Wolfpack Seewolf

"Seewolf" redirects here. For uses of Seawolf, see Seawolf (disambiguation).

Seewolf was the name of three separate wolfpacks of German U-boats that operated during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II.

1941

Wolfpack Seewolf 1
Active	2–15 September 1941
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Kriegsmarine
Size	17 submarines

The first U-boat group code-named Seewolf operated in the North Atlantic, to intercept Allied convoys to and from Gibraltar, and to and from Sierra Leone in west Africa. The group comprised 17 U-boats, from the dissolved groups Bosemuller and Kurfurst, that had operated in the same area. Due to bad weather, and evasive routing by the British, it had no success against the target convoys, though five independently routed ships were found and sunk; on 6 September U-95 sank Trinidad, a neutral vessel en route from Dublin to Lisbon, and on 15 September U-94 sank three ships that had dispersed from ON 14 the previous day. On 14 September U-95 and U-561 were bombed by aircraft from Coastal Command and forced to return to base.^[1]

Seewolf was formed on 2 September, and dissolved two weeks later, on 15 September 1941.^[2] It comprised the following boats:-

U-boat	Commander	Date Joined	Date Left	Comments
U-69	Wilhelm Zahn	4 September 1941	15 September 1941
U-71	Walter Flachsenberg	2 September 1941	3 September 1941
U-77	Heinrich Schonder	2 September 1941	7 September 1941
U-83	Hans-Werner Kraus	2 September 1941	7 September 1941
U-94	Otto Ites	5 September 1941	15 September 1941	Empire Eland Newbury Pegasus
U-95	Gerd Schreiber	2 September 1941	14 September 1941	Trinidad
U-96	Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock	2 September 1941	10 September 1941
U-98	Robert Gysae	3 September 1941	15 September 1941
U-206	Herbert Opitz	2 September 1941	7 September 1941
U-553	Karl Thurmann	2 September 1941	13 September 1941
U-557	Ottokar Arnold Paulssen	2 September 1941	15 September 1941
U-558	Günther Krech	2 September 1941	12 September 1941
U-561	Robert Bartels	2 September 1941	15 September 1941
U-563	Klaus Bargsten	2 September 1941	7 September 1941
U-567	Theodor Fahr	2 September 1941	9 September 1941	Fort Richepanse
U-568	Joachim Preuss	2 September 1941	8 September 1941
U-751	Gerhard Bigalk	2 September 1941	5 September 1941

Five merchant ships were sunk for a total of 20,396 GRT.

1943

Wolfpack Seewolf 2
Active	21–30 March 1943
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Kriegsmarine
Size	19 submarines

The second Seewolf group operated in the North Atlantic in March 1943 against convoys to and from North America. It comprised 19 U-boats, mostly from groups Sturmer and Dranger, which had attacked convoys HX 229 and SC 122. The group was positioned to intercept the fast HX and slow SC convoys from North America, and was co-incident with group Seeteufel, 16 U-boats positioned to attack outbound ON and ONS convoys. Convoys SC 123 and ONS 1 evaded both groups; several Seewolf boats found HX 230, but all attacks failed in foul weather. With no success to report, the group was dissolved and most boats returned to base, though four remained as a cadre for group Adler.^[3]

This Seewolf was formed on 21 March, and dissolved a week later on 30 March.^[4] It comprised the following boats:-

U-boat	Commander	Date Joined	Date Left	Comments
U-84	Horst Uphoff	24 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-86	Walter Schug	21 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-257	Heinz Rahe	25 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-305	Rudolf Bahr	21 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-333	Werner Schwaff	21 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-336	Hans Hunger	21 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-373	Paul-Karl Loeser	21 March 1943	28 March 1943
U-440	Hans Geissler	21 March 1943	29 March 1943
U-441	Klaus Hartmann	21 March 1943	28 March 1943
U-527	Herbert Uhlig	21 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-530	Kurt Lange	21 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-590	Heinrich Müller-Edzards	21 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-591	Hans-Jürgen Zetzsche	21 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-615	Ralph Kapitzky	21 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-618	Kurt Baberg	21 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-631	Jürgen Krüger	21 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-641	Horst Rendtel	21 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-642	Herbert Brünning	21 March 1943	30 March 1943
U-666	Herbert Engel	21 March 1943	30 March 1943

No ships were sunk or damaged

1945

Wolfpack Seewolf 3
Active	12–23 April 1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Kriegsmarine
Size	7 submarines
Engagements	Operation Teardrop Actions of 5/6 May 1945

Seewolf was formed in March 1945^[5] in an effort to re-establish the U-boat offensive in American waters; it was the last wolfpack of the Atlantic campaign. Seven of the nine boats that sailed to the Americas were in Seewolf; a further two sailed independently.

Coincidentally, Allied Intelligence formed the view that the Germans were planning to mount a missile attack on the United States, using V-1 or V-2 missiles adapted for launch at sea by submarines. This led to a vigorous response by the United States Navy, code-named Operation Teardrop, to find and destroy the Seewolf boats. This was successful; Of the five boats in American waters by April (two boats had returned to base for repairs, and were still in transit at the end of April) four boats were sunk during the month.

Seewolf boats had one success; U-546 sank USS Frederick C. Davis, shortly before she herself was sunk.

The fifth boat U-881 was detected and destroyed on 6 May 1945, the last boat in American waters to be destroyed. The two boats in transit when Germany surrendered were given up to the USN on 8 May 1945.

U-boat[6]	Commander	Date Joined	Date Left	Comments
U-518	Hans-Werner Offermann	14 April 1945	22 April 1945
U-546	Paul Just	14 April 1945	24 April 1945	USS Frederick C. Davis sunk 24 Apr 1945
U-805	Richard Bernardelli	14 April 1945	1 May 1945
U-858	Thilo Bode	14 April 1945	1 May 1945
U-880	Gerhard Schtözau	14 April 1945	16 April 1945
U-1235	Franz Barsch	14 April 1945	15 April 1945

One US warship was sunk by this wolfpack.

References

1. Blair (1996) p.389
2. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Wolf Pack Seewolf 1941". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
3. Blair (1998) p.268-270
4. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Wolf Pack Seewolf 1943". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
5. Blair p686-688
6. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Wolfpack Seewolf 1945". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 June 2014.

Bibliography

• Blair, Clay (1998). Hitler's U-Boat War [Volume 2]: The Hunted 1942–1945. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35261-6.
• Edwards, Bernard (1996). Dönitz and the Wolf Packs – The U-boats at War. Cassell Military Classics. pp. 117, 119, 123–125. ISBN 0-304-35203-9.