German Submarine U-168

German submarine ''U-168'' was a Type IXC/40 U-boat of Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' built for service during World War II. Her keel was laid down on 15 March 1941 by the '' Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG'' in Bremen as yard number 707. She was launched on 5 March 1942 and commissioned on 10 September with Kapitänleutnant Helmuth Pich in command.

Design

German Type IXC/40 submarines were slightly larger than the original Type IXCs. ''U-168'' had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. The U-boat had a total length of , a pressure hull length of , a beam of , a height of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke, nine-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of for use while surfaced, two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to .

The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of . When submerged, the boat could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at . ''U-168'' was fitted with six torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and two at the stern), 22 torpedoes, one SK C/32 naval gun, 180 rounds, and a SK C/30 as well as a C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of forty-eight.

Service history

''U-168'' conducted four patrols, sinking three ships totalling and damaging one other grossing .

First patrol

''U-168''s first patrol commenced with her departure from Kiel on 3 March 1943. Her route took her through the Kattegat and Skaggerak, along the coast of Norway, through the 'gap' between Iceland and the Faroe Islands and into the Atlantic Ocean south and southwest of Greenland. She arrived at Lorient in occupied France on 18 May.

Second patrol

The boat then moved into the Indian Ocean, sinking the British steam merchant ship SS ''Haiching'' west southwest of Bombay (now Mumbai), on 2 October 1943.

She was unsuccessfully attacked by a Catalina flying boat of No. 413 Squadron RCAF on 3 November. Four 250 lb depth charges were dropped.

The patrol terminated in Penang, Malaya (now Malaysia) on 11 November.

Third patrol

The submarine began her third and what would turn out to be her most successful patrol when she departed Penang on 7 February 1944. She fired three torpedoes at the British salvage vessel south of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on the 14th. One of the projectiles malfunctioned, but the other two were sufficiently destructive to send the ship to the bottom.

The following day she sank a Greek ship, ''Epaminondas C. Embiricos'' about north of Addu Atoll in the Maldives. The Master and the Chief Engineer were both taken prisoner and handed over to the Japanese. The former's captivity prevented disciplinary action being taken over why he had ordered the undamaged ship to be abandoned and why the vessel was stationary for two hours, despite standing orders to the contrary.

''U-168'' also damaged the Norwegian ''Fenris'' with her last torpedo on the 21st west of the Maldives, but had no ammunition left for her deck gun to finish the ship off which continued to Bombay under her own power.

The boat returned to Batavia (now Jakarta) on 24 March.

Fourth patrol and loss

The submarine left Batavia on 5 October 1944. According to normal procedures to safeguard friendly submarines the ''U-168'' gave local Japanese units its precise departure and arrival times, intended course and speed. This was subsequently decrypted and included in a FRUMEL report on 5 October 1944. With little time, the Free Dutch Forces submarine , under the command of Lieutenant Commander H Goosens, was ordered to intercept. Shortly after sunrise on 6 October, while in the Java Sea, ''U-168'' was spotted on steady easterly course and fired upon by a spread of six torpedoes. The torpedoes were spotted mere seconds before impact, being struck by two. One hit the ''U-168''s pressure hull but failed to detonate. The second hit the forward torpedo room and exploded. Attempts to stem the flooding failed and the ''U-168'' sank rapidly. The attack killed 23 men, with a further 27 being captured including Pich. In his interrogation, unaware of Allied code-breaking and signals intelligence, Pich could not explain why he'd been caught unawares with one of his crewmen blaming the Japanese, complaining that they never started anti-submarine air searches before 11:00.Pich later informed the Dutch commander that his submarine was hit three times though only one torpedo exploded.

''U-168'' is not believed to have made any defensive maneuvers in the action, thus it is likely that the Germans were sunk without realizing they were under attack until the torpedoes hit. The ''Kriegsmarine'' was convinced that the sinking of ''U-168'' was the result of "loose talk" due to the crew who brought their Indonesian girlfriends aboard for a goodbye party. They also assumed that the exact position of ''U-168'' was discovered by the Allies long before the engagement, though Dutch reports suggest that they encountered the Germans simply by chance.Paul Kemp ''U-boats destroyed: German submarine losses in the World Wars'', Naval Institute Press, 1997

In late-2013 divers found what is believed the wreck of the boat though it is pointed out that alternatively it could be the wreck of .

Summary of raiding history

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

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Sharpe, Peter (1998). U-Boat Fact File. Great Britain: Midland Publishing. .

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:U0168
World War II submarines of Germany
German Type IX submarines
1941 ships
U-boats commissioned in 1941
Indian Ocean U-Boats
U-boats sunk in 1944
U-boats sunk by Dutch submarines
Ships built in Bremen (state)
Maritime incidents in October 1944