German submarine U-161 (1941)

German submarine ''U-161'' was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' built for service during World War II. The keel for this boat was laid down on 23 March 1940 at the ''Deutsche Schiff und maschinenbau AG'', Bremen yard as yard number 700. She was launched on 1 March 1941 and commissioned on 8 July under the command of ''Kapitänleutnant'' Hans-Ludwig Witt (Knight's Cross).

The U-boat's service began with training as part of the 4th U-boat Flotilla. She then moved to the 10th flotilla on 1 January 1942 for operations. She sank 12 ships, totalling ; one warship of 1,130 tons and damaged five others, for 35,672 GRT. She also damaged one warship (5,450 tons) and caused one merchant vessel to be declared a total loss (3,305 GRT).

She was sunk by an American aircraft on 27 September 1943.

Design

German Type IXC submarines were slightly larger than the original Type IXBs. ''U-161'' 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-161'' 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

First and second patrols

The submarine's first patrol took her from Kiel on 3 January 1942, across the North Sea and into the Atlantic Ocean through the gap between the Faroe and Shetland Islands. She arrived at Lorient, in occupied France, on 3 May. She would be based at this Atlantic port for the rest of her career.

''U-161''s second sortie proved to be successful, damaging ''British Consul'' and ''Mokihana'' on 19 February 1942 while the ships rode at anchor in the Gulf of Paria off Port of Spain, Trinidad.Kelshall, Gaylord: ''The U Boat War in the Caribbean''. pub by The Naval Institute Press She went on to sink ships such as ''Circe Shell'', ''Lihue'' the petrol tanker ''Uniwaleco'' off St Vincent.

Then, daringly, she made her way at night through the narrow passage into Castries Harbour, St Lucia where she damaged the and ''Umtata''. One ship sunk by ''U-161'', ''Sarniadoc'', sank in 30 seconds after her boiler exploded. There were no survivors. On 15 March 1942, while en route alone from Curaçao, Netherlands West Indies to Antigua, British West Indies, the Speedwell-class , (formerly the U.S. Army mine planter ''General John P. Story'' transferred to the United States Lighthouse Service at no cost in 1922,) was sunk by gunfire from U-161 approximately 150 miles south of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The entire crew of ''Acacia'' abandoned ship before she sank and all were rescued unscathed. She was the only U.S. tender sunk by enemy action during the war in the Caribbean.

Third patrol

The boat's third patrol took her past the Azores and Cape Verde Islands, to the Brazilian coast north of Fortaleza. She then followed that coastline north until she reached the Caribbean. On 16 June 1942 she stopped the sailing ship ''Neuva Altagracia'' with gunfire and sank the vessel with scuttling charges. She also attacked ''San Pablo'' while the ship was being unloaded in Puerto Limón, Costa Rica on 3 July. Although the ship sank, she was raised with the intention of repair; but she was declared a total loss and sunk as a target on 25 September.

She crossed the Atlantic in an easterly direction, but turned about and returned to the Caribbean. Having commenced the return leg to France, she encountered ''Fairport '' north of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands on 16 July and sank her. The boat returned to Lorient on 7 August.

Fourth patrol

Her fourth foray was to west Africa. This patrol was her longest-113 days. She damaged the light cruiser six miles and 282° from Pointe Noire, French Equatorial Africa on 23 October 1942 and sank the southwest of Takoradi in Ghana on 8 November.

Fifth patrol

The boat's fifth patrol involved another Atlantic crossing and sinking a second sailing ship, ''Angelus'', north of Bermuda, again with gunfire. Ten survivors abandoned the vessel; only two were still alive when their lifeboat was discovered.

Sixth patrol and loss

The U-boat departed Lorient for the last time on 8 August 1943. She rendezvoused with the Japanese submarine ''I-8'' on 20 August to transfer two radio technicians and a Metox radar detector for installation on the Japanese submarine. Returning to the Brazilian coast, she sank ''St. Usk'' on 20 September and ''Itapagé'' on the 26th. She was sunk with all hands (53 men), on 27 September 1943 by an American PBM Mariner aircraft of VP-74 in the South Atlantic.

Summary of raiding history

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:U0161
German Type IX submarines
U-boats commissioned in 1941
U-boats sunk in 1943
World War II submarines of Germany
World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean
World War II shipwrecks in the South Atlantic
1941 ships
Ships built in Bremen (state)
U-boats sunk by US aircraft
U-boats sunk by depth charges
Ships lost with all hands
Maritime incidents in September 1943