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| 30/01/1945 |
The Wilhelm Gustloff, an ex-Kraft
Durch Freude ship (Strength Through Joy) in the service of
the German Kriegsmarine, is sunk in the Baltic Sea by a Russian
submarine with the loss of over 6,000 lives, making the incident
the largest single naval disaster in history. |
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02/02/1945
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HMS Venturer, cued by
Ultra, sinks U-864 off Bergen, Norway. The U-boat was bound
for Japan, carrying an Me 163 rocket-powered interceptor, 64
tons of mercury, heavy water, some 20 Luftwaffe officers as
well as German and Japanese engineers. This is the only known
sinking of one submarine by another when both boats were submerged
throughout the engagement. |
| 18/02/1945 |
A Russian torpedo hits the ex-’Strength
through Joy’ Nazi cruise liner leaving Danzig for Denmark
with 5,000 refugees and 3,800 U-boat personnel on board. Only
1,000 are reported as saved. |
| 24/02/1945 |
German U-boats sink 8 ships and 2
destroyers from a convoy bound for the Russian port of Murmansk. |
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| 09/03/1945 |
German light naval vessels from the
still German-occupied British Channel Islands enter the allied
supply port of Granville in Bretagne, sinking five ships. |
16/03/1945
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The German Heavy Cruisers
Schlesien and Prinz Eugen give supporting fire forces of Heeresgruppe
Kurland in their defense of the Kurland pocket. |
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| 05/04/1945 |
During a raid on Kiel
by the U.S. 8th Air Force, severe damage is caused to the cruisers
Hipper and Emden. |
| 10/04/1945 |
The German heavy cruiser Admiral
Scheer is sunk during a massive RAF raid on Kiel. |
| 16/04/1945 |
Off the Hela peninsula in the Baltic,
the German liner Goya is torpedoed by a Russian submarine,
killing 6,500 wounded soldiers and refugees. |
| 25/04/1945 |
German U-boats sink 5 allied supply
ships in the English Channel. |
| 28/04/1945 |
German U-boats sink 8 Allied ships,
3 destroyers and 2 corvettes in the English channel. |
| 29/04/1945 |
Convoy RA-66 sailing from the Kola
Peninsula to Loch Ewe is attacked by at least 2 U-boats north
of Kola. The British destroyer HMS Goodall, which was lend-leased
by the US in 1943 is sunk by U-286 (Oblt.z.S. Willi Dietrich),
for 1,150 tons, marking this as the last convoy to come under
attack in the war. |
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| 04/05/1945 |
Grand Admiral Dönitz, now the
newly designated leader of the Reich, orders all U-boats to
cease offensive operations and return to their bases (to go
into effect fully at 0800 on 5th May): "You have fought
like lions!" |
| 06/05/1945 |
The last U-boats of the war sunk with
all hands: U-853 and U-881 in the North Atlantic by US destroyer
escorts, and U-3523 in the Baltic by the RAF. |
| 07/05/1945 |
U-2336 sinks the last allied merchant
ships of the war off the Firth of Forth, these are the Norwegian
vessels Sneland I and the British Avondale Park. |
| 08/05/1945 |
An RAF Catalina damages U-320 near
Bergen off the coast of Norway. The boat is then scuttled by
the crew, no hands lost, becoming the final German submarine
lost as a result of combat action in World War 2. German unconditional
surrender signed in Reims, France on 7th May takes effect fifty-nine
minutes before midnight this date (VE Day--Victory in Europe
Day). Allied merchant shipping sunk to U-boats, world-wide
from January to the end of hostilities is 103 ships, equaling
403,760 gross tons. 120 U-boats were lost worldwide in the
same period. For the entire war the allies lost 3,500 ships.
equaling 17,467,818 gross tons, whilst the Germans lost 769
U-boats. |
| 09/05/1945 |
A British naval squadron arrives in
Copenhagen harbour to receive the surrender of the remains
of German fleet. |
| 10/05/1945 |
The first U-boat to surrender, U-249
puts in at Portland. |
| 13/05/1945 |
Rear Admiral Brüning, the commander
of German naval forces, arrives at Felixstowe to sign the unconditional
surrender of all boats under his command. |
| 14/05/1945 |
U-858 surrenders off Delaware, USA,
becoming the first German warship to surrender to U.S. forces
after the war ends. |
| 16/05/1945 |
U-234 surrenders at Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, USA. On 16th April 1945 she had departed Norway
and was enroute to Japan with an extremely important cargo,
which included technical drawings, an Me-262 jet fighter in
crates, 550 kg of U-238 uranium ore for atom bomb development,
several high ranking German technological experts, and 2 Japanese
officers. When Kptlt. Fehler heard of the cease-fire orders
on 4 May 1945, he decides to surrender to the Americans, rather
than the Canadians, being in a relatively equal position to
do either. Still at war with the US, the Japanese officers
take their own lives rather than surrender. |
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| 17/08/1945 |
U-977 arrives in River
Plate estuary and surrenders. The 600-ton U-boat left Kiel
on the 13th April. |
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