German submarine U-103 (1940)

For other ships with the same name, see German submarine U-103.

U-103 in 1939. Looking forward from the conning tower. Note the width of casing of the Type IX compared to the Type VII U-boat
History
Nazi Germany
Name	U-103
Ordered	24 May 1938
Builder	AG Weser, Bremen
Yard number	966
Laid down	6 September 1939
Launched	12 April 1940
Commissioned	5 July 1940
Fate	Sunk 15 April 1945 at Kiel by bombs. One dead
General characteristics
Class and type	Type IXB U-boat
Length	76.5 m (251 ft 0 in) overall 58.7 m (192 ft 7 in) pressure hull
Beam	6.8 m (22 ft 4 in) overall 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) pressure hull
Height	9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draft	4.7 m (15 ft 5 in)
Speed	18.3 knots (33.9 km/h) surfaced 7.3 knots (13.5 km/h) submerged
Range	22,200 nmi (41,100 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) surfaced 118 nmi (219 km) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h) submerged
Service record
Part of:	Kriegsmarine: 2nd U-boat Flotilla 24th U-boat Flotilla
Identification codes:	M 05 635
Commanders:	Viktor Schütze Werner Winter Gustav-Adolf Janssen Heinz Murl Hans-Norbert Schunck
Operations:	Eleven 1st patrol: 21 September–19 October 1940 2nd patrol: 23 September–19 December 1940 3rd patrol: 21 January–24 February 1941 4th patrol: 1 April–12 July 1941 5th patrol: 10 September–9 November 1941 6th patrol: 3 January–19 March 1942 7th patrol: 15 April–22 June 1942 8th patrol: 21 October–29 December 1942 9th patrol: 7 February–26 March 1943 10th patrol: 24 April–26 May 1943 11th patrol: a. 18–19 September 1943 b. 23 September 1943–1 January 1944
Victories:	45 ships sunk for a total of 237,596 GRT Three ships damaged for a total of 28,158 GRT

German submarine U-103 was a Type IXB U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine that operated during World War II. She was one of the most successful boats in the entire war, sinking over 237,000 tons of Allied shipping in 11 patrols, in a career lasting more than four years.

U-103 was laid down on 6 September 1939 at AG Weser in Bremen as 'werk' 966. She was launched on 12 April 1940 and commissioned on 5 July under the command of Korvettenkapitän Victor Schütze. After her warm-up, (designed to give her an opportunity to train and repair minor faults), she was deployed into the Atlantic Ocean in September, 1940 and saw overwhelming success, sinking 45 ships and damaging three other vessels.

Operational career

1st patrol

The boat entered the Atlantic via the 'gap' between the Faroe and Shetland Islands. Her first victory was sinking the Nina Borthen in mid-ocean on 6 October. After being hit by a torpedo, the ship developed a list, which the crew corrected. The ship was hit by two more projectiles, which also caused a list. Another torpedo hit broke the vessel in two and she sank. There were no survivors.

A steady stream of victories followed; the Zanes Gounaris on 9 October, the Graigwen (damaged) also on the 9th, as was the Delphin, although she did not sink until the next day. The Nora went down on 13 October; the Thistlegarth was the last victim - sinking 45 mi (72 km) west northwest of Rockall on 15 October.

U-103 docked at her new base - Lorient on the French Atlantic coast, on 19 October.

2nd patrol

U-103's second foray commenced with her being unsuccessfully attacked by the British flower class corvette HMS Rhododendron northwest of Ireland on 11 November 1940.

She then added to her score: the Daydawn on the 21st, the Victoria on the same day; the Glenmoor on the 27th, the Mount Athos on the 28th and the St. Elwyn, also on the 28th. There was a slight pause before the attacks continued: the Calabria on 8 December and the Empire Jaguar the next day.

The submarine returned to Lorient on 19 December.

3rd patrol

The list of sinkings and damaged ships grew: the Arthur F. Corwin was damaged by U-103 13 February 1941 and sunk by U-96 later that same day; the Edwy R. Brown (17 October), the Seaforth (18th) and the Benjamin Franklin (19th), all fell to the weapons of the German U-boat.

4th patrol

A change of operational area saw U-103 conduct her fourth sortie off the coast of West Africa. This patrol was also notable, because at 103 days, it was her longest. She sank the Polyana 41 mi (66 km) southwest of the Cape Verde Islands on 24 April 1941. The ship went down in one minute, there were no survivors.

The tally increased: the Samsø, the Wray Castle, the Surat and the Dunkwa were all sent to the bottom in the first week of May. When the Dunkwa met her end, it was noticed that there were 39 survivors in one lifeboat; the U-boat-men righted another and provided water.

U-103 sank another eight ships in the vicinity of the 'dark continent' before returning to Lorient on 12 July.

5th patrol

Patrol number five was relatively modest in terms of ships sunk. 'Only' two vessels went under; (the Niceto de Larrinaga and the Edward Blyden), west of the Canary Islands on 22 September 1941.

6th patrol

The boat's sixth patrol centred around the eastern US coast. She sank the W. L. Stead about 90 mi (140 km) off the Delaware river on 2 February 1942. The torpedo hit set the ship on fire but wave action soon extinguished it. Using her deck gun, U-103 fired 83 rounds, scoring 17 hits and reigniting the fire. She fired a further two torpedoes, the second missed, but the third caused the tanker's cargo to explode, sending flames 500 ft (150 m) into the air.

U-103 also sank the San Gil on 4 February, the India Arrow on the 5th and the China Arrow on the same date.

