German submarine U-234

2025-09-17T13:34:20Z

185.134.108.155: /* Passengers */edit due to Ulrich Kessler

{{Short description|German World War II submarine}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin
}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image = U234 KptLt Fehler USS Sutton.jpg
| Ship image size = 300px
| Ship caption = ''U-234'' surrendering. Crewmen of {{USS|Sutton|DE-771|3}} in foreground with ''Kapitänleutnant'' Johann-Heinrich Fehler (left-hand white cap)
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header =
| Ship country = [[Nazi Germany]]
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Nazi Germany|naval}}
| Ship name = ''U-234''
| Ship ordered = 7 December 1940
| Ship builder = [[Germaniawerft]], [[Kiel]]
| Ship yard number = 664
| Ship laid down = 1 October 1941
| Ship launched = 23 December 1943
| Ship commissioned = 2 March 1944
| Ship captured = Surrendered to {{USS|Sutton|DE-771|6}}, 14 May 1945
| Ship fate = Sunk by torpedo from {{USS|Greenfish|SS-351|6}} during trials, 20 November 1947
| Ship homeport =
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header =
| Header caption =
| Ship class = [[Type X submarine]] [[minelayer]]
| Ship displacement = *{{convert|1763|t|LT|0|lk=on}} surfaced
*{{convert|2177|t|LT|0}} submerged
| Ship length = *{{convert|89.80|m|ftin|abbr=on}} [[o/a]]
*{{convert|70.90|m|ftin|abbr=on}} [[pressure hull]]
| Ship beam = *{{convert|9.20|m|ftin|abbr=on}} o/a
*{{convert|4.75|m|ftin|abbr=on}} pressure hull
| Ship height = {{convert|10.20|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
| Ship draught = {{convert|4.71|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
| Ship power =
| Ship propulsion = *2 × [[supercharger|supercharged]] [[Germaniawerft|GW]] F 46 a 9 pu 9 cylinder, four-stroke [[diesel engine]]s, {{convert|4800|PS|bhp kW|abbr=on}}
*2 × [[AEG (German company)|AEG]] GU 720/8-287 [[electric motor]]s, {{convert|1100|PS|bhp kW|abbr=on}}
| Ship speed = *{{convert|16.4|-|17|kn|lk=in}} surfaced
*{{convert|7|kn}} submerged
| Ship range = *{{convert|18,450|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|10|kn}} surfaced
*{{convert|93|nmi|abbr=on}} at {{convert|4|kn}} submerged
| Ship test depth = [[Submarine depth ratings|Calculated crush depth]]: {{convert|220|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| Ship complement = 5 officers, 47 enlisted
| Ship sensors = *FuMO-61 Hohentwiel U
*FuMB-26 Tunis
| Ship EW =
| Ship armament = *2 × {{convert|53.3|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} stern [[torpedo tube]]s
*15 × [[G7e torpedo]]es
*66 × SMA [[Naval mine|mines]]
*1 × [[10.5 cm SK C/32 naval gun]] (200 rounds)
| Ship notes =
}}
{{Infobox service record
|is_ship= yes
|label= Service record<ref name="uboatnet">{{cite web
|url=http://uboat.net/boats/u234.htm
|title=The Type XB boat U-234
|last=Helgason
|first=Guðmundur
|website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net
|access-date=2009-12-21
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://uboat.net/boats/patrols/u234.html
|title=War Patrols by German U-boat U-234
|last=Helgason
|first=Guðmundur
|website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net
|access-date=2009-12-21
}}</ref>
|partof=
*[[5th U-boat Flotilla]]
*2 March 1944 - 28 February 1945
*[[33rd U-boat Flotilla]]
*1 March 1945 - 8 May 1945
|codes=M 53 388
|commanders=
*''[[Kptlt.]]'' [[Johann-Heinrich Fehler]]
*2 March 1944 - 19 May 1945
|operations=*1 patrol:
*16 April - 19 May 1945
|victories= None
}}
|}

'''German submarine ''U-234''''' was a [[Type X submarine|Type XB]] [[U-boat]] of [[Nazi Germany]]'s ''[[Kriegsmarine]]'' during [[World War II]], she was commanded by [[Kapitänleutnant]] [[Johann-Heinrich Fehler]]. Her first and only mission into enemy or contested territory consisted of the attempted delivery of [[uranium oxide]] and German advanced weapons technology to the [[Empire of Japan]]. After receiving the order of Hitler's successor [[Karl Dönitz|Admiral Dönitz]] to surface and surrender and of Germany's [[unconditional surrender]], the [[submarine]]'s crew surrendered to the United States on 14 May 1945.

