Cremer
Who commanded German submarine U-333 from May 1943 to Jul 1944?
German submarine U-333 German submarine U-333 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine during World War II . The submarine was laid down on 11 March 1940 at the Nordseewerke yard at Emden , launched on 14 June 1941 , and commissioned on 25 August 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Peter-Erich Cremer . After training with the 5th U-boat Flotilla at Kiel , on 1 January 1942 U-333 was transferred to the 3rd U-boat Flotilla based at La Pallice for front-line service . The U-boat made 12 combat patrols in the next three years , and sank seven merchant ships totalling , damaged another of , and also engaged and damaged the . U-333 was sunk in the English Channel by British warships using a Squid on 31 July 1944 . U-333 bore the three little fishes emblem on its conning tower . Design . German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines . U-333 had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged . She 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 Germaniawerft F46 four-stroke , six-cylinder supercharged diesel engines producing a total of for use while surfaced , two AEG GU 460/8–27 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-333 was fitted with five torpedo tubes ( four fitted at the bow and one at the stern ) , fourteen torpedoes , one SK C/35 naval gun , 220 rounds , and a C/30 anti-aircraft gun . The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty . Service history . 1st patrol . U-333 sailed from Kiel on 27 December 1941 , through the North Sea , and into the Atlantic . On 1 January 1942 the U-boat was attacked by an unidentified enemy aircraft , but was not damaged . U-333 then joined the wolfpack Ziethen on 17 January 1942 , and at 20:45 on 22 January , attacked the 3,429-ton Greek merchant ship Vassilios A . Polemis , a straggler from Convoy ON 53 . The ship , hit amidships by a single torpedo , broke in two and sank within ten minutes . The U-boat questioned the 12 survivors from the crew of 33 , and gave them bread and cigarettes . At 15:25 on 24 January , about southeast of Cape Race , U-333 attacked the 4,765-ton Norwegian merchant ship Ringstad , which had lost contact with Convoy ON 55 after several days of storms . The ship was hit on the starboard side by a single torpedo , and the crew of 43 abandoned ship in three lifeboats . After 20 minutes the ship sank , the U-boat surfaced to question the crew , offered water and food , and gave them a heading to the nearest land before wishing them good luck and leaving . However , in heavy weather two lifeboats containing 30 men were lost , while the third lifeboat was eventually spotted , covered in ice , five days later by an aircraft that brought to their rescue . The sinking of Spreewald . At 16:50 hours on 31 January 1942 , north of the Azores U-333 attacked an unescorted and zigzagging 5,083-ton merchant ship with a single torpedo , which promptly sent out a distress signal en clair under the name . Cremer examined the ship from a distance of before U-333 torpedoed the ship again at 18:33 , and sank her . Unfortunately , she was in fact the German blockade runner Spreewald , en route from Dairen in Manchuria to Bordeaux with a cargo of 3,365 tons of rubber , 230 tons of tin , 20 tons of tungsten , and quinine , as well as 86 prisoners from ships that had been sunk by the auxiliary cruiser . Cremer failed to identify her , as she was camouflaged as the Norwegian ship Elg and was ahead of schedule . A search for survivors was promptly launched . U-333 and , which was waiting to escort the ship into port and , which was waiting to transfer an injured crewman to the ship , were soon joined by and , which were returning from their patrols , and and , which had just begun theirs . Five Fw 200 Condor long-range patrol aircraft from France also searched the area , but most of the U-boats were low on fuel and soon had to abort their search . Late on 2 February , U-105 picked up 25 crewmen and 55 prisoners in three lifeboats and three rafts . Another lifeboat , containing 11 crewmen and 13 prisoners was missing and U-105 searched for a further three days before giving up and setting a course to Lorient . To compound the disaster , when a Dornier Do 24 flying boat was sent out to pick up a severely injured sailor , it crashed in rough seas . U-105 rescued the seven-man crew and sank the aircraft with gunfire . Of the 152 aboard the Spreewald , 72 were killed . After returning from his patrol on 9 February 1942 , Cremer was court-martialled , but was found not guilty . 