by Clay Blair
* Initially the Admiralty attributed the loss of U-623to “unknown causes,” date also unknown. Much later in the postwar analysis, British historians concluded that Isted did the deed.
† As related, in the postwar analysis, the Admiralty Withdrew credit for the kill of U-225 from Spencer and gave it to pilot Turner in a B-24 of British Squaclron 120.
* The damage that Campbell incurred in her unintentional ramming of U-606 precluded any hope of her putting over a boarding party.
* Several days later during a howling gale, Manhardt von Mannstein in U-753 found a crowded Madoera lifeboat. He ordered six white men to U-753 but left “a number” of black Lascars in the boat. Upon learning of this episode, British propagandists branded Manhardt von Mannstein an “atrocity monger.” Hans-Jurgen Zetzsche in U-591 found and captured Madoera’s first mate in another lifeboat, leaving the other survivors to their fate, but he was not publicly branded.
* Mengersen’s confirmed score on the duck U-18, and the VIIs U-101 and U-607 was sixteen ships for 84,961 tons.
† Dahlhaus, crew of 1938, had served as a watch officer for eighteen months on the VII U-753, commanded by Manhardt von Mannstein.
* The three losses in Halifax 224 in February are counted in the January figures. See Appendix 3.
* See Appendix 2 and Appendix 3.
† In addition, nine escorts were lost, all of them to U-boats inside the Mediterranean in the last third of 1943.
‡ Three, U-105, U-123, and U-515, embarked for West Africa but were temporarily diverted to the Gibraltar-Azores area.
* Many published works credit the American submarine Herring with the kill of U-163, but after a meticulous reappraisal, Admiralty historians credit Prescott.
* Before resailing, Günther Seibicke in U-436, who sank two tankers in convoy TM 1, was awarded a Ritterkreuz on March 27. At that time his confirmed score was five ships for 33,091 tons, plus damage to two other tankers in the North Atlantic. On the same day, Drumbeater Ulrich Folkers in U-125, who had sunk no ships on this patrol nor contributed to the chase of TM 1 or other Torch convoys, also received a Ritterkreuz. At the time of the award his confirmed score was sixteen ships for 78,136 tons.
* See Appendix 15.
* Kurt revealed that he was on Doggerbank in Yokohama harbor on November 30, 1942, when the German tanker/supply ship Uckermark blew up, destroying the German raider Thor and the German supply ship Leuthen, and damaging several other Axis vessels. He confused the names of the German ships that were lost in the explosion and fire, but his information helped Allied intelligence sort out that disaster and puzzle out which German ships were probably left to raid in the Far East or Indian Ocean or to run the blockade into France.
* At the time of the award, his score was sixteen confirmed ships sunk for 86,500 tons. Normally Type VIIs did not carry doctors. Perhaps U-590 was to transfer the doctor to a U-tanker (U-460 or U-462) on the North Atlantic run.
* Under Kals and Keller, U-130 sank twenty-five confirmed ships for 167,350 tons to rank twelfth among all U-boats in the war. See Appendix 17.
* At the time of the award, his confirmed score on U-563 and U-521 was six ships for 23,613 tons, including the damaged hulk Molly Pitcher.
* To extend the Allied convoy coverage farther southward, the U.S. Navy created a base for flying boats at Agadir, in southern Morocco. On April 17, six Catalinas of Squadron VP 73 transferred to Agadir.
† In January 1952, salvors refloated U-167, towed her into Las Palmas, and scrapped her.
* The six VIIs of Brazil-bound group Delphin, two IXs bound for the Americas, and two IXs of group Seehund bound for Cape Town.
* TM 1, UC 1, XK 2, KMS 10, UGS 6, RS 3.
† Originally christened the Uluc Ali Reis, she was one of four submarines built in Great Britain for Turkey in 1940. Two boats went to Turkey (a gesture to entice her into the war on the side of the Allies), but the British retained the other two, rechristened P-614 and P-615.
* At the time of the award, his confirmed score was twenty ships for 130,133 tons.
† After U-48, U-99, and U-123, the U-124 was the fourth most successful U-boat of the war. Under command of Georg-Wilhelm Schulz and Mohr, she sank forty-eight confirmed ships for 224,000 tons, including two warships: the British cruiser Dunedin and the French corvette Mimose. Credited with sinking twenty-nine confirmed ships for 135,000 tons, including both of the warships, Mohr stood nineteenth among all skippers in the war.
* See Appendix 7.
