German submarine U - 123 ( 1940 ) German submarine " U - 123 was a Type IXB U - boat of the Nazi German " Kriegsmarine " that operated during World War II . After that conflict , she became the French submarine Blaison " ( Q165 ) until she was decommissioned on 18 August 1959 . Service history . " U - 123 " was laid down on 15 April 1939 at the AG Weser yard in Bremen as ' werk ' 955 . She was launched on 2 March 1940 and commissioned on 30 May , with " Kapitänleutnant " Karl - Heinz Moehle in command . He was relieved on 19 May 1941 by " Kptlt . " Reinhard Hardegen , who was relieved in turn on 1 August 1942 by his watch officer , " Oberleutnant zur See " Horst von Schroeter . He remained in command until the boat was decommissioned in 1944 . " U - 123 " conducted 12 war patrols , sinking 45 ships , totalling 227 , 174 tons and damaging six others , totaling 53 , 568 tons . Among them were four neutral Swedish merchantmen ; SS " Anten " , MV " Korsholm " , SS " Nanking " and MV " Venezuela " . Operational history . 1st patrol . " U - 123 " s first patrol began with her departure from Kiel on 21 September 1940 . Her route took her across the North Sea , through the ' gap ' between the Faroe and Shetland Islands and into the Atlantic Ocean west of Ireland . She sank six ships in October , including the " Shekatika " which was hit with no less than five torpedoe s before she went to the bottom east southeast of an appropriately named islet called Rockall . Nevertheless , her partial load of pit - props floated free before she went down . The boat docked at Lorient in occupied France on 23 October . 2nd patrol . " U - 123 " returned to the same general area for her second patrol as for her first . She was also almost as successful , sending another five merchantmen to watery graves . The voyage was marred on 17 November 1940 when " Mechanikergefreiter " Fritz Pfeifer was lost overboard . A week later ( on the 23rd ) , after a successful attack , the boat was seriously damaged in collision with an unknown object ( " probably a convoy vessel " ) . She returned to Lorient on 28 November . 3rd patrol . Her score rose steadily , another four ships met their end ; one , the " Grootekerk " , was sunk after a nine hour chase about west of Rockall . There were no survivors . 4th patrol . Venturing further west of Ireland on her fourth sortie , the boat ' only ' sank one ship , the " Venezuela " on 17 April 1941 . This was another vessel which required five torpedoes to ensure her destruction . There were also no survivors . Having set - out from Lorient on 10 April , she returned to the same port on 11 May . 5th patrol . Patrol number five was conducted in the Atlantic , but in the vicinity of the Azores and the Canary Islands . Her first victim this time out was the " Ganda " , a 4 , 300 ton neutral registered in Portugal . She went down on on 20 June 1941 . Following her sinking with torpedoes and gunfire , it was realised what her status was . On her return to Lorient , " U - 123 " s war diary ( KTB ) was altered on the order of U - boat headquarters ( BdU ) : The U - boat sank four other ships between 27 June and 4 July , but was depth charge d for 11 hours on 27 June and only escaped by diving to . She was also unsuccessfully attacked by convoy escorts west of Portugal on 12 August , although she sustained moderate damage . 6th patrol . Despite criss - crossing the Atlantic , " U - 123 " found the pickings rather thin , she did manage to damage the armed merchant cruiser ( AMC ) HMS " Aurania " on 21 October 1941 and take one crewman prisoner . The ship had been travelling behind Convoy SL - 89 with five other AMCs . The vessel was hit by two torpedoes but empty drums in the holds kept her afloat . A 25 degree list was reduced to 15 degrees ; men had abandoned ship prematurely - hence the POW . The ship continued her voyage , albeit at reduced speed . 7th patrol . " U - 123 " took part in the opening of Operation " Drumbeat " , also called the " Second Happy Time " or " Paukenschlag " in January 1942 . She began by sinking the " Cyclops " about southeast of Cape Sable , Nova Scotia on the 12th . Moving down the coast , the " Norness " , the " Coimbra " , the " Norvana " , the " City of Atlanta " and the " Ciltvaira " all met their end due to the U - boats ' presence . She was also credited with sinking the " San Jose " on 17 January , ( this ship was actually lost in a collision ) . The " Malay " was only damaged because Hardegen had under - estimated her size and chose to use the deck gun rather than a torpedo . In a reference to American unpreparedness , he commented after sinking the " Norvana " : " These are some pretty buoys we are leaving for the Yankees in the harbor approaches as replacement for the lightships . " " U - 123 " was attacked by an