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 tons and damaged three others, for 14,499 tons. She also damaged one auxiliary warship.
She was sunk by a British aircraft with a Czechoslovak crew in September 1942.

Design

were slightly larger than the original Type IXBs. U-165 had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. The U-boat had a total length of, a pressure hull length of, a beam of, a height of, and a draught of. The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke, nine-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of for use while surfaced, two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to.
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of. When submerged, the boat could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at. U-165 was fitted with six torpedo tubes, 22 torpedoes, one SK C/32 naval gun, 180 rounds, and a SK C/30 as well as a C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of forty-eight.

Service history

Patrol and loss

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 and Arlyn; both damaged at the northern end of the Belle Isle Strait on 28 August. She went on to attack Aeas on 6 September, on the 7th, Essex Lance on the 16th and Pan York, also on the 16th.
U-165 had almost reached the French Atlantic ports when she was sunk on 27 September 1942 by a Vickers Wellington of 311/Q Squadron, RAF just west of the Bay of Biscay.

Summary of raiding history

Citations