German submarine U-165 (1941)

German submarine U-165 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine built for service during World War II. The keel for this boat was laid down on 30 August 1940 at the Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG, Bremen yard as yard number 704. She was launched on 15 August 1941 and commissioned on 3 February 1942 under the command of Fregattenkapitän Eberhard Hoffmann.

The U-boat's service began with training as part of the 4th U-boat Flotilla. She then moved to the 10th flotilla on 1 September 1942 for operations. She sank two ships, totalling, one auxiliary warship of 358 GRT and damaged three others, for 14,499 GRT. She also damaged one auxiliary warship (7,252 GRT).

An RAF aircraft with a Czechoslovak crew sank her on 27 September 1942.

Design
German Type IXC submarines were slightly larger than the original Type IXBs. U-165 had a displacement of 1120 t when at the surface and 1232 t while submerged. The U-boat had a total length of 76.76 m, a pressure hull length of 58.75 m, a beam of 6.76 m, a height of 9.60 m, and a draught of 4.70 m. The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke, nine-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of 4400 PS for use while surfaced, two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of 1000 PS for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two 1.92 m propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to 230 m.

The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 18.3 kn and a maximum submerged speed of 7.3 kn. When submerged, the boat could operate for 63 nmi at 4 kn; when surfaced, she could travel 13450 nmi at 10 kn. U-165 was fitted with six 53.3 cm 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 C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of forty-eight.

Patrol
Source:

The submarine's only patrol took her from Kiel on 7 August 1942, across the North Sea and into the northern Atlantic Ocean via through the gap between Iceland and the Faroe Islands to the Gulf of the St. Lawrence.

Her first victims were USS Laramie (AO-16) and Arlyn; both damaged during an attack on convoy SG-6 at the northern end of the Belle Isle Strait on 28 August. One of the ships was then finished off by U-517.

On 6 September U-165 found convoy QS-33 and during several attacks sank the freighter Aeas and the escort HMCS Raccoon (S14).

On 15 September U-517 attacks convoy SQ-36, and signals U-165 which can attack the next day. U-165 can sink one ship out of the convoy and damage two more ships.

Loss
U-165 had almost reached the French Atlantic ports when on 27 September 1942 an RAF Coastal Command Vickers Wellington 1C on patrol from RAF Talbenny found her on the surface just west of the Bay of Biscay. The Wellington, with serial number Z1147 and code letters KX-Q, belonged to No. 311 Squadron RAF, whose aircrew were Czechoslovaks.

The pilot, Plt Off Václav Študent, attacked at an altitude of 70 ft. His navigator and bomb aimer, Flt Lt Václav Kadaně, aimed six depth charges at U-165. Their explosions lifted the U-boat out of the water, but she managed to submerge to escape further attack.

Shrapnel wounded three of the Wellington's crew, including the co-pilot, and a fourth crew member lost a finger. The machine gun fire also damaged the aircraft's hydraulic equipment. Študent broke off the attack, and at 19:58 hrs crash-landed the Wellington at St Eval, Cornwall. Two of the wounded Czechoslovak crew were hospitalised. However, the attack succeeded in sinking U-165.

In older sources, the U-165 is listed as being lost to unknown causes, or to have run on a mine.