German submarine U-198
Encyclopedia
German submarine U-198, 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...
which fought in 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 was built by the Deschimag AG Weser in 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...
. The boat was sunk on 12 August 1944 near the Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
, in position 03°35′S 52°49′E, by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Findhorn
River class frigate
The River class frigate was a class of 151 frigates launched between 1941 and 1944 for use as anti-submarine convoy escorts in the North Atlantic....
and the Indian Black Swan class sloop
Black Swan class sloop
The Black Swan class and Modified Black Swan class were two classes of sloop of the Royal Navy and Royal Indian Navy. Thirteen Black Swans were launched between 1939 and 1943, including four for the Royal Indian Navy; twenty-four Modified Black Swans were launched between 1942 and 1945, including...
HMIS Godavari. She is credited with sinking eleven ships, for a total of 59,690 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...
.
Commanders
- Kapitän zur See Werner HartmannWerner HartmannCaptain Werner Hartmann was a German U-boat commander in World War II. He sank 26 ships, amounting to over 115,000 tons sunk, ranking him as the 25th most successful commander in the war.-Career:...
, 3 November 1942 – 15 January 1944 - Oberleutnant zur See Burkhard Heusinger von Waldegg, 21 January 1944 – 12 August 1944
First Patrol
U-198 began her first active war patrol on 9 March 1943, departing KielKiel
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...
under the command of Fregattenkapitän Werner Hartmann. The new submarine headed south around South Africa to hunt the waters between Mada gascar and the African mainland. Her first taste of combat arrived on 5 April 1943 northeast of the Cape Verde Islands. At 18.10 hours, the submarine was sighted and attacked by a British Short Sunderland
Short Sunderland
The Short S.25 Sunderland was a British flying boat patrol bomber developed for the Royal Air Force by Short Brothers. It took its service name from the town and port of Sunderland in northeast England....
flying boat with eight depth charges. One of these bounced off the stern without detonating. At 20.40 hours, the same aircraft attacked again with four more depth charges. U-198 escaped unharmed.
A little over two months after departing Kiel, U-198 earned her first success of the war, torpedoing and sinking the 4,392 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...
British steam merchant Northmoor. Two anti-submarine trawlers and an estorting aircraft retaliated furiously, dropping about 55 depth charges but U-198 escaped without damage. Two days later, the submarine was spotted and attacked by a British PBY Catalina aircraft. The U-boat was not damaged, but effective anti-aircraft fire hit the flying boat forcing it to return to base on one engine.
On the evening of 29 May 1943, U-198 torpedoed the unescorted British motor merchant Hopetarn. 37 souls survived this attack, although the second officer was taken as a prisoner of war by the submarine crew. At the end of the patrol he was sent to the POW camp at Milag Nord.
While tracking a small convoy on 31 May, U-198 was sighted by the escorts. Attacks from one of the corvettes
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
drove the submarine deep but caused no serious damage. A little while later the submarine drove off an approaching British Catalina aircraft with gunfire and then crash dove to escape, losing the convoy in the process.
The morning of 5 June 1943 found U-198 stalking her next victim, the unescorted British motor merchant Dumra. Two torpedoes at 07.50 hours destroyed the merchant's bow, but she remained afloat. A coup de grâce ten minutes later hit amidships causing her to sink immediately. This final torpedo killed the shipmaster (who was blown overboard by the blast) and 24 men in a lifeboat that had already abandoned the sinking freighter. The chief engineer, Henry Townsend Graham, was taken as a prisoner of war.
At 13.18 hours the U-boat hit the American Liberty Ship
Liberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
William King with one of two torpedoes as she traveled on a zig zag course about 200 miles east of Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
. A coup de grâce about 45 minutes later caused her to sink by the stern in about ten minutes. After questioning the survivors the shipmaster (Owen Harvey Reed) was taken as a prisoner of war. He and the chief engineer of Dumra were transferred to the German supply ship Charlotte Schliemann and handed over to the Japanese at Batavia in August. Both men died in captivity on 18 September 1944 when the Japanese hell ship
Hell Ship
A hell ship is a ship with extremely unpleasant living conditions or with a reputation for cruelty among the crew. It now generally refers to the ships used by the Imperial Japanese Navy to transport Allied prisoners of war out of the Philippines, Hong Kong and Singapore during World War II. The...
that was transporting them, Junyo Maru
Junyo Maru
The was a Japanese cargo ship that was sunk in 1944 by the British submarine , resulting in the loss of over 5,000 lives.The ship was built in 1913 by Robert Duncan Co. Glasgow. It displaced 5,065 tons, was long, wide, and deep. The engines were rated at...
, was sunk by .
A month passed before U-198 crossed paths with her next victim, the 4,476 GRT Greek steam merchant Hydraios. A single torpedo followed by a coup de grâce fifteen minutes later sealed her fate. All 40 men aboard survived, although after questioning the survivors the Germans confiscated the ship's papers and cashbox.
Early the next day, U-198 located the British steam merchant Leana. The submarine shelled the merchant with 147 shots from the deck gun before finishing the job with s coup de grâce torpedo a little over an hour after the shelling began. Two men were killed by the sub's gunfire, and the shipmaster (Joseph Crosthwaite) was taken as a prisoner of war. When the patrol ended, he was sent to the POW camp Milag Nord.
The final kill of this patrol occurred on 1 August 1943. U-198 fired two torpedoes at the Dutch steam merchant Mangkalihat which was traveling with convy BC-2 transporting a cargo of copper, sisal, and tobacco. The first two shots missed so the U-boat fired its last torpedo at 18.51 hours scoring a hit that eventually sank the merchant (she foundered 4 August while under tow). Out of torpedoes, U-198 turned for home and terminated this highly successful patrol at Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
on 24 September 1943.
Second Patrol
Oberleutnant zur See Burkhard Heusinger von Waldegg took command on 21 January 1944, and the submarine was transferred from Bordeaux to La Pallice. U-198 began her second and final patrol on 20 April 1944 sailing again around South Africa and into the Indian Ocean. Enroute to her station, she was attacked by two VenturaLockheed Ventura
The Lockheed Ventura was a bomber and patrol aircraft of World War II, used by United States and British Commonwealth forces in several guises...
patrol aircraft. Effective anti-aircraft fire drove the attackers off; U-198 received only slight damage in return and continued south to her assigned patrol area.
June 16th brought the U-boat crew their first success of the patrol. The unescorted South African steam merchant Columbine was hit on the port side by one torpedo. The crew began to abandon ship and was in the process of doing so when a coup de grâce struck 8 minutes after the first hit causing the ship to sink very rapidly. 23 men died, including the shipmaster.
About a month later, on July 15th, U-198 torpedoed the British steam merchant Director in the Mozambique channel (Between Mozambique and Madagascar). One man died, the remaining 56 were picked up by the Portuguese Sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
Gonçalves Zarco. On July 19th, U-198 fired torpedoes at an unidentified freighter and was counter attacked by an escorting corvette. The torpedoes missed and no damage was suffered from depth charges.
Ranging farther up the east coast of Africa, U-198 sighted convoy DKA-21 on 6 August 1944 and attacked, sinking the 7,295 GRT British motor merchant Empire City
MV Empire City
Empire City was a 7,295 GRT cargo ship which was built in 1943 by William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland for the Ministry of War Transport . She was torpedoed and sunk on 6 August 1944 by .-Description:...
east of Mocímboa da Praia
Mocimboa da Praia
Mocimboa da Praia is a port in northern Mozambique, lying on the Indian Ocean coast, located in Cabo Delgado Province. It is a border post for travel to and from Tanzania and is the seat of Mocímboa da Praia District.-History:...
, Portuguese East Africa
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
. Two crew and ten gunners were lost from a total complement of 70. The following day, U-198 scored her final kill, sinking the British motor merchant Empire Day
MV Empire Day
Empire Day was a 7,241 GRT cargo ship that was built in 1941 as a CAM ship by William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland, Co Durham, United Kingdom for the Ministry of War Transport . In 1943, she was converted to a standard cargo ship...
. All 43 crew and gunners managed to abandon the sinking ship, however the U-boat crew took the chief officer of the ship, Robert Courteney Selfe, as a prisoner of war. The remaining crew landed safely on the island of Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
.
Loss
On 12 August 1944, U-198 was depth charged and sunk by the British frigate HMS FindhornRiver class frigate
The River class frigate was a class of 151 frigates launched between 1941 and 1944 for use as anti-submarine convoy escorts in the North Atlantic....
and the Indian sloop HMIS Godavari in position 03°35′S 52°49′E (near the Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
). The entire crew of the submarine was lost, as well as the first officer of the Empire Day, a total of 66 men.