U-101
Type | VIIB | |||||||||||||
| Ordered | 15 Dec 1937 | |||||||||||||
| Laid down | 31 Mar 1939 | F. Krupp Germaniawerft AG, Kiel (werk 595) | ||||||||||||
| Launched | 13 Jan 1940 | |||||||||||||
| Commissioned | 11 Mar 1940 | Kptlt. Fritz Frauenheim (Knights Cross) | ||||||||||||
| Commanders |
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| Career | 10 patrols | 11 Mar 1940 - 31 Mar 1940 7. Flottille (training) 1 Apr 1940 - 28 Feb 1942 7. Flottille (front boat) 1 Mar 1942 - 31 Mar 1942 26. Flottille (training) 1 Apr 1942 - 31 Aug 1942 21. Flottille (school boat) 1 Sep 1942 - 31 Aug 1943 24. Flottille (training) 1 Sep 1943 - 21 Oct 1943 23. Flottille (training) | ||||||||||||
| Successes | 22 ships sunk for a total of 112,618 GRT 1 warship sunk for a total of 1,190 tons 2 ships damaged for a total of 9,113 GRT | |||||||||||||
| Fate | Stricken at Neustadt on 21 Oct, 1943. Scuttled there on 3 May, 1945. Wreck broken up. | |||||||||||||
See the 25 ships hit by U-101 - View the 10 war patrols
Wolfpack operations
U-101 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
Rösing (12 Jun 1940 - 15 Jun 1940)
Without name (30 Aug 1940 - 9 Sep 1940)
Without name (17 Oct 1940 - 19 Oct 1940)
Without name (1 Dec 1940 - 3 Dec 1940)
Attacks on this boat
23 May 1940
For the second day in a row, the outbound boat encountered an enemy submarine in the North Sea. This time a torpedo track was seen passing the bow in a distance of about 50 metres.
29 May 1940
At 16.30 hours, the boat was attacked by an aircraft with 2 bombs west of the English Channel and suffered minor damages. (Sources: Ritschel)
31 May 1940
After a successful attack on convoy HGF-31, the boat was attacked for 4 hours with 34 depth charges. When they went on periscope depth, an armed trawler dropped 7 depth charges at 22.00 hours, causing several damages. (Sources: Ritschel)
4 Jun 1940
At 20.14 hours, the boat was attacked by an aircraft with a bomb west of the English Channel. No damages. (Sources: Ritschel)
23 Jun 1940
At 04.08 hours, the inbound boat was attacked by an aircraft with 3 bombs in the North Sea. The persicope was damaged. (Sources: Ritschel)
3 Sep 1940
While searching for a convoy west of Ireland, the boat was attacked by an escort with depth charges in 5 attacks, causing several damages and a flooding that could be stopped by the crew. (Sources: Ritschel)
19 Oct 1940
During its last attack on the convoy SC-7, the boat was shelled by a freighter, but this did not prevent U-101 from firing the last torpedoes. The shells hit the water behind the boat, which was turning away zig-zagging without being hit. (Sources: Ritschel)
29 Jan 1941
When the boat tried to attack the convoy SC-19, a destroyer forced it to dive by gunfire at 04.16 hours and then dropped 3 depth charges. No damages.
(Sources: Ritschel)
23 Apr 1941
The boat encountered a British submarine in the North Atlantic, which fired two torpedoes, but both missed.
24 Aug 1941
At 09.53 hours, the boat was attacked by an aircraft with 2 bombs near Rockall. No damages, but U-101 had to crash-dive another five times to evade aircraft operating in the area on this and the next day. (Sources: Ritschel)
28 Aug 1941
While operating against convoy OS-4, the boat was forced to dive by a destroyer at 03.03 hours and attacked for 3 hours by several escorts with 30 depth charges. The attacks were carried out accurately, but the damages were not serious except the disabled periscope. (Sources: Ritschel)
13 Oct 1941
At 10.45 hours, the outbound boat was attacked by a twin-engined aircraft with 3 bombs in the Bay of Biscay. The attack apparently caused a small trace of oil, because the submerged boat was attacked again with 3 bombs at 16.42 hours. (Sources: Ritschel)
12 recorded attacks on this boat.
Men lost from the boat
4 Jun 1941
The boat lost a man, Matrosenobergefreiter Horst Jackl, overboard.
Related: For more info on such losses see - Men lost from U-boats -
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There was another U-101 in World War One
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 1 Apr 1917 and commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 15 May 1917. The Naval war in WWI was brought to an end with the Armistice signed on 11 Nov, 1918. Read about the U 101 during WWI.