German submarine U-193

U-Boat Infobox
type=IXC/40
fieldpost number=
yard number=
order date=
keel=December 22, 1941
launch=August 24, 1942
commission=December 10, 1942
yard=AG Weser, Bremen
U-Boat Patrol
startdate=Start Date
enddate=End Date
assigned unit=Assigned Unit
U-Boat Patrol
startdate=May 11, 1943
enddate=July 23, 1943
assigned unit=1st FlotillaU-Boat Patrol
startdate=October 12, 1943
enddate=February 9, 1944
assigned unit=1st FlotillaU-Boat Patrol
startdate=February 19, 1944
enddate=February 25, 1944
assigned unit=1st Flotilla [ This was the brief passage from Ferrol to Lorient. ] U-Boat Patrol
startdate=April 23, 1944
enddate=April 28, 1944
assigned unit=10th FlotillaU_Boat Command
startdate=December, 1942
enddate=April, 1944
name=Kptlt. Hans Pauckstadt
U_Boat Command
startdate=April, 1944
enddate=April, 1944
name=Kptlt. Dr Ulrich Abel
U_Boat Sink
type=Type of Ship Sunk
total=Number of Ships Sunk
tonnage=Gross Registered Tonnage
U_Boat Sink
type=Commercial Vessels
total=1
tonnage=10,172
U_Boat Sink
type=Military Vessels
total=None
tonnage=0

Unterseeboot 193 (usually abbreviated to U-193) was a German submarine built during World War II for service in the Atlantic Ocean. She performed four war patrols in which she sank one ship, before being lost herself in the Bay of Biscay. Completed in 1942 at Bremen, "U-193" was a IXC/40 Type U-boat, with a very long cruising ability and six torpedo tubes supplied by 22 torpedoes.

War Patrols

Her first patrol, in May 1943, took her from Kiel in Germany where she had completed her working up program through to the Azores and well into the central Atlantic Ocean. She did not encounter any allied shipping, and failed to find her first victory before returning to Bordeaux in August. Just three days from home, in the Bay of Biscay, she was hit by bombs from an allied aircraft, wounding two sailors and requiring three months repairs. A second operation begun in October was more successful, penetrating the Gulf of Mexico and sinking the independently-sailing 10,000 ton American oil tanker TS "Touchet" [ [http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/3143.html uboat.net - Allied Ships hit by U-boats - Touchet (Turbine tanker) ] ] with ten of its crew. The remainder of the patrol was a failure however, as a combination of dud torpedoes, well-organised convoys and effective counter measures combined to prevent "U-193" gaining a single hit.

As the second patrol neared an end in February 1944 after five frustrating months at sea, "U-193" caused an international incident following an attack by allied aircraft and convoy escorts off the Spanish coast. In her desperate attempts to escape, she dived straight into the seabed, causing serious damage to the boat. Knowing a journey to a German-held port was now impossible, her captain Kplt Hans Pauckstadt decided to intern his boat in Ferrol on the Spanish coast. Under international law, if "U-193" remained in the neutral harbour for more than 24 hours, then Spanish authorities should detain the boat for the remainder of hostilities.

This did not occur however, as "U-193" stayed in Ferrol for ten days whilst Spanish workmen performed superficial repairs to the boat. "U-193" then left the port despite allied protests and returned to Lorient in France, where more extensive repairs were completed and the captain replaced with Kplt Dr Ulrich Abel. This six day passage is often listed as "U-193"'s "third" patrol, although their was no intention of operating against allied shipping. Following repairs, "U-193" departed on her fourth and final patrol, which lasted just five days, before, on the 28 April 1944, she was seen and attacked by a British Royal Air Force Vickers Wellington bomber of Squadron 612, whose bombs sank the boat with all 59 hands not far from Nantes. This attack was actually against U-802 inflicting no damage. [ [http://uboat.net/boats/u193.htm]

Raiding career

References

* Sharpe, Peter, "U-Boat Fact File", Midland Publishing, Great Britain: 1998. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.
* [http://www.uboat.net/boats/u193.htm U-boat.net webpage for "U-193"]

*See Also: List of U-boats

Inline citations