U-156 submarine (1941)

The full index of our ship stamp archive
Post Reply
shipstamps
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:12 pm

U-156 submarine (1941)

Post by shipstamps » Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:30 pm

The U-156 a German submarine was built by AG Weser, Bremen for the German Navy.
She was one of the type IXC of which 54 were built by three shipyards in Germany.
11 October 1940 laid down.
Launched ?
Displacement 1.120 surfaced, 1.232 ton submerged, dim. 76.8 x 6.8 x 9.4m., draught when surfaced 4.7m.
Powered by 4.400 hp. diesel engines when on the surface, submerged 1.000 hp. Speed 18.3 knots surfaced, 4.0 knots submerged.
Range surfaced 13.450 mile at 10 knots, and submerged 63 mile at 4 knots.
Maximum diving depth 230 meter.
Armament 1 – 105/45 with 110 rounds, torpedo tubes 4 bow and 2 stern of 550mm, carried 22 torpedoes.
She was also fitted out to lay mines.
Crew; the class carried between 48 and 56 men.
04 September 1941 commissioned under command of Captain Werner Hartenstein.

From 04 September 1941 till 31 December 1941 in the 4 Flotilla for training.
01 January 1942 joined the 2nd Flotilla as a “front boat”.
When Operation Paukenslag (Operation Drumbeat) carried out by five German U boats on the United East coast a great success was, an other group of German submarines was ordered to the east coast and Caribbean waters.
One of these submarines was the U-156, and under command of Hartenstein she carried out an attack on the shipping off the coast of Aruba, and tried to shell the oil refinery on Aruba.
The attack was carried out in the night of 16 February 1942 during a new moon, three tankers off the coast of Aruba were torpedoed, PEDERNALES, ORANJESTAD and ARKANSAS. The ORANJESTAD was sunk with the loss of 15 men, 10 were rescued, and the other two tankers severely damaged.
When the crew of the U-156 tried to shell the oil refinery on the island they forgot to remove the water plug from the barrel, causing an explosion killing Corporal Heinrich Büssinger and the gunner Lieutenant Dietrich von dern Borne lost his right leg, and had to be put ashore in Martinique on 21 February.

