German submarine U-219

"Unterseeboot" 219 ("U-219") was a German Type XB U-boat of World War II.

Service History

She first ventured through the South Atlantic with the second "Monsun Gruppe" ("Monsoon Group") to the Indian Ocean in late 1943. Upon reaching Penang, this group of U-boats became part of "U-Flotte" 33, which also comprised "U-848" "U-849," "U-850," "U-177" and "U-510".

"U-219"'s mission had been to lay mines off Cape Town and Colombo but when the group's U-tanker was destroyed, "U-219" was required to take its place refuelling the other submarines of the group at sea so they could return to Germany. Of this group, only "U-510" continued to Penang Island. "U-219" returned to France and was prepared for a transport mission at Bordeaux.

On her next voyage east, "U-219" departed Bordeaux on 23 August 1944 with "U-195" and "U-180", carrying cargo which included part of a consignment of twelve dismantled V-2 rockets for Japan shared with "U-195". [John Beasant, "Stalin's Silver", Reed Business Pub.] Both "U-219" and "U-195" reached Djakarta in December 1944; "U-180" is thought to have been sunk in the Gironde estuary by a mine.

Postwar

Following Germany's surrender, "U-219" was seized by the Japanese at Batavia on 8 May 1945 and on 15 July 1945 was placed into service with the Imperial Japanese Navy as "I-505". Eventually U-219, operating as I-505, was captured at Surabaya in August 1945 by the Royal Navy and scuttled in February 1946 at coord|06|31|00|S|104|54|08|E|type:landmark off the Sunda Strait.

Notes

References

* "U-boat Far from Home, The epic voyage of U-862 to Australia and New Zealand" by David Stevens, Allen and Unwin Pub
* "Stalin's Silver" by John Beasant, Reed Business Pub

External links

* [http://www.combinedfleet.com/sensuikan.htm Voyage logs of I-class boats voyaging to France]