German submarine U-134 (1941)

Unterseeboot 134 (usually abbreviated to U-134) was a German VIIC type U-boat of World War II, laid down on 6 September, 1940 by Bremer Vulkan, Bremen-Vegesack and commissioned on 26 July, 1941. In 7 patrols, "U-134" sank 3 ships for a total of 12,147 GRT.

SS "Scapa Flow"

On November 14, 1942, "U-134" sank the 4,827-ton Panaman steamship Scapa Flow that carried manganese ore, latex and baled rubber. At 4:58 pm the steamer, under Master Samuel Newbold Mace was hit on the portside under the bridge and at the 3rd hatch by two torpedoes and sank in one minute at position coord|12|N|30|W|scale:30000000 in the Atlantic Ocean. She had been located at 11:37 am on a route where attacks were prohibited. The U-boat first obtained permission to attack. 23 survivors escaped in a damaged lifeboat having two rafts and a tin of bandages. The master and chief engineer of the steamer had drowned. The 47 crew members and 13 armed guards on board had no time to launch the four needed lifeboats. Only a metal boat, acquired from the John Carter Rose and four rafts floated. 25 crew members and six armed guards were lost. The survivors transferred the next morning into the boat with the supplies, but one armed guard died. All were rescued on December 1 by HMS Armeria (K 187).

Blimp "K-74"

American 250-foot long, Goodyear-built ZPK-class Blimp K-74, became the only blimp shot down in the war when destroyed by "U-134".Vaeth, J. Gordon "Incident in the Florida Straits" "United States Naval Institute Proceedings" (August 1979) pp.84-86] "K-74" detected "U-134" on RADAR in the Straits of Florida at 2340 18 July 1943. United States Navy doctrine required blimps to stay out of range of surfaced submarines and guide aircraft or ships to attack. Blimp pilot LT Nelson C. Grills USNR disregarded doctrine in an attempt to prevent "U-134" from reaching a tanker and freighter ahead of the submarine. "K-74" was hit by "U-134"s 2-cm machine gun fire during its 55-knot approach. "K-74" returned 100 rounds of .50 caliber (12.7 mm) fire before the machine gun was unable to depress sufficiently as the blimp passed over "U-134" on its bombing run. "K-74"s two Mark XVII depth charges failed to release as the blimp passed over "U-134", lost control, and slowly fell tail-first into the sea. None of the ten-man blimp crew was injured, and all moved away from "K-74" to avoid anticipated depth charge detonations when it sank. "K-74" remained afloat for 8 hours, however, and "U-134" pulled part of the wreckage aboard for photographs and evaluation. All but one of "K-74"s crew were rescued the following day by submarine chaser SC-657 and the destroyer USS Dahlgren (DD-187). Aviation machinist's mate second class Isadore Stressel drowned minutes before rescue, and became the only United States Navy airshipman to die as a result of enemy action.

Sunk off Cape Finisterre

"U-134" was sunk on August 24, 1943 near Vigo, Spain at coord|42|07|N|09|30|W|scale:10000000 by 6 depth charges from a British Vickers Wellington aircraft of Squadron 179/J. All 48 men on board died. "U-134" passed the photos of "K-74" to another U-boat prior to being sunk. The United States Navy was unaware "K-74" had been boarded until the photos were discovered in 1958.

References

* [http://www.uboat.net/boats/u134.htm U-boat.net webpage for "U-134"]

See Also: List of U-boats