Adresseavisen

Friday, 19th September 1986

(translated into English from the original Norwegian by the author)  

The Submarine Discovery at the Viking Bank

By Knut Sivertsen, The Police Museum, Trondheim

The discovery of the submarine on the Viking Bank this summer conforms to a number of discoveries made after the Second World War. Only in the North Sea one expects 15 other wrecked submarines dating from the First and the Second World War, but not every one has been positively identified. In addition to the discovery of the German U 35 this summer, another German submarine wreck has been examined.

On July 23, 1977, the oil company Elf Aquitaine Norge discovered a wreck on the Øst-Friggfeltet. This wreck was identified as U 647, a German submarine which went down on August 3, 1943. The wreck bears evidence of being destroyed due to explosion of a mine, then the bow is partly blown away and there is a hole caused by the explosion of a mine in the hull by the engine room. German sources state only that the submarine disappeared east of Shetland on August 3, 1943, with the loss of the entire crew. The commanders name was Kapitänleutnant Hertin and the submarine belonged to the 7th U.-Flotilla based in St. Nazaire in France.

When U 35 was found in July 1986, the Directorate of Oil received many inquiries from all quarters, and for that reason there is cause to give an account of the background of the submarine and the events about the sinking in the fall of 1939.

U 35 is a kind of submarine given the designation VII A. There were built in all 10 submarines of this kind carrying the numbers from U 27 to U 36. U 27 to U 32 were built by AG Weser, whilst the remaining were built by Germaniawerft in Kiel. After this the series were improved to VII B and finally VII C, which became the backbone of the German fleet of submarines.

Concerning U 35 the Germaniawerft got the commission to build it on March 25, 1935, and the submarine was given number 558. On December 16, 1936 the submarine was launched under the command of Kapitänleutnant Werner Lott, who moreover was in command until the sinking of the submarine.

The submarine was of a conventional oceangoing type, with a speed of 16 knots above water, and 8 knots below water. The machinery consisted of 2 diesel engines each yielding 1160 h.p. and 2 electro engines each yielding 375 h.p. for propulsion under water. The length was 64.5 meters and was equipped with 4 torpedo tubes in the bow, and a tube on the stern. In all there were 11 torpedoes on board. The remaining armament consisted of a 8,8 cm cannon on the deck up front and a 20 mm cannon on the deck behind. The operation range was 4300 nautical miles above water and 90 nautical miles below water. The crew consisted of a commander, a chief engineer and 2 attendants, 40 petty officers and crew.

After the submarine was launched it was incorporated into the Saltzwedel U-Boat Flotilla until the beginning of November 1939, then it was subjugated to the 2nd U-Boat Flotilla in Wilhelmshaven.

During the last month before the outbreak of the Second World War, the German submarines started to go to sea, whilst British and German naval units were positioned and awaited the situation.

The German plan was to try to paralyze shipping to and from England, and during the first days of the war the first ship was sunk by Kapitänleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp on board the U 30, a sister ship of U-35. The ship sunk was the passenger vessel "Athenia", which by mistake was taken for a transport of troops. (Lemp was court-martialed, where he claimed that he was mistaken and that the ship was sunk by misunderstanding. Lemp was acquitted.)

After this incident the war at sea was intensified, and on September 16 Kapitänleutnant Johannes Habekost on board the U 31 attacked the first British convoy.  On September 17 Kapitänleutnant Otto Schuhart on board the U 29 inflicted a great loss on the British Navy by sinking the aircraft carrier HMS Courageous.

On the night before October 14 Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien on board the U 47 managed to enter the British Naval Base in Scapa Flow in the Orkneys, where he sank the pride of the British Navy, the battleship HMS Royal Oak.

During the period from September to October 1939 the German Submarine forces managed to sink cargo ships weighing a total of 350.000 tons gross weight. Most sinking occurred in the waters southwest of England, outside France and Spain, and also the Norwegian Sea.

The British Fleet struck back mercilessly and hard when they discovered the German submarines, and the turn struck the U 35 on November 29, 1939. The submarine had been patrolling the sea between Iceland, Norway and Shetland. On November 29, 1939 it was discovered by a group of British destroyers and was promptly sunk with depth charges by the British destroyers HMS Kingston, HMS Kashmir and HMS Icarus. Kapitänleutnant Werner Lott and his crew of 43 followed the submarine to the bottom. The same destiny came upon 8 other submarines from September to November 1939.

Aircraft from the English Coastal Command constituted a real threat to the submarines, and jointly they sunk 663 submarines during the Second World War. In addition the German submarine fleet lost an additional 492 submarines due to other causes. Only 15 submarines were intact of a total of 1170 submarines.

Most of the wrecks on the Norwegian continental shelf have been found, partly due to fishing in the area, and partly due to oil activity. For the future nothing will be done to the wrecks, even though they may be a hindrance to trawl fishing. For that reason all indicates that the wreck of U-35 will remain on the bottom of the sea eternally, 190 meters below sea level where it almost 50 years ago had to surrender to its adversary.
u625.jpg (120054 bytes)U 625 (Oberleutnant Siegfried Straub), while sunk by British aircraft west of Ireland 10th of March 1944. The German Navy lost 1155 U-Boats during WW II. The photo shows U 625 sunk by British aircraft west of Ireland in March 1944. The boat belonged to the 13th U-Flottillan Trondheim June to October 1943.
SohlerKentratLempGosslerHabekost.jpg (132949 bytes)From left: Herbert Sohler (U 46) partly visible, Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat (U 8), Fritz-Julius Lemp (U 30), Kurt von Gossler (U 49) and Johannes Habekost (U 31)

[Notes: U 35 was launched on 03 November 1936, not December 16th 1936. Its commander at commissioning was Klaus Ewerth; Werner Lott did not assume command of U-35 until 15 August 1937. The entire crew of U-35 - 43 men - survived to become prisoners of war. The wreck of U-35 is not a war grave]