U-133
Type | VIIC | |||||||||||||
| Ordered | 7 Aug 1939 | |||||||||||||
| Laid down | 21 Aug 1940 | Bremer Vulkan-Vegesacker Werft, Bremen-Vegesack (werk 12) | ||||||||||||
| Launched | 28 Apr 1941 | |||||||||||||
| Commissioned | 5 Jul 1941 | Oblt. Hermann Hesse | ||||||||||||
| Commanders |
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| Career 3 patrols |
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| Successes | 1 warship sunk for a total of 1,920 tons | |||||||||||||
| Fate | Sunk 14 March, 1942 in Mediterranean outside Salamis (Saronic Gulf), Greece, in position 37.50N, 23.35E by a mine. 45 dead (all hands lost). | |||||||||||||
At 1700hrs on 14 March, 1942, U-133 left her base at Salamis, Greece. Only 2 hours later she hit a mine. The U-boat was lost immediately with all hands. The commander of the 23rd Flotilla stated after the incident that U-133 left the prescribed way.
(Special thanks to Telis Zervoudis for great assistance in clearing this long time uncertain fate.)
Wolfpack operations
U-133 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
Stosstrupp (30 Oct 1941 - 4 Nov 1941)
Raubritter (5 Nov 1941 - 17 Nov 1941)
Störtebecker (17 Nov 1941 - 22 Nov 1941)
Attacks on this boat
17 Jan 1942
The British destroyer HMS Maori (Cdr R.E. Courage, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) lightly damages the German submarine U-133 with depth charges.
U-133 had just torpedoed and sunk the British destroyer HMS Gurkha (Cdr. C.N. Lentaigne, DSO, RN) of the screen of convoy MW-8B.
1 recorded attack on this boat.
General notes on this boat
Myth involving this boat
There is a great U-boat myth that involves this boat. According to an article from 1996 her last mission was to travel up the Colorado River from Baja California and destroy the Hoover Dam. The article is from the USS Shaw's newsletter. The article states that U-133, piloted by Captain Peter Pfau along with 54 sailors made it to as far as Laughlin, Nevada before sandbars made them abort their mission and scuttle the sub.
This is only a cute story, she never would have made it that far (see map showing its approximate path from St. Nazaire, a suitable base, to the target) as its fuel supply would never have allowed this (not even close, the type VIIC could make it to the US east coast by filling up part of its water tanks with fuel but even then it was stretching it). There was also no U-boat commander named Pfau. Had such an unsual and daring raid been attempted during the war, people would talk and we would know about it by now.
Men lost from U-boats
Unlike many other U-boats, which during their service lost men due to accidents and various other causes, U-133 did not suffer any casualties (we know of) until the time of her loss.
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