German submarine U-81 (1941)

Unterseeboot "81" was a German Type VIIC U-boat that had a successful career with the Kriegsmarine during the Second World War.

Construction and commissioning

She was ordered on 25 January 1939 and was laid down on 11 May 1940 at Bremer Vulkan, Bremen-Vegesack, becoming 'werk 9'. She was launched on 22 February 1941 and commissioned under her first commander Oblt. Friedrich Guggenberger on 26 April of that year. Guggenberger commanded her for her work ups with the 1. Unterseebootsflottille between 26 April until 31 July 1941. She then became a front boat of 1. Unterseebootsflottille, and set out on a number of training patrols. [http://www.uboat.net/boats/u81.htm Career] ]

Career

Early patrols

Her first successes came on her second patrol, which took her from Trondheim into the North Sea and the North Atlantic, before putting into the French port of Brest. During the patrol she came across convoy SC-42. She sank the SS "Empire Springbuck" on 9 September, followed by the MV "Sally Maersk" on 10 September, for a combined total of 8,843 tons. She was then one of the U-boats ordered into the Mediterranean. Her first attempt to break into the Mediterranean ended in disaster, when on 30 October she was attacked and severely damaged by a British Catalina of No. 209 Squadron RAF, as "U-81" attempted to cross the Straits of Gibraltar. The Catalina was joined by a Lockheed Hudson, which dropped depth charges onto "U-81". She was severely damaged and had to return to Brest. There she was repaired in order to return to the Mediterranean.

inking the "Ark Royal"

On 4 November "U-81" left Brest bound for La Spezia. Whilst sailing off Gibraltar on 13 November, she encountered the inbound ships of Force H. She fired a single torpedo into the aircraft carrier HMS "Ark Royal", and then avoided depth charge attacks from the escorts. Despite efforts to salvage her, the "Ark Royal" had to be abandoned some 12 hours after the attack and capsized some two hours later and sank. Only one life had been lost due to the torpedo explosion. [cite book | last = Rossiter| title = Ark Royal| pages = p. 329] "U-81" reached La Spezia on 1 December, when she joined the 29. Unterseebootsflottille.

Patrols in the Mediterranean

Her next patrol was uneventful and resulted in no ships attacked. She sailed again on 4 April 1942 and headed into the eastern Mediterranean. On 16 April she sank the Egyptian sailing ships "Bab el Farag" and "Fatouh el Kher", as well as the British SS "Caspia" and the Free French anti-submarine naval trawler "Vikings". "U-81" sank a further two Egyptian sailing ships, "Hefz el Rahman" on 19 April and the "El Saadiah" on 22 April. "U-81" put into port at Salamis on 25 April having spent 22 days at sea and sunk 7,582 tons of shipping. A further patrol out of Salamis was uneventful and she returned to La Spezia on another patrol, which saw the sinking of the British SS "Havre" on 10 June. "U-81"’s next patrol was into the western Mediterranean. She sank the British SS "Garlinge" on 10 November and went on to intercept one of the convoys of Operation Torch, sinking the SS "Maron" on 13 November.

"U-81"’s next patrol was uneventful and saw her briefly shift operations to Pola. On 25 December Oblt. Johann-Otto Krieg took command of "U-81" from Guggenberger. She sailed from Pola on 30 January 1943 on her next patrol. On 10 February she damaged the Dutch SS "Saroena" and on 11 February she sank four sailing vessels, the Egyptian "Al Kasbanah" and "Sabah el Kheir", the Lebanese "Husni" and the Palestinian "Dolphin". "U-81" put into Salamis on 19 February after 21 days at sea, and 388 tons of shipping sunk and 6,671 tons damaged. Her next patrol sank three more Egyptian sailing vessels, the "Bourghieh", the "Mawahab Allah" and the "Rousdi", whilst her next brought more substantial results. The British troop transport SS "Yoma" was sunk on 17 June, followed by the Egyptian sailing vessel "Nisr" on 25 June and the Syrian sailing vessels "Nelly" and "Toufic Allah" on 26 June. On 27 June she sank the Greek SS "Michalios", but was engaged by shore-based guns off Latakia. Her next patrol saw only the SS "Empire Moon" hit on 22 July, but she was declared a total loss and spent the rest of the war under repair. Her next three patrols were uneventful but on 18 November she sank the SS "Empire Dunstan".

inking

"U-81" was attacked by US bombers whilst in Pola, at 1130hrs on 9 January 1944. She sank with two of her crew dead and an unknown number of survivors. The wreck was raised on 22 April 1944 and broken up. She had conducted 17 patrols, sinking 23 ships totaling 63,289 tons and damaging two others totaling 14,143 tons.

References

* [http://www.uboat.net/boats/u81.htm U-81 at Uboat.net]
*Mike Rossiter, "Ark Royal: the life, death and rediscovery of the legendary Second World War aircraft carrier" (Corgi Books, London, 2007). ISBN 978-0-552-15369-0
*William Jameson, "Ark Royal: The Life of an Aircraft Carrier at War 1939-41" (Periscope Publishing Ltd, 2004). ISBN 1-90438-127-8