==Construction==
Originally built as a [[Minelayer|minelaying]] submarine, she was [[Keel laying|laid down]] at the [[Germaniawerft]] in [[Kiel]] on 1 October 1941; ''U-234'' was damaged during construction, but [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] on 23 December 1943. Following the loss of {{GS|U-233||2}} in July 1944, it was decided not to use ''U-234'' as a minelayer; she was completed instead as a long-range cargo submarine with missions to Japan in mind.

==Sensors==
===Radar===
''U-234'' was one of the few U-boats that was fitted with a [[FuG 200 Hohentwiel#Naval use|FuMO-61 ''Hohentwiel'' U]]-Radar Transmitter.
This equipment was installed on the starboard side of the conning tower.
[[Image:FuMO 61 Hohentwiel U.png|thumb|left|FuMO-61 Hohentwiel U-Radar Transmitter]]

===Radar detection===
''U-234'' was also fitted with the FuMB-26 ''Tunis'' antenna. The FuMB 26 ''Tunis'' combined the FuMB Ant. 24 Fliege and FuMB Ant. 25 Cuba II antennas. It could be mounted in either the Direction Finder Antenna Loop or separately on the bridge.
[[Image: FuMB-26 Tunis.png|thumb|left|FuMB-26 ''Tunis'' Radar Detection]]

{{clear}}

==Wartime service==

''U-234'' returned to the ''Germaniawerft'' yard at Kiel on 5 September 1944, to be refitted as a transport. Apart from minor work, she had a [[Submarine snorkel|snorkel]] added and 12 of her 30 mineshafts were fitted with special cargo containers the same diameter as the shafts and held in place by the mine release mechanisms. In addition, her keel was loaded with cargo, thought to be optical-grade glass and mercury, and her four upper-deck torpedo storage compartments (two on each side) were also occupied by cargo containers.<ref name=Op-16-Z>{{cite web |title=U-234 - Interrogation Report |publisher=U-boat Archive |url=http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-234INT.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090802014237/http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-234INT.htm |archive-date=2 August 2009 |df=dmy }}</ref>

===Cargo===

The cargo to be carried was determined by a special commission, the ''Marine Sonderdienst Ausland'', established towards the end of 1944, at which time the submarine's officers were informed that they were to make a special voyage to Japan. When loading was completed, the submarine's officers estimated that they were carrying 240 tons of cargo plus sufficient diesel fuel and provisions for a six- to nine-month voyage.<ref name=Op-16-Z/>

The cargo included technical drawings, examples of the newest electric torpedoes, one crated [[Messerschmitt Me 262|Me 262]] jet aircraft, a [[Henschel Hs 293]] glide bomb and what was later listed on the US Unloading Manifest{{citation needed|date=February 2018}} as {{convert|550|kg|abbr=on}} of [[uranium oxide]]. In the 1997 book ''Hirschfeld'', Wolfgang Hirschfeld reported that he saw about 10 lead cubes with {{convert|23|cm|in}} sides, and "U-235" painted on each, loaded into the boat's cylindrical mine shafts. According to cable messages sent from the dockyard, these containers held "U-powder".<ref name=Boyd>{{cite book | last= Boyd | first= Carl |author2=Akihiko Yoshida | title= The Japanese Submarine Force and World War II | publisher= Naval Institute Press | year= 2002 | pages= 164 | isbn= 1-55750-015-0}}</ref><ref name=scalia>{{cite book | last= Scalia | first= Joseph M. | title= Germany's Last Mission to Japan: The Failed Voyage of U-234 | publisher= Naval Institute Press | year= 2000 | isbn= 1-55750-811-9 }}</ref>

When the cargo was loaded, ''U-234'' carried out additional trials near Kiel, then returned to the northern German city where her passengers came aboard.

===Passengers===

''U-234'' was carrying twelve passengers, including German general [[Ulrich Kessler]], four German naval officers, civilian engineers and scientists and two Japanese naval officers. ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' General [[Ulrich Kessler]] was to take over ''Luftwaffe'' liaison duties in [[Tokyo]]; [[Kay Nieschling]], a Naval Fleet Judge Advocate who was to rid the German diplomatic corps in Japan of the remnants of the [[Richard Sorge]] spy ring; [[Heinz Schlicke]], a specialist in radar, infrared, and countermeasures and director of the Naval Test Fields in Kiel (later recruited by the US in [[Operation Paperclip]]); and August Bringewalde, who was in charge of Me 262 production at Messerschmitt.<ref name=scalia/>

