1942.

Seventh and eighth patrols

U-109s remaining patrols were without any victories. The U-boat left Lorient on 28 November 1942 and traveled south off the northern coast of South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. 57 days later, on 23 January 1943, she returned to Lorient without any victories.

Her eighth patrol was much the same. The submarine left port on 3 March and travelled as far south as the Azores, circled the island chain and returned to Lorient on 1 April after 30 days at sea and without sighting any enemy vessels.

Loss

U-109s ninth and last war patrol took place from 28 April 1943, when she left Lorient, to 4 May, when she was sunk by four depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft south of Ireland. The U-boat was seen to surface before slowly sinking, apparently with enough time for the crew to abandon her, although none were seen to emerge from her hatches. It is assumed that all 52 of her crew went down with her.