Who was the commander of German submarine U-38 (1938) between Jul 1942 and Sep 1942?
German submarine U-38 ( 1938 ) German submarine U-38 was a Type IXA U-boat of Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine that operated during World War II . Her keel was laid down on 15 April 1937 , by DeSchiMAG AG Weser of Bremen as yard number 943 . She was launched on 9 August 1938 and commissioned on 24 October with Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Liebe in command . U-38 conducted eleven patrols , as part of several flotillas . During her career , she sank over 30 enemy vessels and damaged a further one . U-38 ranks as one of the most successful U-boats in World War II . She was scuttled west of Wesermünde ( modern Bremerhaven ) on 5 May 1945 . Throughout the war , the U-Boat suffered no losses among her crew . Design . As one of the eight original German Type IX submarines , later designated IXA , U-38 had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged . The U-boat had a total length of , a pressure hull length of , a beam of , a height of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke , nine-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of for use while surfaced , two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of for use while submerged . She had two shafts and two propellers . The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to . The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of . When submerged , the boat could operate for at ; when surfaced , she could travel at . U-38 was fitted with six torpedo tubes ( four fitted at the bow and two at the stern ) , 22 torpedoes , one SK C/32 naval gun , 180 rounds , and a SK C/30 as well as a C/30 anti-aircraft gun . The boat had a complement of forty-eight . Service history . 1st Patrol . U-38 left the port of Wilhelmshaven on 19 August 1939 . The boat operated off the coast of Lisbon , returning to port on 18 September . During this four-week period , she sank two ships . On 5 September 1939 U-38 stopped the French ship Pluvoise , examined her papers and released her . Pluvoise broadcast the event , warning others of the U-boat . For this , Liebe was reprimanded . The already strict rules restricting submarine warfare were further tightened to prevent a recurrence of the event and all U-boats were instructed to avoid contact with any French merchant vessels . The British steam freighter SS Manaar was sunk on 6 September 1939 . U-38 opened fire on the freighter , intending to stop her , but she returned fire . This was the first time that a merchantman fired at a U-boat . Stunned by this unexpected response , U-38 dived and sank Manaar with torpedoes . Citing the fact that Manaar had fired at him , Liebe did not assist the survivors , reasoning that the vessel was exempted from protection by the Submarine Protocol . Berlin would release to the media the narrative that the Manaar had fired on U-38 on sight . While Karl Dönitz did not believe that his submarines should have to maintain adherence to the Submarine Protocol in the face of armed merchantmen , due to the political situation , restrictions remained in force after this incident and he was merely able to issue instruction to all submarines to exercise caution . Radio Officer James Turner remained at his post until the last moment . As he was leaving he found two Lascars , one badly injured . Turner rescued both men while under continuous fire from U-38 , for this he was awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal . On 11 September 1939 , while flying the Irish tricolour , Inverliffey was shelled and sunk . In spite of Captain William Trowsdales protestation that they were Irish , Liebe said that they were sorry but they would sink Inverliffey as she was carrying contraband petrol to England . The crew took to the lifeboats . Inverliffey burned fiercely , endangering the lifeboats . At risk to herself , the German submarine approached , threw lines to the lifeboats and towed them to safety . As Captain Trowsdales lifeboat was damaged , the occupants were allowed to board the U-boat . The captain did not have a lifebelt , so he was given one . U-38 stopped the American tanker R.G . Stewart and put Inverliffeys crew on board . Just two days earlier , Inver tankers transferred its ships from the Irish to the British registry . 