German submarine U-129 (1941)

German Type IXC submarines were slightly larger than the original Type IXBs. U-129 had a displacement of {{convert|1120|t|LT}} when at the surface and {{convert|1232|t|LT}} while submerged.{{sfn|Gröner|1991|p=68}} The U-boat had a total length of {{convert|76.76|m|ftin|abbr=on}}, a pressure hull length of {{convert|58.75|m|ftin|abbr=on}}, a beam of {{convert|6.76|m|ftin|abbr=on}}, a height of {{convert|9.60|m|ftin|abbr=on}}, and a draught of {{convert|4.70|m|ftin|abbr=on}}. The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke, nine-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of {{convert|4400|PS|kW shp|-1}} for use while surfaced, two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of {{convert|1000|PS|kW shp|-1}} for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two {{convert|1.92|m|ft|abbr=on|0}} propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to {{convert|230|m}}.{{sfn|Gröner|1991|p=68}}

The submarine had a maximum surface speed of {{convert|18.3|kn}} and a maximum submerged speed of {{convert|7.3|kn}}.{{sfn|Gröner|1991|p=68}} When submerged, the boat could operate for {{convert|63|nmi}} at {{convert|4|kn}}; when surfaced, she could travel {{convert|13450|nmi}} at {{convert|10|kn}}. U-129 was fitted with six {{convert|53.3|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and two at the stern), 22 torpedoes, one 10.5 cm SK C/32 naval gun, 180 rounds, and a 3.7 cm SK C/30 as well as a 2 cm FlaK 30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of forty-eight.{{sfn|Gröner|1991|p=68}}

It made the short journey from Kiel, arriving in Horten Naval Base in Norway on 24 July 1941.

The boat's first patrol involved her departure from Horten, crossing the North Sea and entering the Atlantic Ocean by passing close to the Faroe Islands on the Icelandic side. It arrived at Lorient (where she would be based for most of her career), in occupied France on 30 August 1941.

Its second sortie saw its cross the Bay of Biscay to a point north of the Azores.

Its third patrol was further south, as far south as a similar latitude to Rio de Janeiro, but success continued to elude it.

Things improved dramatically when as part of Operation Drumbeat,Gannon, Michael Operation Drumbeat – the dramatic true story of Germany's first U-boat attacks along the American coast in World War II, 1990, Harper and Row, {{ISBN|0-06-016155-8}}, pp. 129, 489 it attacked Nordvangen on 20 February; this ship sank in one minute northeast of Trinidad. Staying in the West Indies / northern South America region, it sank another six vessels.

1926 D/S Cadmus (UKJ101192601) Torpedoed and sunk 01/07 by the German submarine U 129 (Kapitänleutnant Hans Ludwig Witt) in position 22.50N-92.30W while on a voyage from Tela, Honduras to Galveston, TX, USA with bananas. Two men lost. Captain Alfred Stenersen and the survivors abandoned into 2 life boats. They landed 06/07 about 60 nm south of Texpan, Mexico.

1927 MS GUNDERSEN (UKJ101192702) Departed Tela, Honduras 29/06 with 16.255 banana stems for Galveston, TX, USA. Torpedoed 01/07 by the German submarine U-129 (Kapitänleutnant Hans-Ludwig Witt) in position 23.33N-92.35V in the Gulf of Mexico. 22 were saved by Norwegian SS DEA, but an English messboy died, probably during the explosion. GUNDERSEN caught fire and sank within the next 45 minutes.

The submarine returned to its sunshine haunts; included in the toll was Hardwicke Grange, which was sunk with torpedoes and the deck gun north of Puerto Rico on 12 June 1942. It also sank Millinocket on 17 June off La Isabela, Cuba and a ship from the Soviet Union, Tuapse, in the Gulf of Mexico on 4 July.

Its sixth patrol included the sinking of Trafalgar about {{convert|1100|nmi|abbr=on}} northeast of Guadeloupe on 16 October 1942 and West Kebar some {{convert|350|nmi|abbr=on}} northeast of Barbados.

Patrol number seven saw ships such as the {{MV|Melbourne Star|1936|2}} and Panam consigned to the deep. On the return journey U129 was refuelling from the 'milk cow' supply submarine {{GS|U-459||2}} when two men were swept overboard. One was recovered fairly swiftly but the other could not be found.{{cite web

|url=http://uboat.net/boats/patrols/patrol_3850.html

|last=Helgason

|first=Guðmundur

|title=Patrol info for U-129

|website=U-boat patrols - uboat.net

}}

Her eighth patrol was west of the Canary Islands and produced no results.

U-129{{'}}s ninth patrol was divided into two; she departed Lorient on 9 October 1943, but put into Saint-Nazaire on the 11th. A day later she headed for the US east coast, sinking Libertad on 4 December off North Carolina.

The boat began her last operation which at 111 days, was her longest, on 22 March 1944. Steaming south, she encountered Anadyr about {{convert|600|nmi|abbr=on}} south southeast of Recife in Brazil and sank her.

The boat was taken out of service at Lorient 4 July 1944; she was scuttled on 18 August. She was raised and broken up in 1946.

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book | last1 = Busch | first1 = Rainer | last2 = Röll | first2 = Hans-Joachim | translator-last = Brooks | translator-first = Geoffrey | title = German U-boat commanders of World War II : a biographical dictionary | publisher = Greenhill Books, Naval Institute Press | location = London, Annapolis, Md | year = 1999 | isbn = 1-55750-186-6 }}
• {{cite book

|last1=Busch

|first1=Rainer

|last2=Röll

|first2=Hans-Joachim

|title=Deutsche U-Boot-Verluste von September 1939 bis Mai 1945

|trans-title=German U-boat losses from September 1939 to May 1945

|series=Der U-Boot-Krieg

|volume=IV

|publisher=Mittler

|location=Hamburg; Berlin; Bonn

|year=1999

|isbn=3-8132-0514-2

|language=de

}}

• {{cite book

|last1=Gröner

|first1=Erich

|last2=Jung

|first2=Dieter

|last3=Maass

|first3=Martin

|translator-last1=Thomas

|translator-first1=Keith

|translator-last2=Magowan

|translator-first2=Rachel

|year=1991

|title=U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels

|volume=2

|series=German Warships 1815–1945

|location=London

|publisher=Conway Maritime Press

|isbn=0-85177-593-4

|ref=CITEREFGröner1991

}}

{{Refend}}

• {{Cite web

|url=http://uboat.net/boats/u129.htm

|title=The Type IXC boat U-129

|last=Helgason

|first=Guðmundur

|website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net

|access-date=7 December 2014

}}

• {{Cite web

|url=http://www.u-boot-archiv.de/dieboote/u0129.html

|title=U 129

|last=Hofmann

|first=Markus

|website=Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 - u-boot-archiv.de

|language=de

|access-date=7 December 2014

}}

{{German Type IXC submarines}}

{{August 1944 shipwrecks}}

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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2014}}

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Category:World War II submarines of Germany

Category:1941 ships

Category:Ships built in Bremen (state)

Category:German Type IX submarines

Category:U-boats commissioned in 1941

Category:Maritime incidents in August 1944