2nd patrol . U-333 left her new home port of La Pallice on 30 March 1942 , and headed across the Atlantic to the coast of Florida . There , on 6 May , she attacked three ships , sinking two . The first was the unescorted 8,327-ton American tanker Java Arrow , hit by two torpedoes eight miles ( 13 km ) off Vero Beach at 05:43 . The attack killed two officers on watch below , the 45 survivors abandoned ship in two lifeboats . They were later picked up by the submarine chaser and a Coast Guard vessel . A Coast Guard officer boarded the ship to inspect the damage and ascertained that she could be saved , so the Master and four men returned to the ship and dropped the anchor to prevent the ship from going aground . The Master then went to Fort Pierce and returned later with 14 of his crew and the salvage tugs Ontario and Bafshe which towed the tanker to Port Everglades . The ship was repaired and returned to service in 1943 . Meanwhile , at 09:35 , off Fort Pierce , U-333 hit the unescorted 1,294-ton Dutch merchant ship Amazone with a single torpedo on the port side . The ship , en route to New York from Curaçao with a cargo of 926 tons of coffee and oil , sank within two minutes . Fourteen crewmen were lost , while the 11 survivors were picked up by the submarine chaser . Finally , at 23:25 the unescorted and unarmed 7,088-ton American tanker Halsey was hit by two torpedoes off St Lucie Inlet , ripping a hole in the side long . The ship , en route from Corpus Christi , Texas to New York , was laden with of naphtha and of heating oil . The crew of 32 abandoned ship in two lifeboats , almost being asphyxiated by naphtha fumes . An hour later the Halsey exploded , broke in two , and burst into flames . The lifeboats were soon found by , and towed to land by two fishing vessels . The next day , 7 May , U-333 was hunted by a convoy escort ship , and badly damaged by depth charges , forcing the U-boat to return to France . However , at 09:05 on 10 May , she attacked the unescorted 5,214-ton British Clan Line merchant ship Clan Skene about south-east of Cape Hatteras . The ship , carrying 2,006 tons of chrome ore from Beira in Portuguese East Africa to New York , was hit by two torpedoes and sank . Nine crewmen were killed , while 73 survivors were later picked up by the destroyer . Cremer noted in his Kriegstagebücher ( War diary ) that the sinking of this ship was like . . a balm after these terrible depth charges . U-333 finally arrived back at La Pallice on 26 May . 3rd patrol . U-333s next patrol was uneventful . Departing La Pallice on 11 August 1942 , she joined wolfpack Blücher north-east of the Azores from 14 to 18 August , but had no successes , and returned to port on 24 August after only 14 days at sea . 4th patrol . U-333 sailed from La Pallice once more on 1 September 1942 , and headed south to the coast of West Africa , joining wolfpack Iltis between 6–23 September . On 6 October the U-boat engaged the British about south-west of Freetown , Sierra Leone . Crocus detected U-333 by radar , and closed at high speed . The U-boat was rammed twice , and exchanged gunfire at close range before submerging , while the corvette dropped depth charges . The U-333 lay low , later surfacing and making her escape under cover of darkness . Both vessels suffered damage and sustained casualties . On the U-boat three men were killed ; Bootsmaat Heinz Kurze , Maschinenobergefreiter Erwin Levermann , and the First Watch Officer ( second-in-command ) Oberleutnant zur See Bernhard Hermann , while several men were wounded , including the commander Peter-Erich Cremer . Command of U-333 was taken by the Second Watch Officer ( third-in-command ) Leutnant zur See Helmut Kandzior , who took the U-boat to a rendezvous with three days later , where Kapitänleutnant Lorenz Kasch , a Captain under instruction , assumed temporary command . U-333 also received medical assistance from a doctor on the Milchkuh . On 21 October the inbound U-333 was attacked by the British submarine about north-north-east of Cape Ortegal , Spain . The British submarine was formerly the German U-570 , captured on 27 August 1941 , extensively studied , and commissioned into the Royal Navy . Graph , on her first war patrol in British service , fired a spread of four torpedoes at the surfaced U-boat , but lookouts spotted the tracks and U-333 managed to evade them . U-333 arrived back at La Pallice two days later , on 23 October 1942 , and Cremer then spent three months in hospital . 5th patrol . Oberleutnant zur See Werner Schwaff was appointed temporary commander of U-333 on 22 November 1942 , and set sail from La Pallice on his first patrol on 20 December 1942 . The U-boat sailed out to patrol the Atlantic south-west of Iceland , joining wolfpacks Falke from 28 December 1942 to 19 January 1943 , and Landsknecht from 19 to 28 January 1943 . However she had no successes , and eventually returned to base on 5 February 1943 after a patrol lasting 48 days . 6th patrol . Two days after departing from La Pallice on 2 March 1943 , U-333 was attacked in the Bay of Biscay by a British Wellington Mk.VIII bomber from No . 