German submarine U-333 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's 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. On 1 January 1942 the U-boat was attacked by an unidentified enemy aircraft, but was not damaged.
At 15:25 on 24 January, about southeast of Cape Race, U-333 attacked the 4,765 GRT 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 '
At 16:50 hours on 31 January 1942, north of the Azores U-333 attacked an unescorted and zigzagging 5,083 GRT 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 , 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. There, on 6 May, she attacked three ships, sinking two. The first was the unescorted 8,327 GRT American tanker Java Arrow, hit by two torpedoes 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. 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 GRT 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 GRT 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 GRT 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. she joined wolfpack 'Blücher' north-east of the Azores from 14 to 18 August, joining wolfpack 'Iltis' between 6–23 September. 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. 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. joining wolfpacks 'Falke' from 28 December 1942 to 19 January 1943, and 'Landsknecht' from 19 to 28 January 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 joined wolfpack 'Seewolf' from 21 to 30 March,
Eighth 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. There, on 21 March, the U-boat was spotted by Allied aircraft which in turn brought in the Royal Navy's 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. and Kapitänleutnant Hans Fiedler was appointed as commander on the 20th.
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.
!Date || Ship || Tonnage|| Nationality || Convoy || Fate and location
|-
|align="right"|22 January 1942
|align="left" |Vassilios A. Polemis
|align="right"|3,429
|align="left" |
|align="left" |ON 53
|align="left" |Sunk at
|-
|align="right"|24 January 1942
|align="left" |Ringstad
|align="right"|4,765
|align="left" |
|align="left" |ON 55
|align="left" |Sunk at
|-
|align="right"|31 January 1942
|align="left" |Spreewald
|align="right"|5,083
|align="left" |
|
|align="left" |Sunk at
|-
|align="right"|6 May 1942
|align="left" |Amazone
|align="right"|1,294
|align="left" |
|
|align="left" |Sunk at
|-
|align="right"|6 May 1942
|align="left" |Halsey
|align="right"|7,088
|align="left" |
|
|align="left" |Sunk at
|-
|align="right"|6 May 1942
|align="left" |Java Arrow
|align="right"|8,327
|align="left" |
|
|align="left" |Damaged at
|-
|align="right"|10 May 1942
|align="left" |Clan Skene
|align="right"|5,214
|align="left" |
|
|align="left" |Sunk at
|-
|align="right"|6 October 1942
|align="left" |HMS Crocus
|align="right"|925
|align="left" |
|
|align="left" |Damaged at
|-
|align="right"|19 March 1943
|align="left" |Carras
|align="right"|5,234
|align="left" |
|align="left" |SC 122
|align="left" |Sunk at
|}
References
Notes
Citations
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 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