MITTELMEER PATROL 2
U-133 departed Salamis, Greece, on the evening of 06-MAR-42 and headed for Gruppe GRÜN. No sooner had we cleared the northwest corner of Crete when we were attacked by a British PBY in CO2863 on 07-MAR-42 in the late afternoon. The crew was alert and we performed a crash dive and evaded the wasserbombs, which detonated well astern.
On 08-MAR-42, we entered Gruppe GRÜN and began patrolling between the south of Crete and the Afrikan coast. On 10-MAR-42, we sank an escorted British Large Merchant heading west in CO5281 expending 2 torpedoes, one of which pre-detonated. We evaded the escort, which proved no threat.
On the evening of 11-MAR-42, we came across an Aquitania-class Troop Ship and LST heading east escorted by two destroyers. We fired 4 torpedoes – one pre-detonated and the other three struck the troop ship in the stern area and sank her. The escorts were no threat, but the LST got away.
The next evening, 12-MAR-42, U-133 came upon an Australian Tramp Steamer and Bathurst destroyer heading west in CO5518 and sank both with 2 torpedoes.
U-133 then headed south closed to the Afrikan coast. In the early hours of 13-MAR-42, we had a hydrophone contact on a Task Force west-southwest of our location. We quickly determined that it was heading away from us and decided not to expend the fuel to give chase. That evening, as we approached the southern-most leg of our patrol in CO5577, we had to crash dive to avoid detection by a Hudson bomber sighted to the east-southeast.
In the early hours of 14-MAR-42, U-133 heard another Task Force to the northeast heading west and we decided to attempt an intercept. Seventy-five minutes later, we were in good position in CO5261 on two Southampton Light Cruisers escorted by four destroyers heading west at 12 knots. We fired 4 torpedoes – 2 at each cruiser – and began a stern dive. On hydrophone, we heard 2 good detonations against the first target and two dud torpedoes strike the second cruiser. As we dove for safely, we could hear the collapse of bulkhead as the first cruiser sank. The escorts were no threat and the remaining cruiser got away.
We were headed back toward Salamis with only 2 stern torpedoes remaining, when late afternoon on 14-MAR-42 we sighted another Hudson bomber in CO5243. We began a crash dive, but engineering reported a problem with switching from diesel to electric – we were diving on ballast and momentum only for over a minute while engineering resolved the problem. The Hudson dropped wasserbombs astern the U-Boot, but we were able to escape with no damage. Surfacing late that night, we decided to head straight for Salamis, Greece, to get our engineering issues resolved. We arrived at Salamis at 17:25 on 15-MAR-42.
A short 10-day patrol thanks to an abundance of enemy targets in the patrol area.
Departed Salamis 06 MAR 1942
Docked Salamis 15 MAR 1942 after 10 days at sea
Sank 3 enemy merchants and 2 warships for 73.563 GRT
Expended 12 torpedoes: 8 good detonations; 2 predets; 2 dudsSome images overexposed for clarity ...
British Large Merchant
Three torpedoes into an Aquitania class Troop Transport
Aquitania class Troop Transport on fire
Aquitania class Troop Transport going down
Torpedo rips a British Bathurst Corvette in half
One torpedo for an Australian Tramp Steamer
Australian Tramp Steamer going down
Two torpedo hits on a British Southampton Light Cruiser
Second Southampton cruiser evades after two dud torpedoes
Southampton going down
Homecoming