2nd Patrol . After nearly two months in port , U-38 left Wilhelmshaven , again with Heinrich Liebe in command , on 12 November 1939 . This second patrol was to see the boat operate in the waters northwest of Norway . On 17 November 1939 , Naval High Command ( SKL ) issued orders for U-38 and to scout the location for Basis Nord , a secret German naval base to be used for raids on allied shipping which was located off the Kola Peninsula and provided by the Soviet Union . The mission required coded messages to be flashed to Soviet naval vessels patrolling the area preceding a Soviet escort to the prospective base location . U-36 never left the Norwegian Sea and was sunk by the British submarine . U-38 rounded the North Cape uneventfully and arrived in Teriberka Bay by mid-afternoon on 26 November . Running silently into the bay , U-38 had to avoid being spotted by merchant vessels in order to help maintain the Soviet Unions attempted appearance of neutrality at that time . U-38s captain commented that , while in the area of the North Cape and the Kola Peninsula , he had observed thirty to forty targets and regrettably had been harmless to [ all ] of them . After completing the clandestine reconnaissance mission , U-38 returned to raiding duties and sank three ships , two British and one Greek . The British steam freighter SS Thomas Walton was sunk on 7 December . The Greek steam freighter SS Garoufalia was destroyed on 11 December , as was the British steam freighter on 13 December . After an operational period of four and a half weeks , U-38 returned to Wilhelmshaven on 16 December . 3rd Patrol . Once again , U-38 would spend considerable time in port , prior to sailing on 26 February 1940 , for operations in the Western Approaches . U-38 sank six ships . First sent to the bottom was the neutral Irish steam trawler on 9 March , with a single shell at point-blank range off Tory Island , all 11 crew were lost . The Leukos was fishing in the company of British trawlers ; it has been speculated that she positioned herself between the surfacing U-boat and the fleeing British in the belief that her neutral markings would protect her . This event was followed by the sinking of the Danish motor freighters SS Argentina on 17 March and SS Algier and SS Christiansborg on 21 March . The Norwegian motor freighter MV Cometa was sunk on 26 March . The sixth and final ship sunk during this third patrol was the Finnish steam freighter SS Signe on 2 April . After nearly six weeks on the high seas , U-38 returned to Wilhelmshaven on 5 April 1940 . 4th Patrol . U-38 left her home port of Wilhelmshaven with Heinrich Liebe in command on 8 April 1940 . She would sweep the waters off Norway , supporting the occupation of that country by Nazi troops . During this patrol , U-38 reported problems with her torpedoes , after was fired upon with no result . U-38 would return to port on 27 April . There were two naval battles of Narvik on 10 and 13 April 1940 . U-38 and U-65 were positioned at the entrance to the fjord . When the Royal Navy arrived , U-38 fired at and at missing both . In the second battle , U-38 fired at Effingham , but the torpedoes malfunctioned , ( exploding prematurely ) . 5th Patrol . For her fifth patrol , U-38 would again depart from Wilhelmshaven with Heinrich Liebe in command on 6 June 1940 . She was to patrol the waters off southern Ireland . During this operation , Liebe would hit six ships , two of which were sailing in convoy at the time . On 14 June , U-38 sank the Greek steam freighter SS Mount Myrto . The next day , U-38 sank two ships , both sailing as part of Convoy HX 47 , sailing from Halifax to England . First sunk was the Canadian steam freighter SS Erik Boye , followed by the Norwegian motor tanker MV Italia . Five days later , on 20 June , the Swedish steam freighter SS Tilia Gorthon was torpedoed and sunk . The Belgian steam freighter SS Luxembourg was destroyed on 21 June , followed by the Greek steam freighter SS Neion the following day . After three weeks at sea , U-38 returned to Wilhelmshaven on 2 July . During this patrol , U-38 was able to land Walter Simon , a Nazi agent , at Dingle Bay in Ireland on 12 June . Not realising that the passenger services of the Tralee and Dingle Light Railway had been closed fourteen months earlier , he asked when the next train to Dublin was . He was arrested and interned in the Curragh Camp for the duration of the war . 