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, total tonnage 237,596 GRT 3 ships damaged, total tonnage 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 damage. (Sources: Blair, vol 1, page 208)
27 Apr 1943
At 00.05 hours, the outbound boat was attacked by a Leigh Light equipped Wellington aircraft (172 Sqn RAF/M) after being located by radar in the Bay of Biscay. Warned by the radar detector, U-103 evaded the attack and escaped by diving. No damage were caused by the six depth charges that had missed ahead. The aircraft circled the area and homed on a second radar contact, that proved to be U-566 which was unable to dive due to an earlier air attack. The aircraft had no depth charges left and returned to base after exchanging gunfire. (Sources: KTBs/ADM 199-1784)
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)
5 recorded attacks on this boat.
Men lost from the boat
8 Apr 1943
Maschinemaat Otto Hollemann died in a swimming accident at Pont Calleck, Lorient. He was buried at Pornichet cemetery in France, block G, row 25, grave 697.
Related: For more info on such losses see - Men lost from U-boats -
U-boat Emblems
We have 2 emblem entry for this boat! See the emblem page for this boat or view each one below.
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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.