† There were two types of FATs: FAT I, which made a long and a short loop, and FAT II, which made a long loop and then a circle.
* At the time of the award, Brandi claimed fifteen ships, including a destroyer, for 58,700 tons sunk, plus six ships damaged for 61,500 tons. The confirmed score was seven freighters (no destroyer) sunk for 22,100 tons.
† At the time of the award, Brandi’s claims were nineteen ships sunk for about 80,000 tons, including two cruisers and a fleet destroyer, plus nine ships damaged for about 88,500 tons, including a battleship, a big troopship, a cruiser, and three destroyers. His confirmed score was ten ships sunk for 29,339 tons, including one warship, the 2,650-ton British minelayer/cruiser Welshman.
* At the time of the award, his confirmed score in the Atlantic and Mediterranean was four ships for 27,326 tons, plus damages.
† On March 19, Mediterranean skipper Baron Egon-Reiner von Schlippenbach in U-453 was awarded a Ritterkreuz. His confirmed score was two ships for 10,061 tons plus damage to the 9,700-ton British hospital ship Somersetshire, which the Germans classified as a troopship.
* $ At the time of the award, his confirmed score was four ships for 12,887 tons, including the British destroyer Partridge, shared credit with the Luftwaffe for an American Liberty ship, plus damage to two other large vessels for 26,686 tons, one a troopship, Cameronia.
* During the same period, the Allies sank eight Italian submarines in the Mediterranean (Nar-valo, Santorre Santarosa, Tritone, Avorio, Malachite, Asteria, Mocenigo, Gorgo). The Canadian corvettes Port Arthur and Regina each sank one, as did the new American destroyer Nields and the Dutch submarine Dolfyn. An Army Air Forces raid on Sardinia got one. British surface ships and aircraft got three. A ninth submarine, Delfino, was lost in a collision off Sicily.
† On February 6, Luftwaffe aircraft torpedoed and sank the Canadian corvette Louisburg, one of fifteen such vessels escorting convoy KMS 8, en route from Gibraltar to Bone. The British destroyer Lookout rescued forty men; thirty-eight were lost.
* A full description of these books or of the "small wireless set" has not been published. Enigma historian Ralph Erskine says that bigram tables Stmm were recovered "but no other captures of consequence.” For a description of how these tables were used, see his article, "Naval Enigma: The Missing Link.…”
† The Admiralty has not revealed whether or not it attempted to refloat U-205 or to further search the wreck for other valuables, such as FAT and homing torpedoes or those fitted with the new Pi2 magnetic pistols.
* Heine returned to France to command a new VII.
* Twelve boats times forty-seven crew, less sixty-five men: Forty-five from U-205, U-224, and U-301 were captured and twenty rescued by Axis forces or neutral Spain and returned to Germany.
* At the time of the award, Neitzel’s confirmed score was five ships sunk for about 28,400 tons and seven ships damaged for about 42,000 tons.
* In the first quarter of 1943, the Axis sailed ten blockade-runners from the Far East to Europe. Four were recalled to Japan for various reasons but six proceeded. Of these, five were lost: Hohenfried-burg (sunk by Sussex), Doggerbank (by U-43), Karin (by Savannah), Regensburg (by Glasgow), Irene (by Adventure). Although damaged, the sixth ship, Pietro Orseolo, reached Bordeaux on April 1. In the same quarter, four blockade-runners sailed from Europe to the Far East. Himalaya aborted; Portland was lost (to Georges Ley gues), Osorno and Alsterufer reached Japan on June 4 and June 19, respectively. In summary, of the fourteen
sailings, only three vessels reached their destinations.
* See Appendix 11. On April 1, 1943, there were ip Newfoundland and Nova Scotia eight frontline ASW squadrons of American and Canadian aircraft, comprising over one hundred B-24 Liberators, Cansos, Catalinas, plus two U.S. Navy squadrons of PV-1, Venturas, and five RCAF squadrons of Hud-sons and Digbys.
* Achilles in U-161 and Grandefeld in U-l 74 were not far from Nova Scotia on April 26, perhaps with collateral duty to provide backup for U-262. That backup evaporated on April 26 when, as related, Achilles found a convoy and, perhaps in pursuit of same, U-l74 was sunk on April 27.
† Plus the Italian submarine Cagni and the Americas-bound IXC U-161.
* At the time of the award, his confirmed score was twenty-four ships sunk for 143,920 tons, plus damage to five others.