20 February the American cargo vessel DELPLATA was torpedoed in position 14 55N 62 10W, the 52 men crew rescued.
24 February she torpedoed the British tanker LA CARRIERE in ballast, in position 16 53N 67 05W, of the 37 crew and 4 gunners, 11 men crew and the 4 gunners lost. She sank the next day.
27 February she torpedoed the British cargo vessel MACGREGOR loaded with 2621 tons of coal, 25 crew and 6 gunners, one man of the crew lost.
28 February she torpedoed the loaded American tanker OREGON in position about 20 44N 67 52W, of the 30 men crew 6 or 7 men missing.
13 May she torpedoed the Dutch cargo vessel KOENJIT of the Rotterdamse Lloyd ex Danish STJERNEBORG loaded with 8.629 ton general cargo, from Halifax to Alexandria via Cape of Good Hope under command of Capt. Rösenhof.
She was torpedoed in a position 15 30N 52 40W the 37 crew got in the boats and were later rescued. The KOENJIT carried as deck cargo the 15 ton motorboat LETITIA PORTER which was also lost.
13 May she torpedoed the British cargo vessel CITY OF MELBOURNE loaded with 4.000 ton general cargo in position 15 00N 54 40W, after the impact the fore ship broke off and sank, the remaining part was sunk by gunfire of the U-156. Of the 79 men crew one was lost.
15 May she torpedoed the Norwegian SILJESTAD loaded with general and war supplies in position 15 20N 52 40W of the crew of 33 men, two were lost.
The same day she torpedoed the Yugoslavian cargo vessel KUPA loaded with military trucks, aeroplanes parts and oil in drums in position 14 50N 52 20W of the crew of 41 two men were lost.
17 May she torpedoed the British cargo vessel BARRDALE loaded with 9.824 tons government stores and general cargo in position 15 15N 52 27W, of the crew of 43 and 10 gunners, one gunner lost.
18 May she torpedoed the American cargo vessel QUAKER CITY loaded with manganese ore, of the crew of 40, 10 men were lost.
The same day she torpedoed also the British tanker SAN ELISO in ballast, in position 15 30N 54 16W torpedoed 3 times but she did not want to sink, arrived Barbados 20 may and after temporary repairs sailed 20 August for Mobile, where she arrived 30 September for repairs. At the time of the attack did she have on board 44 crew and 2 passengers, all were saved.
21 May she torpedoed the Dominican cargo vessel PRESIDENT TRULILLO loaded with general cargo in position 14 38N 61 11W, of the crew of 39 men 24 were lost.
25 May she torpedoed the USS BLAKELEY when she was on patrol off Martinique (14 36N 61 11W), she lost 60 feet of her bow, but the crew was able to save her and brought her to Port de France for temporary repair. Six men of her crew were killed and 21 men wounded.
29 May she torpedoed the British cargo vessel NORMAN PRINCE in ballast in position 14 40N 62 15W of her crew of 40 men and 9 gunners, 14 crew and 2 gunners lost.
01 June she torpedoed the Brazilian cargo vessel ALEGRETE in position 13 40N 61 30W, her crew of 64 men were saved.
03 June she destroyed the schooner LILLIAN of around 80 tons underway from Jamaica to Trinidad by gunfire in position 12 25N 59 30W, (an other source gives that she was not destroyed but allowed to proceed.)
24 June she sunk by gunfire the British cargo vessel WILLIMANTIC in position 25 55N 51 58W of her crew of 36 and 2 gunners, 6 crew members were lost, and the master taken prison on board the U-156.
26 August she torpedoed the British Clan Liner CLAN MACWHIRTER loaded with 7000 tons manganese ore, 3000 ton linseed and 2000 tons pig iron in position 35 43N 18 45W, of the crew of 79 and 9 gunners, 9 crew and 2 gunners lost.
12 September 1942 she made her most well known kill when she was underway from her base in France to her new appointed patrol area in the waters off South Africa. On that day she torpedoed the British troop transport LAKONIA in position 05 05S 11 38W.
At that time the LAKONIA underway from Suez to the U.K. carried a cargo of around 2.000 tons, and 692 men crew, 2.562 passengers including 1.793 prisoners of war.
After her attack the U-156 surfaced and then Hartenstein became aware of the P.O.W when he heard cries for help in the Italian language.
He reported his headquarter what he had found out and asked for instructions, in the meantime he started with the rescue operation, and he radioed later that night his headquarter that he had 193 people on board, also he send a message out in English that he not would interfere with any ship that came to join the rescue work, so long he not was attacked.
The radio signal was picked up by the British in Freetown, but afraid of a trap she did not send any ship out.
Also the U-506 and U-507 took part in the rescue operation, later followed by the Italian submarine CAPPELLINI.
These four submarines with lifeboats in tow underway to a rendezvous with Vichy French ships were discovered on 16 September at 11.25 by the American. B-24 Liberator from a base on Ascension, the pilot of the Liberator Lieutenant James D Hardy did not attack but asked his base for instructions.
The highest in command on this base Captain Rober C. Richardson III instructed Hardy to “sink the subs”.
Harden attacked on 12.32 with bombs and dept-charges. The Germans commanders, let go the lifeboats, and ordered the people on deck to jump, before they submerged and escaped.
Later that day French ships rescued around 1.000 people from the LAKONIA. One British seaman from the LAKONIA Tony Large drifted around for 40 days in an open sloop before he was rescued.
As a result of this attack Admiral Dönitz the German G and G in command of the German submarines ordered that now longer U-boats were allowed to take part in rescue operations.

19 September she torpedoed the British cargo vessel QUEBEC CITY loaded with 6.600 tons general cargo in position 02 12S 17 36W, of her crew of 38 and 3 gunners, one was lost.
And that was her last kill.

She herself still under command of Werner Hartenstein on her fifth war patrol was lost when she was attacked on 08 March 1943 by a Catalina aircraft (VP-53/P-1) in a position 12 38N 54 39W (east of Barbados). Her crew of 53 men were all lost.

Source: Axis Submarine Successes of World War II by Rohwer. Lloyds War Losses, the Second World War. http://uboat.net/boats/u156.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_IX_u-boat
Attachments
U- 156.jpg

Post Reply