7th patrol

Her seventh patrol began with her departure from Lorient on 15 April 1942. She sank the Stanbank northeast of Bermuda on 5 May. Moving into the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, she caused more mayhem amongst the unprotected merchant ships in May. In all, she destroyed nine vessels on this voyage.

U-103 returned to Lorient on 22 June.

8th patrol

Two more ships went to watery graves - the Tasmania north of Madeira on 31 October 1942 and the Henry Stanley in mid-Atlantic northwest of the Azores on 6 December. The Henry Stanley's master was taken prisoner and was eventually sent to the POW camp for mechant seamen at Milag Nord.

U-103 also damaged the Horata north of the Azores on 13 December.

9th and 10th patrols

The boat experienced something that was relatively novel on her ninth sally - she sank no ships. Despite scouring the Atlantic off Spain as far west as the Azores and as far south as Morocco, she came across no convoys. Having departed Lorient on 7 February 1943, she returned there on 26 March.

U-103 was attacked by a Leigh Light equipped Vickers Wellington of No. 172 Squadron RAF on 27 April, during her tenth patrol. The aircraft had found the U-boat with its RADAR; six depth charges were dropped, but no damage was inflicted. The boat was also attacked by a Whitley bomber of No. 10 OTU (Operational Training Unit) on 22 May. A hit from the boat's AA fire prevented the aircraft from dropping its depth charges. Plane and submarine both returned safely to their bases.

11th patrol

U-103's last operational patrol was officially divided into two parts; the first of which saw her arrive in Brest in France only two days after her departure from 'Lorient. She then returned to the west African coast but could not repeat her earlier success. She sailed to Bergen in Norway via a reverse in the course of her first patrol and arrived at the Nordic port on 1 January 1944.

Fate

The boat moved from Bergen on 3 January 1944 and arrived in Kiel on the 7th. In March U-103 was taken out of service and used as a Schulboot (training boat). She went from Gotenhafen to Hamburg in January 1945 and in April from Hamburg back to Kiel. On 15 April 1945 she was sunk by Canadian bombers; one man died and there were an unknown number of survivors.

Summary of raiding history

Date	Ship	Nationality	Tonnage	Fate
6 October 1940	Nina Borthen	Norway	6,123	Sunk
9 October 1940	Delphin	Greece	3,816	Sunk
9 October 1940	Graigwen	Great Britain	3,697	Damaged
9 October 1940	Zannes Gounaris	Greece	4,407	Sunk
13 October 1940	Nora	Estonia	1,186	Sunk
15 October 1940	Thislegarth	Great Britain	4,747	Sunk
21 November 1940	Daydawn	Great Britain	4,768	Sunk
21 November 1940	Victoria	Greece	6,085	Sunk
27 November 1940	Glenmoor	Great Britain	4,393	Sunk
28 November 1940	Mount Athos	Greece	3,578	Sunk
28 November 1940	St. Elwyn	Great Britain	4,940	Sunk
8 December 1940	Calabria	Great Britain	5,186	Sunk
13 February 1941	Arthur F. Corwin	Great Britain	10,516	Damaged
17 February 1941	Edy R. Brown	Great Britain	10,455	Sunk
18 February 1941	Seaforth	Great Britain	5,459	Sunk
19 February 1941	Benjamin Franklin	Norway	7,034	Sunk
25 April 1941	Polyana	Norway	2,267	Sunk
1 May 1941	Samsø	Great Britain	1,494	Sunk
3 May 1941	Wray Castle	Great Britain	4,253	Sunk
6 May 1941	Dunkwa	Great Britain	4,752	Sunk
9 May 1941	City of Winchester	Great Britain	7,120	Sunk
6 May 1941	Surat	Great Britain	5,529	Sunk
11 May 1941	City of Shanghai	Great Britain	5,828	Sunk
22 May 1941	British Grenadier	Great Britain	6,857	Sunk
25 May 1941	Radames	Egypt	3,575	Sunk
25 May 1941	Wangi Wangi	Netherlands	7,789	Sunk
8 June 1941	Elmdene	Great Britain	4,853	Sunk
29 June 1941	Erani	Italy	6,619	Sunk
22 September 1941	Edward Blyden	Great Britain	5,003	Sunk
22 September 1941	Niceto de Larringa	Great Britain	5,591	Sunk
2 February 1942	W. L. Steed	USA	6,182	Sunk
4 February 1942	San Gil	USA	3,627	Sunk
5 February 1942	China Arrow	USA	8,403	Sunk
5 February 1942	India Arrow	USA	8,327	Sunk
5 February 1942	Stanbank	USA	5,966	Sunk
17 May 1942	Ruth Lykes	USA	2,612	Sunk
19 May 1942	Ogontz	USA	5,037	Sunk
21 May 1942	Clare	USA	3,372	Sunk
21 May 1942	Elizabeth	USA	4,727	Sunk
23 May 1942	Samuel Q. Brown	USA	6,625	Sunk
24 May 1942	Hector	Netherlands	1,828	Sunk
26 May 1942	Alcoa Carrier	USA	5,588	Sunk
28 May 1942	New Jersey	USA	6,414	Sunk
31 October 1942	Tasmania	Great Britain	6,405	Sunk
6 December 1942	Henry Stanley	Great Britain	5,025	Sunk
13 October 1942	Horata	Great Britain	3,945	Damaged

References

• uboat.net webpage for U-103
• ubootwaffe.net webpage for U-103
• uboataces.com webpage with insignia for U-103

See also

• List of German U-boats
• List of successful U-boats