6th Patrol . U-38 would depart Wilhelmshaven for the last time on 1 August 1940 , again with Heinrich Liebe in command . On this month-long patrol off the western coast of Ireland , U-38 would hit and sink three ships , all of which were in convoy at the time of attack . On 7 August the Egyptian liner was sunk while traveling with HX 61 , from Halifax to Gibraltar , 320 died . The British steam freighter SS Llanfair was hit and sunk , travelling as part of SL-41 from Sierra Leone to England . The third and final ship hit on the sixth patrol of U-38 was the British steam freighter SS Har Zion , while travelling with the Convoy OB 225 , from Liverpool to the United States . After four weeks at sea Liebe returned U-38 to her new home port of Lorient in France on 3 September 1940 . 7th Patrol . For her first patrol from Lorient and her seventh overall , U-38 would again be under the command of Heinrich Liebe . She departed on 25 September , for the Northwest Approaches . She would attack five ships on this patrol , sinking four of them . On 1 October , the British motor freighter MV Highland Patriot was torpedoed . After two weeks of no victories , U-38 was successful against the Greek steam freighter SS Aenos on 17 October , sailing as part of Convoy SC 7 , from Sydney , Nova Scotia to England . The following day , the British steam freighter SS Carsbreck was damaged , but not sunk , while traveling with the SC 7 convoy from Sydney to Grimsby , England . On 19 October , two ships were hit , both sailing as part of the HX 79 convoy : the Dutch SS Bilderdijk and the British steam freighter SS Matheran . Following these victories , U-38 returned to Lorient on 24 October 1940 . 8th Patrol . U-38 would depart Lorient with Liebe in command once again on 18 December 1940 . The eighth war patrol of her career would involve operations again in the Northwest Approaches . During this patrol , the submarine would hit and sink two ships . On 27 December , U-38 destroyed the British ship SS Waiotira , and on 31 December , she sank the Swedish motor freighter SS Valparaiso , sailing as part of the HX 97 convoy from Halifax to Glasgow . U-38 returned to port on 22 January 1941 . 9th Patrol . U-38 would spend two and a half months in port , before leaving for operations off the west coast of Africa on 9 April 1941 . This would prove to be her most successful patrol , with the sinking of eight ships . On 4 May , the Swedish steam freighter SS Japan was torpedoed while traveling with Convoy OB 310 from England to the United States . The following day , the British motor freighter MV Queen Maud was hit and sunk . On 23 May , the Dutch motor freighter SS Berhala was sunk while traveling with the Convoy OB 318 , from England to America . The British steam freighter SS Vulcain was torpedoed and sunk on 24 May . Six days later , on 29 May , the British steam freighter SS Tabaristan was another victim . The following day the destruction continued , the British steam freighter SS Empire Protector was sent to the bottom , as was the Norwegian steam freighter SS Rinda on the 31st . The eighth and final ship sunk during U-38 ninth patrol was the British cargo steamship on 8 June . The boat then returned to Lorient on 29 June 1941 , after spending eleven and a half weeks at sea . 10th Patrol . For the first time in her career , U-38 would head to sea with a new commander , Korvettenkapitän Heinrich Schuch . She left on 6 August , for a five-week patrol in the North Atlantic . During this time one ship was hit , the Panamanian steam freighter SS Longtanker on 18 August . U-38 returned to Lorient on 14 September 1941 . 11th and 12th Patrols . U-38 would depart from Lorient for the last time on 15 October , again with Heinrich Schuch in command . Her eleventh patrol was to take place in the North Atlantic . However , during a period of five weeks , not a single ship was hit . U-38 traveled to the U-boat base in Bergen , Norway on 21 November . She would later depart Bergen on the 23rd and arrive in Stettin on 29 November . Life after active duty . From December 1941 until November 1943 , U-38 was used as a training boat in the 24th and 21st U-boat Flotillas . She was then used as a testing boat , until she was scuttled by her crew on 5 May 1945 . Wolfpacks . U-38 took part in five wolfpacks , namely . - Prien ( 12–17 June 1940 ) - Grönland ( 10–27 August 1941 ) - Markgraf ( 27 August – 3 September 1941 ) - Schlagetot ( 20 October – 1 November 1941 ) - Raubritter ( 1–11 November 1941 ) Summary of raiding history . During her service in the Kriegsmarine , U-38 sank 35 commercial ships for , and damaged another of . Bibliography . - Philbin III , Tobias R. , The Lure of Neptune : German-Soviet Naval Collaboration and Ambitions , 1919 – 1941 , University of South Carolina Press , 1994 ,