† Credited with sinking twenty-six confirmed ships for 156,000 tons, Lassen ranked twelfth among all skippers in the war.
* At the time of the award, his score was sixteen confirmed ships sunk for 86,911 tons. ASW forces in South African waters had been reinforced to thirty ASW trawlers, eighteen of them released from duty on the U.S. East Coast.
* Clausen was credited with sinking twenty-three confirmed ships for about 75,000 tons on U-37, U-129, and U-182. Ten of the ships displaced less than 2,000 tons. Had they been as large as claimed, he would have ranked high among all skippers.
† The big Italian submarine Da Vinci, with eight 21” torpedo tubes and two 4.1” deck guns, sailed independently to Cape Town on February 20, under command of Gianfranco Gazzana-Priaroggia. She sank six ships for 58,973 tons, including the 21,517-ton British troopship Empress of Canada, earning Gazzana-Priaroggia high Italian awards and a Ritterkreuz. On May 23, as she was entering the Bay of Biscay, Da Vinci was sunk by the British destroyer Active and the British frigate Ness with the loss of all hands.
* The huge 1-30, commanded by Shinobu Endo, left Japan on April 4, 1942, patrolled in the Indian Ocean, replenished from an armed merchant cruiser, then reached Lorient on August 5, where she was greeted with great fanfare by Admiral Raeder and other high naval officers. In compliance with a prior request from Berlin, she delivered 3,300 pounds (1,500 kilograms) of mica and 1,452 pounds (660 kilograms) of shellac. She departed Lorient on August 22 with a valuable load of German naval equipment: a submarine torpedo fire-control system (or data computer), five G7a (air) and three G7e (electric) torpedoes, 240 rounds of the sonar deflector Bolde, a search radar, a Metox, a hydrophone array, fifty Enigma machines, and other gear. The h30 reached Singapore on the morning of October 13 and after only six and one-half hours, resailed (to Japan. Outbound from Singapore, she hit a Japanese defensive mine and sank with the loss of fourteen of her 110 men. Later the Japanese salvaged some German gear from the wreck.
* After she was repaired, Dasher, anchored in the Firth of Clyde, blew up on March 27 and sank with the loss of 378 men. The Admiralty blamed the accident on a faulty aviation-gasoline system and, to minimize accidents, insisted that other American-built “jeep” carriers for the Royal Navy be modified, triggering another Anglo-American naval controversy.
† For these and past victories and claims, Reche was awarded a Ritterkreuz, the second skipper in the Arctic force after Siegfried Strelow to be so honored. At the time of the award, Reche’s score was ten confirmed ships sunk for 53,519 tons.
* Conceived in prewar years as passenger planes, they were then under consideration for bombing the United States by refueling from U-boats.
* See Appendix 6.
† Riccardi had replaced Domenico Cavagnari on December 11, 1940, and remained in that post until Italy capitulated. His formal jaw-breaking title was Capo di Stato Maggiore delta Marina e Sot-tosegretario di Stato alia Marina.
* Four 1,700-ton Italian “U-ciruisers” were built and named for Italian admirals: Cagni, Caracci-olo, Millo, and Saint Bon. They were armed with eight torpedo tubes forward and six aft and carried a normal load of thirty-six 18” torpedoes. All but Cagni were sunk by Allied forces in the Mediterranean in 1941 and 1942 while on cargo runs between Italy and North Africa.
† The ten VIICs designated for transfer to the Italians were U-428 to U-430, U-746 to U-750, and U-1161 and U-1162, all to be commissioned in the summer of 1943 and named S-l to S-10. Owing to the collapse of Italy, none was ever transferred to Italy; all became German school boats.
‡ X The Type XX was never built.
§ Archimede, Da Vinci, Tazzoli, Giuliani, Cappellini, Torelli, Barbarigo, Bagnolini, and Finzi.
* The Japanese renamed the boat RO-500.
† After two weeks of intense training at Tobermory, the three Canadian MOEF escort groups got actual combat operational training by joining the British escort groups (37, 38, 39, 40) guarding Torch convoys between the British Isles and the Mediterranean (KMF, KMS, MKF, MKS). The original sixteen Canadian corvettes assigned to Torch duties were formed into three Canadian escort groups (CEG 25, 26, and 27) and also joined British escorts protecting Torch convoys. Axis forces sank two of the sixteen Canadian corvettes, Louisburg and Weyburn. Another, Lunenburg, remained in the British Isles until August for overhaul and upgrading.
