German submarine U-219 was a Type XB submarine of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The U-boat was laid down on 31 May 1941 at the Germaniawerft yard at Kiel as yard number 625, launched on 6 October 1942, and commissioned on 12 December 1942 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Walter Burghagen.

Initially built as one of eight submarine minelayers, after her first patrol she was converted into a transport and tanker submarine, before being used as a blockade runner to deliver supplies to the German naval squadron operating in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Upon arriving in Indonesia in December 1944, U-219 remained there for several months because of several mechanical problems, with its return trip to Germany with war materials being delayed. In May 1945 she was given by its crew to the Japanese after Germany's surrender, and was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as I-505 on 15 July 1945. She was never assigned a Japanese crew and was captured by the British after Japan's surrender, being sunk in February 1946 by the Royal Navy along with several other captured U-boats.

Design

The Type XB submarine was designed in 1938 to serve as a minelayer. Weighing at 2,710 tons when submerged and fully loaded, it was the largest class of U-boats ever built, and therefore had reduced maneuverability and agility. The Type XB could carry 66 Schachtmine A mines in 30 mine shafts, with several in the forward hull and several in saddle tanks on each side of the submarine. When the submarine was used for cargo duty, the mine shafts could be used to carry freight containers.

Kriegsmarine

The U-boat was laid down on 31 May 1941 at the Germaniawerft yard at Kiel as yard number 625, launched on 6 October 1942, and commissioned on 12 December 1942 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Walter Burghagen. On the same day, she was assigned to the 4th U-boat Flotilla for training. On 1 July 1943, she was reassigned to the 12th U-boat Flotilla based in Bordeaux, France.

Her orders were then changed and she was told to return to Bordeaux. While U-219 was resupplying U-172 southwest of the Canary Islands on 12 December 1943, the U.S. Tenth Fleet (a "paper fleet" in charge of anti-submarine warfare coordination) learned of their presence by decoding the orders to U-219 from U-boat Command, and sent two Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers from the escort carrier to their location. U-172 was eventually sunk by the aircraft and the escort carrier's destroyers after a 24-hour chase, and U-219 used that as an opportunity to escape from them. She returned to Bordeaux on 1 January 1944.

After the war

The former executive officer of U-219 during its mission to the Far East, Hans-Joachim Krug, later served as a consultant for the German war film Das Boot.

References

Bibliography

  • IJN Submarine I-505: Tabular Record of Movement