Fleetwood Claims  2  U/Boats

The Sinking of U528


U528 was making its way back to Lorient on 11th May 1943 when sighted by a Halifax bomber in anti submarine patrol to another convoy. Pilot officer Stark in Halifax 11- D-Dog sighted a wake on the Port side 3 miles distant. He then sighted the U. Boat making good speed in a calm sea. By the time he had manouvred to position to attack the U. Boat had been submerged for one minute. so the depth charges were not released. he made visual signal back to convoy escorts because his R.T. had problems. Later he again spotted the U. Boat on the surface some 10 miles aft of the convoy achieving almost complete surprise he dived and the his navigator opened fire and saw tracer hitting the conning Tower The U. boat changed course to starboard and dived The Halifax attacked from the submarines Port Bow releasing five mark X1 Torpex depth chargers set to shallow depth. The rear gunner saw  one explosion alongside the diving U. Boat  having seen nothing further the pilot set course back to the convoy and fifteen minutes later sent a report back to the Senior Naval officer. Receiving no reply the aircraft left the scene. Down below the report had been received by the SNO in HMS Scarborough and  L47 HMS Fleetwood was sent to investigate. Fleetwood carried out a box search and sighted a smoke candle dropped by the Halifax an hour earlier. Twenty minutes after she made asdic contact and attacked the position. The contact started slowly moving eastwards  Six minutes later another pattern of ten depth charges was dropped.  Contact was lost and Comdr. W.B. Piggot decided to do another box search during which the officer of the watch sighted spray coming fro the conning tower of a U. Boat. on a Southerly course. another attack was made with the U. Boat diving and once again contact was lost. Another contact was made and as Fleetwood made yet another attack with charges set to deep. By now the Fleetwood was low on charges and HMS Mignonette joined the hunt in a box search. As the West leg was completed they sighted the U. Boat stopped low in the water the guns were ordered to fire sinking the U. Boat. Survivors were seen in the water and Fleetwood rescued 39 of them including The Captain Georg Von Rabenau. Migonnette took another six



The Sinking of U340


The second sinking occurred in the Straits of Gibraltar,East of Ceuta  Just over an hour into the morning of the 1st November contact was made at 2 miles by Wellington "R" of 179 squadron.The Wellington homed in and dropped six depth charges across the target. The U Boat dived  and all contact was lost. U 340 was damaged but emergency repairs effected and the boat was on its way again. It was located some hours later by HMS Witherington off Malabata light. The Destroyer Active and Sloop Fleetwood joined in the depth charge attacks. Proceeding submerged U340 surfaced in the evening to recharge her batteries. Two hours later she was sighted by Fleetwood and the Corvettes Bluebell and Poppy. Depth charge attacks forced the U Boat to dive deep and contact was lost. Five hours went by before the boat resurfaced in the early hours of 2nd November, and as daylight approached it became impossible to remain there and impossible for it to continue. So her Captain Hans Joachim Klaus decided to scuttle his boat. Charges were set and exploded and U 340 sank. Klaus and 47 others were picked up by three Spanish Trawlers. Soon after dawn Fleetwood still searching for the stricken U Boat approached for a closer look at three suspicious looking fishing trawlers and fired a warning shot when they failed to stop. Search parties from Fleetwood found the U 340 crew took them off as POW's. and later landed them at Gibraltar 

Cmdr. W B. Piggot and  U528 Capt. Georg Von Rabenau

U528 crew disembark in Gibraltar

U528 sinking under gun fire and 39 survivors including the Captain are rescued by Fleetwood

For'rd Gun crew relax and U528 Prisoners enjoy a walk around the deck

HMS Fleetwood  F47 |
A Grimsby Class Sloop  | Early Action in Norway  | Atlantic & Operation Torch | Fleetwood Claims  2  U/Boats | Fleetwood's History & Battle Honours | Fleetwood Gets underway again in 1946 | Fleetwood Shows the Flag  | 1936  HMS. Fleetwood Association  1959

Crew of U Boat 340 aboard a Spanish fishing vessel