German submarine U-181 was a Type IXD2 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

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 It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine.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...

 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...

. The submarine was laid down on 15 March 1941 at the 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...

 yard at 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...

, launched on 30 December 1941, and commissioned on 9 May 1942 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Wolfgang Lüth

Wolfgang Lüth

Kapitän zur See Wolfgang August Eugen Lüth , was the second most successful German U-boat ace of World War II...

. After training with 4th U-boat Flotilla at Stettin

Szczecin

Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....

, U-181 was attached to 10th U-boat Flotilla for front-line service on 1 October 1942, then transferred to 12th U-boat Flotilla on 1 November.

Service history

Under Lüth's command she sailed on two long combat patrols in late–1942 and 1943, haunting the waters off South Africa

Union of South Africa

The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...

 and Mozambique and sinking 22 ships for a total of 103,712 tons, making Lüth the second most successful U-boat commander of the war (after Otto Kretschmer

Otto Kretschmer

Flotilla Admiral Otto Kretschmer was a German U-boat commander in the Second World War and later an admiral in the Bundesmarine. From September 1939 until being captured in March 1941, he sank 47 ships, a total of 274,333 tons. For this he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak...

) and earning him promotion to Korvettenkapitän and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...

. He went on to command 22nd U-boat Flotilla.

On 1 November 1943 under the command of Fregattenkapitän Kurt Freiwald and part of 12th U-boat Flotilla, U-181 sailed from her base in Bordeaux

BETASOM

BETASOM BETASOM BETASOM (an Italian language acronym of Bordeaux Sommergibile. was a submarine base established at Bordeaux by the Italian Regia Marina Italiana during World War II....

 to Penang

Penang

Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...

 in mid–1944, sinking four ships totalling 24,869 tons. On 1 October 1944 the U-boat was transferred to 33rd U-boat Flotilla. She made only one patrol in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

, in 1944–1945, sinking a single ship of 10,198 tons.

After Germany's surrender

Victory in Europe Day

Victory in Europe Day commemorates 8 May 1945 , the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The formal surrender of the occupying German forces in the Channel Islands was not...

 in May 1945 the U-boat was taken over by Japan at Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 and commissioned as Japanese submarine I-501 on 15 July 1945. She was surrendered to Allied forces there in August 1945, and was sunk on 12 February 1946 in the Strait of Malacca

Strait of Malacca

The Strait of Malacca is a narrow, stretch of water between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is named after the Malacca Sultanate that ruled over the archipelago between 1414 to 1511.-Extent:...

, in position 03°05′50"N 100°41′50"E, by the British frigates and .

Ships sunk

Date	Name	Tonnage	Flag
1st patrol
3 November 1942	East Indian	8,159
8 November 1942	Plaudit	5,060
10 November 1942	K.G. Meldahl	3,799
13 November 1942	Excello	4,969
19 November 1942	Gunda	2,241
20 November 1942	Corinthiakos	3,562
22 November 1942	Alcoa Pathfinder	6,797
24 November 1942	Dorrington Court	5,281
	Mount Helmos	6,481
28 November 1942	Evanthia	3,551
30 November 1942	Cleanthis	4,153
2 December 1942	Amarylis	4,328
2nd patrol
11 April 1943	Empire Whimbrel	5,983
11 May 1943	Tinhow	5,232
27 May 1943	Sicilia	1,633
7 June 1943	Harrier	193
2 July 1943	Hoihow	2,798
15 July 1943	Empire Lake	2,852
16 July 1943	Fort Franklin	7,135
4 August 1943	Dalfram	4,558
7 August 1943	Umvuma	4,419
12 August 1943	Clan Macarthur	10,528
3rd patrol
1 May 1944	Janeta	5,312
19 June 1944	Garoet	7,118
15 July 1944	Tanda	7,174
19 July 1944	King Frederick	5,265
4th patrol
2 November 1944		10,198

External links

• Submarine I-501: Tabular Record of Movement

See also

• List of German U-boats
• List of successful U-boat commanders