Misplaced Pages

German submarine U-234

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Rbrwr (talk | contribs) at 10:29, 6 August 2005 (fix Dr. Erich Bagge). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 10:29, 6 August 2005 by Rbrwr (talk | contribs) (fix Dr. Erich Bagge)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Unterseeboot 234 (U-234) was a WWII German minelayer U-boat whose only ever mission into enemy territory consisted of the attempted delivery of uranium and other German advanced weapons technology to the Empire of Japan. The submarine surrendered to the U.S. after Germany's unconditional surrender on 9 May 1945.

There is an anecdotal report regarding the fact that the vessel was named U-234: Reportedly the German crew were bemused when the two Japanese military officials to travel on the craft had cargo brought on board which was labelled "U-235" — their thinking reportedly was something like: "Look, they didn't even get the name of the ship right." According to the report, the cargo was however labelled accurately: The cargo contained uranium 235. It is extremely unlikely though that it was truly all uranium 235, as this would have been more of the material than even the U.S. Manhattan Project produced during the war, and would have been enough material for around eight crude atomic bombs, considerably further along than the German nuclear energy project has ever been thought to have gone.

U-234 sailed from Kiel in March 1945 with 240 metric tons of cargo for Japan. In addition to two Japanese passengers were 5 VIP German passengers.

Personnel included General Ulrich Kessler of the Luftwaffe, who was to take over the Luftwaffe liaison duties in Tokyo, a Naval Fleet Judge Advocate to try cases of German traitors in Japan, Dr. Heinz Schlicke (renowned German scientist later grabbed up by the USA in Operation Paperclip), the two Japanese technical officers and another an expert on the V-2 rocket. The two Japanese passengers, upon learning that the U-boat would surrender, took luminol poison and then committed hara kiri. Consequently they were buried at sea.

U-234 suffered a collision with another U-boat whilst submerged in the Baltic so had to effect repairs before continuing her voyage from Christiansand in Norway. U-234 surfaced at sea on 10 May 1945 and learned of Germany's surrender. After consulting with another U-boat (U-873 ?) her commander KaptLt Fehler radioed that he would sail for Halifax to surrender. U-234 was intecepted by USS Sutton on 14 May 1945 and her crew were taken off. The prize crew turned her south for Cazco Bay, Maine where it is suggested by U.S. scientist Dr. Velma Hunt that U-234 may have disgorged some cargo in secrecy. Her next call was Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It is reported that the U.S. Navy unloaded about 1,200 lb (550 kg) of uranium oxide from U-234. Her cargo of two dismatled Me-262 jet fighters was not listed at Portsmouth, fueling speculation that she was also unloaded elsewhere. Author Robert K. Wilcox notes a discrepancy in cargo weights between the USN manifest and the cargo loaded in Germany.

Wolfgang Hirschfeld was radioman on U-109 under Korvettenkapitän Hans-Georg Fischer and then under Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt when they hunted in American waters during the late phases of Operation Paukenschlag, or Drumbeat. At the end of the war, he was Oberfunkmeister (Master Chief - Radio) aboard U-234. Hirschfeld has revealed since the war that U-234 crew members were already aware Japan had allegedly succeeded in test blasting an atomic weapon before their departure from Germany in March 1945.

During World War II Dr. Erich Bagge had developed the uranium gaseous centrifuge for enrichment of uranium. Japan was also working on an atomic weapons program under Dr. Yoshio Nishina. By late in the war, Japan's A-bomb project was shifted to Hungnam in northern Korea with the 8th Imperial Japanese Army laboratory.

A recent book by an author named Rainer Karlsh suggests Nazi Germany successfully test-blasted a radiological weapon (not an actual atomic bomb) at Ohrdruf in March 1945 and other tests on Rügen Island. U-boats like U-234 were involved in shipment of uranium oxide to Japan, as were some I-class Japanese submarines under the Yanagi scheme, which sailed for France. I-52 was sunk in the Atlantic before reaching France but Enigma decrypts disclose that 800 kg of uranium oxide awaited I-52 for her return voyage at Lorient. I-30 also sailed to Lorient and returned to Singapore, but struck a mine after leaving Singapore for Japan. I-29 made the voyage to France in late 1943 reaching Lorient in March 1944. I-29 returned to Singapore, but on the next stage of her voyage was also sunk.

An interesting suggestion has also been made that uranium was sealed in solid gold cases aboard U-234. The U-boat was sunk off Cape Cod as a torpedo target in November 1947.


External links

Category: