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Wolfpack Seewolf

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Seewolf" redirects here. For uses of Seawolf, seeSeawolf (disambiguation).

Seewolf was the name of three separatewolfpacks of GermanU-boats that operated during theBattle of the Atlantic inWorld War II.

1941

[edit]
Wolfpack Seewolf 1
Active2–15 September 1941
CountryNazi Germany
BranchKriegsmarine
Size17 submarines
Military unit

The first U-boat group code-namedSeewolf operated in the North Atlantic, to intercept Allied convoysto and from Gibraltar, andto and from Sierra Leone in west Africa. The group comprised 17 U-boats, from the dissolved groupsBosemuller andKurfurst, that had operated in the same area. Due to bad weather, and evasive routing by the British, it had no success against the target convoys, though five independently routed ships were found and sunk; on 6 SeptemberU-95 sankTrinidad, a neutral vessel en route fromDublin toLisbon, and on 15 SeptemberU-94 sank three ships that had dispersed from ON 14 the previous day. On 14 SeptemberU-95 andU-561 were bombed by aircraft fromCoastal Command and forced to return to base.[1]

Seewolf was formed on 2 September, and dissolved two weeks later, on 15 September 1941.[2] It comprised the following boats:-

U-boatCommanderDate JoinedDate LeftComments
U-69Wilhelm Zahn4 September 194115 September 1941
U-71Walter Flachsenberg2 September 19413 September 1941
U-77Heinrich Schonder2 September 19417 September 1941
U-83Hans-Werner Kraus2 September 19417 September 1941
U-94Otto Ites5 September 194115 September 1941Empire Eland
Newbury
Pegasus
U-95Gerd Schreiber2 September 194114 September 1941Trinidad
U-96Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock2 September 194110 September 1941
U-98Robert Gysae3 September 194115 September 1941
U-206Herbert Opitz2 September 19417 September 1941
U-553Karl Thurmann2 September 194113 September 1941
U-557Ottokar Arnold Paulssen2 September 194115 September 1941
U-558Günther Krech2 September 194112 September 1941
U-561Robert Bartels2 September 194115 September 1941
U-563Klaus Bargsten2 September 19417 September 1941
U-567Theodor Fahr2 September 19419 September 1941Fort Richepanse
U-568Joachim Preuss2 September 19418 September 1941
U-751Gerhard Bigalk2 September 19415 September 1941

Five merchant ships were sunk for a total of 20,396 GRT.

1943

[edit]
Wolfpack Seewolf 2
Active21–30 March 1943
CountryNazi Germany
BranchKriegsmarine
Size19 submarines
Military unit

The secondSeewolf group operated in the North Atlantic in March 1943 against convoys to and from North America. It comprised 19 U-boats, mostly from groupsSturmer andDranger, which had attacked convoysHX 229 andSC 122. The group was positioned to intercept the fast HX and slow SC convoys from North America, and was co-incident with groupSeeteufel, 16 U-boats positioned to attack outbound ON and ONS convoys. Convoys SC 123 and ONS 1 evaded both groups; severalSeewolf boats found HX 230, but all attacks failed in foul weather. With no success to report, the group was dissolved and most boats returned to base, though four remained as a cadre for groupAdler.[3]

ThisSeewolf was formed on 21 March, and dissolved a week later on 30 March.[4] It comprised the following boats:-

U-boatCommanderDate JoinedDate LeftComments
U-84Horst Uphoff24 March 194330 March 1943
U-86Walter Schug21 March 194330 March 1943
U-257Heinz Rahe25 March 194330 March 1943
U-305Rudolf Bahr21 March 194330 March 1943
U-333Werner Schwaff21 March 194330 March 1943
U-336Hans Hunger21 March 194330 March 1943
U-373Paul-Karl Loeser21 March 194328 March 1943
U-440Hans Geissler21 March 194329 March 1943
U-441Klaus Hartmann21 March 194328 March 1943
U-527Herbert Uhlig21 March 194330 March 1943
U-530Kurt Lange21 March 194330 March 1943
U-590Heinrich Müller-Edzards21 March 194330 March 1943
U-591Hans-Jürgen Zetzsche21 March 194330 March 1943
U-615Ralph Kapitzky21 March 194330 March 1943
U-618Kurt Baberg21 March 194330 March 1943
U-631Jürgen Krüger21 March 194330 March 1943
U-641Horst Rendtel21 March 194330 March 1943
U-642Herbert Brünning21 March 194330 March 1943
U-666Herbert Engel21 March 194330 March 1943

No ships were sunk or damaged

1945

[edit]
Wolfpack Seewolf 3
Active12–23 April 1945
CountryNazi Germany
BranchKriegsmarine
Size7 submarines
EngagementsOperation Teardrop
Actions of 5/6 May 1945
Military unit

Seewolf was formed in March 1945[5] in an effort to re-establish the U-boat offensive in American waters; it was the last wolfpack of the Atlantic campaign. Seven of the nine boats that sailed to the Americas were in Seewolf; a further two sailed independently.

Coincidentally, Allied Intelligence formed the view that theGermans were planning to mount a missile attack on the United States, usingV-1 orV-2 missiles adapted for launch at sea by submarines.This led to a vigorous response by theUnited States Navy, code-namedOperation Teardrop, to find and destroy the Seewolf boats.This was successful; Of the five boats in American waters by April (two boats had returned to base for repairs, and were still in transit at the end of April) four boats were sunk during the month.

Seewolf boats had one success;U-546 sankUSS Frederick C. Davis, shortly before she herself was sunk.

The fifth boatU-881 was detected and destroyed on 6 May 1945, thelast boat in American waters to be destroyed.The two boats in transit whenGermany surrendered were given up to the USN on 8 May 1945.

U-boat[6]CommanderDate JoinedDate LeftComments
U-518Hans-Werner Offermann14 April 194522 April 1945
U-546Paul Just14 April 194524 April 1945USS Frederick C. Davis sunk 24 Apr 1945
U-805Richard Bernardelli14 April 19451 May 1945
U-858Thilo Bode14 April 19451 May 1945
U-880Gerhard Schtözau14 April 194516 April 1945
U-1235Franz Barsch14 April 194515 April 1945

One US warship was sunk by this wolfpack.

References

[edit]
  1. ^Blair (1996) p.389
  2. ^Helgason, Guðmundur."Wolf Pack Seewolf 1941".German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved21 June 2014.
  3. ^Blair (1998) p.268-270
  4. ^Helgason, Guðmundur."Wolf Pack Seewolf 1943".German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved21 June 2014.
  5. ^Blair p686-688
  6. ^Helgason, Guðmundur."Wolfpack Seewolf 1945".German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved21 June 2014.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Blair, Clay (1998).Hitler's U-Boat War [Volume 2]: The Hunted 1942–1945. Cassell.ISBN 0-304-35261-6.
  • Edwards, Bernard (1996).Dönitz and the Wolf Packs – The U-boats at War. Cassell Military Classics. pp. 117, 119,123–125.ISBN 0-304-35203-9.
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