The Japanese passengers were Lieutenant Commander Hideo Tomonaga of the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]], a naval architect and submarine designer who had come to Germany in 1943 on the {{Jsub|I-29}}, and Lieutenant Commander Shoji Genzo, an aircraft specialist and former naval attaché.<ref name=Hirschfeld>{{cite book | last= Hirschfeld | first= Wolfgang | author-link= Wolfgang Hirschfeld |author2=Geoffrey Brooks | title= The Secret Diary of a U-Boat | publisher= Cassell | year= 2000 | isbn= 0-304-35498-8}}</ref>

===Voyage===
''U-234'' sailed from Kiel for [[Kristiansand]] in Norway on the evening of 25 March 1945, accompanied by escort vessels and three [[German Type XXIII submarine|Type XXIII]] coastal U-boats, arriving in [[Karljohansvern|Horten Naval Base]] two days later. The submersible spent the next eight days carrying out trials on her snorkel, during which she accidentally collided with a Type VIIC U-boat performing similar trials. Damage to both submarines was minor, and despite a diving and fuel oil tank being holed, ''U-234'' was able to complete her trials. She then proceeded to Kristiansand, arriving on about 5 April, where she underwent repairs and replenished her provisions and fuel.

''U-234'' departed Kristiansand for Japan on 15 April 1945, running submerged at snorkel depth for the first 16 days, and surfacing after that only because her commander, {{lang|de|[[Kapitänleutnant]]}} Johann-Heinrich Fehler, considered he was safe from attack on the surface in the prevailing severe storm. From then on, she spent two hours running on the surface by night, and the remainder of the time submerged. The voyage proceeded without incident. The first sign that world affairs were overtaking the voyage was when the ''Kriegsmarine''{{'}}s [[Goliath transmitter]] stopped transmitting, soon followed by the [[Nauen Transmitter Station|Nauen station]]. Fehler did not know it, but Germany's naval HQ had fallen into Allied hands.

Then, on 4 May, ''U-234'' received a fragment of a broadcast from British and American radio stations announcing that Admiral [[Karl Dönitz]] had become Germany's head of state following the [[death of Adolf Hitler]]. ''U-234'' surfaced on 10 May for better radio reception and received Dönitz's last order to the submarine force, ordering all U-boats to surface, hoist white flags and surrender to Allied forces. Fehler suspected a trick and managed to contact {{GS|U-873||2}}, whose captain convinced him that the message was authentic.

At this point, the U-boat was almost equidistant from British, Canadian, and U.S. ports. Fehler decided not to continue his journey, and instead headed for the east coast of the United States. Fehler thought it likely that if they surrendered to Canadian or British forces, they would be imprisoned and it could be years before they were returned to Germany; he believed that the United States would probably just send them home.

Fehler consequently decided that he would surrender to U.S. forces, but radioed on 12 May that he intended to sail to [[City of Halifax|Halifax, Nova Scotia]], to surrender to ensure Canadian units would not reach him first. ''U-234'' then set course for [[Newport News, Virginia]]. During the passage Fehler disposed of his ''Tunis'' radar detector, the new ''Kurier'' radio communication system, and all [[Enigma machine]]-related documents and other classified papers. On learning that the U-boat was to surrender, the two Japanese passengers committed suicide by taking an overdose of [[Phenobarbital|Luminal]], a barbiturate sedative and antiepileptic drug. They were [[buried at sea]].<ref name=Hirschfeld/>

==Capture==

The difference between Kptlt. Fehler's reported course to Halifax and his true course was soon realized by US authorities who dispatched two destroyers to intercept ''U-234''. On 14 May 1945, she was encountered south of the [[Grand Banks of Newfoundland|Grand Banks]], Newfoundland by {{USS|Sutton|DE-771|6}}. Members of ''Sutton's'' crew took command of the U-boat and sailed her to the [[Portsmouth Naval Shipyard]], where ''[[U-805]]'', ''[[U-873]]'', and ''[[U-1228]]'' had already surrendered. Velma Hunt, a retired [[Penn State University]] [[environmental health]] professor, has suggested ''U-234'' may have put into two ports between her surrender and her arrival at the Portsmouth Navy Yard: once in [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]], to land an American sailor who had been accidentally shot in the buttocks, and again at [[Casco Bay]], [[Maine]].<ref>{{cite news | last= Hammond | first= Pat | title= NAZI SUB How U-234 Brought Its Deadly Secret Cargo to New Hampshire. | work= [[New Hampshire Union Leader|New Hampshire Sunday News]] | date= April 30, 1995 | url= http://www.ussvance.com/Vance/nazisub.htm | access-date= 2008-07-26 | archive-date= 22 May 2007 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070522203045/http://www.ussvance.com/Vance/nazisub.htm | url-status= dead }}</ref> News of ''U-234's'' surrender with her high-ranking German passengers made it a major news event. Reporters swarmed over the Navy Yard and went to sea in a small boat for a look at the submarine.

