U-103
Type | IXB | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Ordered | 24 May 1938 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Laid down | 6 Sep 1939 | AG Weser, Bremen (werk 966) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Launched | 12 Apr 1940 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Commissioned | 5 Jul 1940 | Korvkpt. Victor Schütze (Knights Cross/Oak Leaves) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Commanders |
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| Career 11 patrols |
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| Successes | 45 ships sunk for a total of 237,596 GRT 3 ships damaged for a total of 28,158 GRT | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Fate | Taken out of service in March 1944. In Jan 1945 U-103 went from Gotenhafen to Hamburg and in April 1945 from Hamburg to Kiel. Sunk 15 April, 1945 at Kiel, by bombs. 1 dead, unknown number of survivors. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Wolfpack operations
U-103 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
Störtebecker (5 Nov 1941 - 7 Nov 1941)
Streitaxt (29 Oct 1942 - 2 Nov 1942)
Schlagetot (9 Nov 1942 - 21 Nov 1942)
Westwall (21 Nov 1942 - 16 Dec 1942)
Robbe (16 Feb 1943 - 12 Mar 1943)
Wohlgemut (12 Mar 1943 - 19 Mar 1943)
Amsel 4 (4 May 1943 - 6 May 1943)
Rhein (7 May 1943 - 10 May 1943)
Elbe 2 (10 May 1943 - 14 May 1943)
Attacks on this boat
9 Oct 1940
On the morning of this day, U-103 sighted convoy SC-6. After a successful attack at 2200hrs the boat was depth charged by a convoy escort.
11 Nov 1940
On 11 Nov, 1940 northwest of Ireland, in position 56.28N, 14.13W, the British corvette HMS Rhododendron depth charged a German U-boat. This attack was thought to have sunk the U-104 but that turned out to be not the case.
This attack was actually against U-103 inflicting no damage.
21 Nov 1940
During an attack on convoy OB-244 (2 ships sunk) one of the convoy vessels turned to ram the surfaced boat. The boat fired a torpedo towards the oncoming ship but missed and just managed to evade the ramming without any damages. (Sources: Blair, vol 1, page 208)
22 May 1943
At 14.48 hours, the inbound boat was attacked by the British Whitley aircraft Z9440 (10 OTU RAF/N, pilot F/S D.W. Brookes) northwest of Cape Finisterre in the Bay of Biscay. AA fire hit the aircraft (misidentified as Halifax) during the first attack run and prevented the crew from dropping their depth charges. U-103 crash-dived and the only slightly damaged Whitley returned safely to base. (Sources: Franks/Zimmerman)
4 recorded attacks on this boat.
Men lost from U-boats
Unlike many other U-boats, which during their service lost men due to accidents and various other causes, U-103 did not suffer any casualties (we know of) until the time of her loss.
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Books dealing with this subject include:
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There was another U-103 in World War One
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 9 Jun 1917 and commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 15 Jul 1917. The Naval war in WWI was brought to an end with the Armistice signed on 11 Nov, 1918. Read about the U 103 during WWI.