U-154

Type

IXC

 
Ordered25 Sep 1939
Laid down21 Sep 1940 AG Weser, Bremen (werk 996)
Launched21 Apr 1941
Commissioned2 Aug 1941Korvkpt. Walther Kölle
Commanders
2 Aug 1941 - 7 Oct 1942   Walther Kölle
7 Oct 1942 - 8 Feb 1943   Heinrich Schuch
8 Feb 1943 - 21 Jan 1944  Oblt. Oskar-Heinz Kusch
22 Jan 1944 - 3 Jul 1944  Oblt. Gerth Gemeiner
Career
8 patrols
2 Aug 1941-31 Jan 1942  4. Flottille (training)
1 Feb 1942-3 Jul 1944  2. Flottille (front boat)
Successes10 ships sunk for a total of 49,288 GRT
2 ships damaged for a total of 15,771 GRT
1 ship a total loss for a total of 8,166 GRT
Fate

Sunk 3 July, 1944 west of Madeira, Portugal, in approximate position 34.00N, 19.30W, by depth charges from the US destroyer escorts USS Inch and USS Frost. 57 dead (all hands lost).

See the 13 ships hit by U-154 - View the 8 war patrols

Wolfpack operations

U-154 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
   Südwärts (24 Oct 1942 - 26 Oct 1942)

Attacks on this boat

3 Nov 1943
Off the mouth of the Amazon, Brazil the boat was attacked by an unknown Catalina aircraft but managed to repell her without damages. The boat however had to abort an attack on convoy. (Sources: Blair, vol 2, page 461)

22 Nov 1943
The boat was attacked twice north of the French Guiana during the night. No damages and she reached port safely. (Sources: Blair, vol 2, page 461)

13 Mar 1944
An escort for a small convoy the boat was attacking, possibly the patrol craft PC 469, attacked the boat causing minor damages. (Sources: Blair, vol 2, page 564)

3 recorded attacks on this boat.

General notes on this boat

12 May 1944. On January 26, 1944, Oblt. z.S. Oskar Kusch was condemned to death by a military tribunal and executed on May 12, 1944, after being denounced by his former IWO for alleged "Wehrkraftzersetzung" (sedition and defeatism).

Kusch was one of only two U-boat commanders to be sentenced to death by German authorities, the other being Heinz Hirsacker of U-572 who was convicted of cowardice and committed suicide on April 24, 1943, shortly before his scheduled execution.

Men lost from the boat

12 May 1944
The Commander of the boat, Oblt. Oskar Kusch, was executed on 12 May ´for his anti-Hitler views´ after his IWO* turned him in. He was convicted in late January, his photo is on the right.

* The former I WO and then the commander of U-193, the lawyer Oblt. Ulrich Abel, died when his boat was sunk on 24 April, 1944.

  Related: For more info on such losses see - Men lost from U-boats -


We have an emblem for this boat!

You can view it here. (The emblem on the left is not the emblem for this boat).



U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 2
Wynn, Kenneth


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Books dealing with this subject include:

German U-Boat Losses During World War II. Niestle, Axel, 1998.
Hitler's U-boat War. Blair, Clay, 1996.
Hitler's U-boat War, Vol II. Blair, Clay, 1998.
U-Boat Adventures. Wiggins, Melanie, 1999.
U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 1. Wynn, Kenneth, 1998.
U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 2. Wynn, Kenneth, 1998.
USS Frost. Kerrigan, Warren J., 2001.


There was another U-154 in World War One
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 10 Sep 1917 and commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 12 Dec 1917. The Naval war in WWI was brought to an end with the Armistice signed on 11 Nov, 1918. Read about the U 154 during WWI.