===Secret cargo===

Since its capture, the ''U-234'' was treated with unusual secrecy, something noted in the press at the time and attributed to its high-ranking passengers.<ref>{{cite periodical|title=Interviewing of Nazis Banned as Sub Comes to Portsmouth Today|journal=Boston Globe|date=19 May 1945|page=7}}. {{cite periodical|title=Navy Questions High Nazis on Seized U-Boat|journal=New York Herald Tribune|date=20 May 1945|page=1}}</ref> Even in 1945, rumors circulated that the submarine had contained uranium,<ref>{{cite periodical|title=Denies Security for U.S. Rests in Atom Bombs|journal=Chicago Daily Tribune|last=Trohan|first=Walter|date=21 September 1945|page=5|quote="Even the Japs were found to be far advanced in the theory of breaking down atoms of uranium to release tremendous energy. An intercepted German submarine was found to be carrying a supply of uranium to Japan evidently for the use of Japanese scientists."}}</ref> but documents about the contents of the cargo, and its fate, remained classified for much of the Cold War.

Various sources, including contemporary documents and later memoirs, cite the uranium contents as being {{convert|560|kg|lb}} of [[uranium oxide]], separated into ten containers made out of lead and lined with gold. Many of the accounts, however, have inconsistencies and disagree on specifics, as historian Joseph Scalia has documented. Those onboard the boat appear to have been told that the contents were dangerous if opened; it is suspected that, if this was not simply a lie meant to keep them from inspecting them more closely, it may have been related to their potential [[pyrophoricity]].<ref>Uranium, when exposed to air, can catch fire or even explode. This is especially the case for fine uranium dust. The Germans had suffered [[Leipzig L-IV experiment accident|an explosive accident relating to uranium's chemical properties in June 1942]], with the L-IV reactor experiment in [[Leipzig]]. {{cite book|last=Walker|first=Mark|title=German National Socialism and the quest for nuclear power, 1939-1949|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1989|pages=84–85}}</ref> Some have suggested that they did not contain uranium at all, but rather other pyrophoric alloys, or even biological or chemical weapons materials, although these suggestions would be contradicted by all of the other sources.<ref name="scalia"/>

No serious historian believes that the uranium would have been anything other than un-enriched. While Germany did have a [[German nuclear program during World War II|nuclear program during World War II]], German, American, and Soviet sources all indicate clearly that Germany lacked the facilities to enrich uranium (or produce any other kinds of [[fissile material]]) in production-level quantities. Rather, Scalia documents that the Japanese asked the Germans for the uranium officially for the purpose of research into chemical catalysts for the production of aviation fuel. It may have actually been desired for part of the small [[Japanese nuclear weapons program]], although Japan did not itself have the facilities necessary to weaponize it.<ref name="scalia"/><ref name=Boyd/>

The ultimate disposition of the possible uranium cargo has never been confirmed. Scalia traced its movement after capture from [[Portsmouth Naval Shipyard]] to the [[Indian Head Naval Surface Warfare Center|Indian Head Naval Station]], and that it was shipped from there to an unspecified destination in late June 1945. After that, there are conflicting accounts. Major [[John Lansdale]], the former head of [[Manhattan Project]] security, said in 1995 that it was then directly sent to [[Clinton Engineer Works]] in [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee]], where it was enriched as part of the weapons program. While it has been suggested that perhaps it was enriched and some of it made its way into the [[Little Boy]] atomic bomb that was dropped on [[Hiroshima]], it does not appear that there was sufficient time for this to occur, and that, if enriched, it simply became part of the ever-growing postwar American uranium stockpile.<ref name="scalia"/>

[[File:German submarine U-234 is torpedoed by USS Greenfish (SS-542), 20 November 1947 (80-G-704673).jpg|right|thumb|upright|A torpedo from USS ''Greenfish'' sinks ''U-234'' off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in a 1947 training exercise.]]