aircraft off New York , but withdrew without any damage being sustained . She also had a lucky escape on 19 January when the " Kormoros II " tried to ram the boat off Oregon Inlet . At one point the ship was only away from the German submarine which had an inoperable diesel engine . The U - boat escaped when the recalcitrant power plant was restarted at the last minute and flares were fired at the larger vessel ' s bridge . The " Culebra " and the " Pan Norway " were also sunk off Bermuda . By now out of torpedoes and in the case of the " Pan Norway " , the boat used the last of her deck gun ammunition and 37mm AA weapon to destroy the Norwegian vessel . The U - boat then encountered a Greek ship under a Swiss charter , which was directed to the survivors . 8th patrol . The boat ' s second " Paulkenschlag " mission was also successful - sinking the " Muskogee " and the " Empire Steel " on 22 and 23 March 1942 near Bermuda before moving closer to the US east coast . She then attacked the USS " Atik " , a Q ship . This disguised merchantman was hit on the port side , the crew started to abandon ship on the starboard side . The U - boat moved closer , at which point " Atik " dropped her concealment and opened fire with all weapons . " U - 123 " ran off , ( one man died in the action ) , but she dived , returned and sank the American vessel with a torpedo . There were no survivors . The boat proceeded to sink or damage another eight ships ; many of them resting on the sea bed in the shallow water with parts of their hulls above the surface . One such was the " Oklahoma " which , although sent below in of water on 8 April , was re - floated , repaired and returned to service in December 1942 . Another vessel , the " Gulfamerica " was fatally struck about five miles from Jacksonville , Florida on 11 April . The ship had been on her maiden voyage from Philadelphia to Port Arthur , Texas , with 90 , 000 barrels of fuel oil . Nineteen crewmen were killed in the attack . She did not sink until 16 April . Another victim was the " Alcoa Guide " , engaged at the relatively close range of by the deck gun , ( " U - 123 " had run out of torpedoes ) , on 17 April . The boat then returned to Lorient on 2 May and proceeded to steam to Bergen in Norway before carrying out a series of short journeys to Kristiansand , Aarhus , Kiel and Stettin . 9th patrol . For her ninth patrol , " U - 123 " left Kiel on 5 December 1942 and returned to the Atlantic . She sank the " Baron Cochrane " on the 29th after the ship had already been damaged by " U - 406 " and missed by " U - 591 " . " U - 123 " also damaged the " Empire Shackleton " , a Catapult Armed Merchantman north of the Azores . ( The wreck was sunk by " U - 435 " on the same day ) . The boat returned to Lorient on 6 February 1943 . 10th patrol . " U - 123 " sailed to the West African coast . She sank the Spanish - registered motor ship on 8 April 1943 west of Conakry , French Guinea . As " per " maritime rules , the neutral ship had the Spanish flag painted in both sides . Commander Horst von Schroeter ordered the shooting of 3 torpedoes and she sunk in less than a minute . The submarine surfaced , the commander confirmed that it just sunk a neutral ship , said " " What ship ? " " and left without giving any assistance to the 40 survivors ( five went down with the ship ) . A few days later the rescued 29 survivors from a boat . 11 on a separated raft died . The affair was hushed - up by the government of Franco ; indeed , the survivors were ordered to shut - up . The career of Commander Horst von Schroeter was unaffected by this affair and after the war he even became a NATO commander . " U - 123 " was also successful against a British submarine , HMS " P - 615 " southwest of Freetown in Sierra Leone on 18 April . She sank the " Empire Bruce " on the same day , also southwest of Sierra Leone . She sank three more ships off Monrovia on 29 April , 5 May and 9 May . 11th patrol . " U - 123 " was depth charged off Cape Finisterre ( northwest Spain ) , by Allied escort vessels on 25 August 1943 - the date is approximate . She was also attacked by a British De Havilland ( ' Tse Tse ' ) Mosquito of No . 618 Squadron RAF on 7 November 1943 . Its 57mm cannon killed one man and created a hole 18 x 6 · 5 cm , rendering the boat unable to dive . 12th patrol . " U - 123 " s last patrol was her longest - 107 days , but after the incidents of the previous eleven , it was a bit of an anti - climax . She returned to Lorient unable to repeat her success , on 24 April 1944 . The boat was taken out of service at Lorient on 17 June 1944 , she was scuttled there on 19 August . She was raised by the French in 1945 after Germany ' s surrender , and became the French submarine " Blaison " ( Q165 ) . She was decommissioned on 18 August 1959 .