* Not counting XB minelayers, XIV U-tankers, and IXD 1 and IXD 2 U-cruisers, but counting all VIIs and IXs in France undergoing battle-damage repairs, modification, or refits, however extensive.
† Note well that, in the crucial year, September 1, 1942, to September 1, 1943, the Atlantic force shrank from 124 U-Boats to 123. Compare Plate 1.
* In the month of February 1943, there were another thirty-one collisions (involving sixty-two ships) in New York harbor, including the U.S. Navy fleet destroyers Come and Tillman. In the early dark hours of April 1, convoys Halifax 232 and UGS 7 departed three hours apart in heavy fog and became intermingled. Six collisions occurred; fourteen other ships did not sail or aborted, reducing Halifax 232 by sixteen ships and UGS 7 by ten ships, serious setbacks.
* The Iceland shuttle consisted of eight American warships: four destroyers, three Coast Guard cutters, and one minesweeper. Coast Guard cutters would continue to man the Greenland Patrol and escort supply ships from Canada to American bases in Greenland.
† In the period September 19, 1942, to March 20, 1943, twenty Slow Convoys, comprised of 1,184 merchant ships, sailed from New York.
‡ X The old Witherington and ten old ex-American Town-cd&s, These destroyers were in “relatively poor shape,” Task Force 24 reported to Atlantic Fleet commander Royal Ingersoll. Two were in extended overhaul; four in refit but to be available between March 2-22; one scheduled for refit beginning March 10; and only four in operation, one of which {Leamington) was unsuitable for open-ocean sailing due to her very limited endurance. In addition, the Canadians still had seven old ex-American Town-class destroyers that they had received directly from the U.S. Navy. (See Volume I, appendices 9 and 10.)
* See Appendix 11.
† See Appendix 5.
* From its 1943 allotment of B-24s, the RAF gave the RCAF five a month in April, May, and June.
* Fulfilling wartime contracts, Martin produced 1,312 Mariners.
† Squadrons VB 125 and VB 126 (formerly VP 82 and VP 93) arrived in Canada on March 1, 1943, and rotated back to the United States on June 18, 1943. Squadron VB 127 relieved Catalina Squadron VP 92 in Morocco on September 6, 1943; VB 128 relieved Catalina Squadrin VP 84 in Iceland on September 5, 1943.
‡ $ Including one from the Arctic, U-592.
* The first of a new series of fourteen U-tankers, U-487 to U-500, of which only four, U-487, U-488, U-489, and U-490, were completed and reached the Atlantic.
* Astonishingly, over a month later, on April 5, the homebound U-336, commanded by Hans Hunger, picked up six other survivors of the Jonathan Sturges and took them to France. This act of humanity was apparently overlooked and therefore not introduced in the Dönitz trial.
* See Appendix 3.
* At the time of the award his confirmed score was ten ships for 60
,157 tons, all sunk on the North Atlantic run, plus damage to an American Liberty ship. It was a success that almost exactly duplicated that of Siegfried Forstner in U-402, who sank ten and one-half ships for 57,000 tons during that difficult winter to win a Ritterkreuz.
* A “romper,” as opposed to a “straggler,” was a vessel that violated orders and left its assigned convoy and proceeded ahead all alone.
* At the time, the kill was credited to a Leigh Light-equipped Wellington, but in a postwar reassessment, the Admiralty credited the Whitley.
* The British calculated that in the fifty-four sorties, British aircraft sighted thirty-two U-boats and conducted twenty-one attacks.
* Control logged that Beaufighters were “superior” to the JU-88 Model 6C. The German planes were too slow, underarmed, and had water-cooled engines that were vulnerable to enemy fire.
* Figures as compiled by Professor Rohwer. Berlin propagandists claimed that Axis forces sank one million gross tons of shipping in March, bringing the claims for the war to thirty million gross tons. The actual figure for the war was about eighteen million gross tons. A Senate investigating committee, chaired by Harry S. Truman, imprudently seemed to confirm the outlandish claims of German propagandists, reporting that Axis forces sank an average one million tons per month in 1942, or twelve million tons that year alone.
* One ship of the eastbound Halifax 227 that sailed in February was lost to U-boats. None of the eight westbound convoys, comprised of 450 ships, sailing in March lost a ship to U-boats. One ship from Outbound North (Slow) 168 and two ships from Outbound North 169 that sailed in February were lost to U-boats. See Appendix 3.
* Enclose II, from April 6 to April 13; and thereafter Derange, see Plate 6.