Page 62 - All About History - Issue 19-14

The Deadly Wolfpack

How the wolfpack bared its teeth

Torpedoes
The G7 torpedo was the primary U-boat weapon and a
Type VII featured four forward torpedo tubes and one aft.
The commander would calculate the necessary distances
before unleashing the missile, which was launched via
the use of compressed air. The missiles were often called
‘eels’ as they were long and greasy and ran in straight
lines. The U-boats would have enjoyed even more
staggering successes early in the war had the eels been
more reliable; a high number of torpedoes fired in the
first two years of the war failed to detonate.

Mines
The other primary
offensive weapon aboard
the U-boat was the mine
and the Kriegsmaine
developed specialised
mine-laying subs like the
Type VIID and XB. Even a Sailors on the deck of the US Coast Guard Cutter
standard Type VII could Spencer watch the explosion of a depth charge that
carry mines, launching two or three atatimefromits sunk the German U-boat U-175 on 17 April 1943
torpedo tubes. Though used less frequently than the
other offensive weapons, mines could be highly effective.
U-106, for example, sunk eight ships off the west coast of
Africa in the spring of 1941 using this weapon.

Deck guns
The Type VII usually carried a 88mm cannon on its deck
that was used to dispatch solitary merchant ships that
sailed without escort, thereby saving the limited number
of eels. Given the increasing attacks on U-boats from the
air, the Type VII’s conning tower was regularly redesigned
to allow the installation of anti-aircraft guns. The station
to the aft of the conning tower was known as the ‘winter Following his capture
Kretschmer spent almost seven
garden’ and usually housed a 20mm flak gun for defence years as a prisoner of war
against air attack.

ace Otto Kretschmer – to engage the convoy in attheheartoftheconvoyforaddedprotection. In fact, the autumn of 1940 was known as ‘The
unison. U-boats usually hunted alone, though Kretschmer fired 12 torpedoes, sinking six Allied Happy Time’ among the U-boat commanders and
Dönitz had long championed pack tactics as the vessels and damaging another. “This was the first their crews. Between June and November they
most effective way to attack and sink enemy ships. time that we had experienced these tactics”, he wreaked havoc in the Atlantic, sinking in excess of
This overwhelming victory 1.5 million tonnes of merchant
emphatically proved his point; “The autumn of 1940 was known as shipping. This was a true
20 Allied ships, totalling golden era for the U-boat
almost 80,000 tonnes, were ‘The Happy Time ’ among the Waffe, and Kretschmer was its
sunk or damaged at the golden boy.
cost of 141 lives. The U-boats U-boa t commanders and their crews” Born in May 1912,
suffered no casualties. Kretschmer joined the
After the attack, Kretschmer in U-99 recalled that continuedinapassagerecordedin U-Boat,Alan Reichsmarine of the Weimar Republic shortly
once he had penetrated the centre of the convoy, Gallop’s definitive guide to the Type VII sub “and before his 18th birthday and took command of U-35
his boat sailed, “up and down the lanes looking for the first time Dönitz had been able to put the after just seven years of service. He was an inspired
the most important and most valuable ships.” Fuel wolfpack plan to the test. The night became known submariner and went on to become the most
tankers and munitions ships were among the most as ‘the night of the long knives’ because so many celebrated U-boat commander of WWII, earning the
highly prized targets and these were often placed ships were sunk.” nickname Silent Otto thanks to his stealth tactics.

62