were considerably larger than the original Type IXs. U-180 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 plus two MWM RS34.5S six-cylinder four-stroke diesel engines for cruising, 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-180 was fitted with six torpedo tubes, 24 torpedoes, one SK C/32 naval gun, 150 rounds, and a SK C/30 with 2575 rounds as well as two C/30 anti-aircraft guns with 8100 rounds. The boat had a complement of fifty-five.
Service history
1st patrol
U-180 sailed from Kiel on 9 February 1943, with the leader of the Indian National ArmyNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose and his aide Abid Hasan aboard. On 18 April U-180 sank the British 8,132 ton tanker Corbis about east southeast of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Three days later, on 21 April, the boat made her rendezvous with the, just east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, Subhash Chandra bose and Abid Hassan boarded I-29 and two Japanese Navy officers, both shipbuilding officers, Captains Emi Tetsushiro and Tomonaga Hideo, who were to study U-boat building techniques upon their arrival in Germany boarded U-180. Bose and Hasan's transfer is the only known record of a civilian transfer between two submarines of two different navies in World War II. Also received were two tonnes of gold ingots as payment from Japan for weapons technology. On the return voyage, U-180 sank the Greek freighter Boris west of Ascension Island on 3 June 1943. During this voyage, U-180 was supplied by on the way to the exchange. She was supposed to be refueled by on the way back, but that boat was sunk by the British on 16 May 1943. On 19 June, U-180 was refueled by.
2nd patrol and loss
Under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Rolf Riesen, U-180 sailed from Bordeaux on 20 August 1944 bound for Japan. She was reported sunk off the Bay of Biscay on 23 August 1944, with the loss of all of her 56 crew. The official verdict is "sunk by a mine", however, some experts speculate that trouble with the schnorkel, may have been the cause.
Raiding history
Media
U-180 is the submarine shown in the 2004 Bollywood film where Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose travels with the German submarine U-180 around the Cape of Good Hope to the southeast of Madagascar, where he is transferred to the I-29 for the rest of the journey to Imperial Japan.
U-180 is featured in the thriller Spook's Gold by Andrew Wood. The rendezvous on 21 April between U-180 and I-29, as well as an exchange of gold and military goods is a key element of the plot.
