German submarine U-138 (1940)
Encyclopedia
German submarine U-138 was a Type IID 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 It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine.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...
, best known for her two patrols in 1940 under the command of Wolfgang Lüth
Wolfgang Lüth
Kapitän zur See Wolfgang August Eugen Lüth , was the second most successful German U-boat ace of World War II...
. During her six war patrols under Lüth's and Franz Gramitzky’s command she sank almost 55,557 tons of Allied shipping.