172 Squadron RAF equipped with a Leigh light . When the aircraft illuminated the U-boat , it was met with a barrage of AA fire . The bomber passed over U-333 , and dropped four depth charges before crashing into the sea , killing the crew of six . Two depth charges actually hit U-333 , but one broke up without detonating and the other bounced off and caused only light damage . U-333 continued her patrol , returning to the seas south-west of Iceland , and joining wolfpack Dränger on 14 March . There , on 19 March at 21:28 , she torpedoed and sank the 5,234-ton Greek merchant ship Carras , a straggler from Convoy SC 122 , which had been hit by a torpedo from earlier . All the crew of 34 survived and were picked up by the British rescue ship Zamalek . U-333 joined wolfpack Seewolf from 21 to 30 March , but had no more successes before returning to La Pallice on 13 April . Carras would be the last ship sunk by U-333 , as the balance of power in the Battle of the Atlantic now swung in favour of the Allies , culminating in Black May ( 1943 ) . 7th patrol . On 18 May 1943 Peter-Erich Cremer , now recovered from his injuries and promoted to the rank of Korvettenkapitän , reassumed command of U-333 . On 2 June the U-boat sailed from La Pallice and headed south to the coast of West Africa . However , she had no success , and returned to base on 31 August after 91 days . 8th patrol . U-333s next patrol began on 21 October 1943 , heading out into the Atlantic north-east of the Azores , where she joined wolfpack Schill on the 25th . On 4 November , while shadowing a KMS convoy , bound for Gibraltar from Liverpool , U-333 surfaced in heavy fog , but was forced to dive by a destroyer and heavily depth charged , but managed to escape unharmed . U-333 joined wolfpack Schill 1 on 16 November . On the 18th , while attacking the combined convoys SL 139 and MKS 30 , the U-boat was rammed by the frigate , losing her periscope . U-333 was then subjected to an attack from warships and an aircraft that lasted for eight hours , before making her escape . The U-boat returned to La Pallice on 1 December 1943 having had no success . 9th and 10th patrol . U-333 sailed out on a patrol on 10 February 1944 , but returned after only two days on the 12th . The U-boat left again on 14 February and headed into the waters west of Ireland . There , on 21 March , the U-boat was spotted by Allied aircraft which in turn brought in the Royal Navys renowned U-boat hunters , the 2nd Support Group , under the command of Captain F.J . Walker . Pursued relentlessly , Cremer eventually took U-333 to the bottom and sat on the sea floor at a depth of for 10 hours . Although releasing the U-boat from the grip of the mud was a problem , she eventually freed herself , and once again U-333 escaped . The U-boat returned to base on 20 April 1944 , again having had no success . 11th patrol . Departing from La Pallice on 6 June 1944 , U-333 fell victim to the increased anti-submarine activity by the Allies after the Normandy landings . On 10 June , while still in the Bay of Biscay , U-333 was attacked by an Australian Sunderland flying boat patrol bomber of No . 10 Squadron RAAF , and suffered some damage , although she managed to repel the aircraft with her flak . The next day U-333 was attacked , again by another Sunderland , this time from No . 228 Squadron RAF . U-333 managed to shoot the aircraft down , but suffered further damage , forcing her to abort her patrol and return to base on 13 June . 12th patrol . On 19 July 1944 Cremer left U-333 in order to commission the new Type XXI Elektroboot , and Kapitänleutnant Hans Fiedler was appointed as commander on the 20th . His first , and U-333s final patrol began on 23 July , as she headed into the Western Approaches . Sinking . U-333 was sunk on 31 July 1944 , west of the Scilly Isles , in position , by the first use of the Squid anti-submarine mortar from the British Royal Navy sloop and frigate of the 2nd Support Group . All 45 hands were lost . Wolfpacks . U-333 took part in nine wolfpacks , namely . - Zieten ( 17–22 January 1942 ) - Blücher ( 14–18 August 1942 ) - Iltis ( 6–23 September 1942 ) - Falke ( 28 December 1942 – 19 January 1943 ) - Landsknecht ( 19–28 January 1943 ) - Dränger ( 14–20 March 1943 ) - Seewolf ( 21–30 March 1943 ) - Schill ( 25–16 November 1943 ) - Schill 1 ( 16–19 November 1943 ) Summary of raiding history . Between August 1941 and July 1944 U-333 sailed on 12 combat patrols , and sank seven merchant ships totalling , damaged another of , and also engaged and damaged the . She also shot down two aircraft . Bibliography . - Peter Cremer ( trans . Fritz Brustat-Naval ) :U 333 : the Story of a U-boat ace , Triad , London , 1986 . External links . - Peter-Erich Cremer , recorded c.1973 for the documentary series The World at War , describes the action with HMS Crocus on 6 October 1942 - Newsreel of U-333 returning to port badly damaged