==Disposition==

As she was not needed by the US Navy, ''U-234'' was sunk off 40 miles northeast of [[Provincetown]], Cape Cod as a [[torpedo]] target by {{USS|Greenfish|SS-351|6}} on 20 November 1947 at [[42°37’N 69°33’W]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://ericwiberg.com/2015/10/u-234-under-johann-heinrich-fehler-surrendered-portsmouth-nh-19-may-1945-en-route-to-japan-w-german-japanese-materiel | title=U-234 under Johann-Heinrich Fehler, surrendered Portsmouth NH 19 May 1945 en route to Japan w/ German, Japanese materiel | date=27 October 2015 }}</ref>

==In popular culture==

* ''[[The Last U-Boat]]'', the 1992 film directed by [[Frank Beyer]]<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100012/ IMDB link]</ref>
* Documentary film, ''Hitler's Last U-Boat'' Directed by Andreas Gutzeit International Historical Films, Inc. (2001) ASIN B0000646UH
* ''Empire and Honor'', the last published novel in W.E.B. Griffin's [[Honor Bound series]], features ''U-234'' carrying uranium oxide proceeding not to the United States as happened in real life, but going instead to Argentina, where escaped SS officers take control of the boat and plan to sell its uranium oxide to the Soviet Union.

==See also==

* [[Japanese-German pre-WWII industrial co-operation#Japanese-German military technology collaboration|Japanese-German military technology collaboration]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography==
*{{cite book | last1 = Busch | first1 = Rainer | last2 = Röll | first2 = Hans-Joachim | translator-last = Brooks | translator-first = Geoffrey | title = German U-boat commanders of World War II : a biographical dictionary | publisher = Greenhill Books, Naval Institute Press | location = London, Annapolis, Md | year = 1999 | isbn = 1-55750-186-6 }}
* Geoffrey Brooks: Hitler's Terror Weapons, Pen & Sword (2002): {{ISBN|0-85052-896-8}}
*{{cite book
|last1=Gröner
|first1=Erich
|last2=Jung
|first2=Dieter
|last3=Maass
|first3=Martin
|translator-last1=Thomas
|translator-first1=Keith
|translator-last2=Magowan
|translator-first2=Rachel
|year=1991
|title=U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels
|volume=2
|series=German Warships 1815–1945
|location=London
|publisher=Conway Maritime Press
|isbn=0-85177-593-4
|ref=CITEREFGröner1991
}}
*Webber, Bert, (1985), "Silent Siege-II, Japanese Attacks On North America In WWII. Webber Research Group. {{ISBN|0-936738-26-X}}
* Wolfgang Hirschfeld; Geoffrey Brooks, ''The Story of a U-Boat NCO 1940-1946'' Naval Institute Press (1996) {{ISBN|1-55750-372-9}}
* Arthur Naujoks, Lee Nelson "The Last Great Secret of the Third Reich", 2002. Council Press.
* [[Joseph Mark Scalia]], ''Germany's Last Mission to Japan: The Failed Voyage of U-234'' Naval Institute Press (2000) {{ISBN|1-55750-811-9}}
* [[A. V. Sellwood]]: ''The Warring Seas'', 1955. A biography of the career of ''U-234'' commander Johann Fehler.
* [[Richard Dean Starr]], ''Tides of Justice'', a short story featuring ''U-234'' in [[The Avenger Chronicles]] edited by [[Joe Gentile]] [[Moonstone Books]] (June 2008)

== External links==
*{{Cite web
|url= http://uboat.net/boats/u234.html
|title= The Type XB boat U-234
|last=Helgason
|first=Guðmundur
|website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net
|access-date= 31 January 2015
}}
*{{cite web
| url =http://www.u-boot-archiv.de/dieboote/u0234.html
| title =''U 234''
| last =Hofmann
| first =Markus
| website =Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 - u-boot-archiv.de
| language =de
| access-date=31 January 2015
}}
* {{cite news | title= Das Schicksal von U-234 ("The fate of U-234") | publisher= SPIEGEL ONLINE | year= 2003 | url= http://www.spiegel.de/sptv/special/0,1518,230670,00.html }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060820180639/http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/srh232.htm "Radio Intelligence Appreciations Concerning German U-Boat Activity in the Far East"]
* [http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675059319_U-boat-crew_coast-guard-cutter_U-boat-U-234_guarding-prisoners Historic footage of surrendered German submarine U-234 under escort, and crew and passengers arriving at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzT2yyP_q24 Greatest Mysteries of WWII: Hitler's Last U-Boat U-234 (720P)]

{{German Type X submarines}}
{{1947 shipwrecks}}
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[[Category:World War II submarines of Germany]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of the Empire of Japan]]
[[Category:History of the Manhattan Project]]
[[Category:1943 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Kiel]]
[[Category:U-boats commissioned in 1944]]
[[Category:Ships sunk as targets]]
[[Category:U-boats sunk in 1947]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1947]]

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German submarine U-234