How far did the German U boats come close to America during WW2?

Question

How successful were they in achieving their targets?

Answer 1

Immediately after war was declared with the United States, Dönitz began to implement operation Paukenschlag ("drumbeat"), requesting that 12 Type IX U-boats be made available for it. The Naval Staff in Berlin, however, insisted on retaining 6 of the precious Type IX boats for the Mediterranean theatre (where they could achieve little) and one of the remaining 6 encountered mechanical troubles. This left just 5 long-range submarines for the opening moves of the campaign.

Loaded with the maximum possible amounts of fuel, food and ammunition, the first of the five Type IXs left Lorient on 18 December 1941, the others following over the next few days. Each carried sealed orders to be opened after passing 20°W, and directing them to different parts of the North American coast. No charts or sailing directions were available: Kapitanleutnant Reinhard Hardegen of U-123, for example, was provided with two tourist guides to New York, one of which contained a fold-out map of the harbour.

Each U-boat made routine signals on exiting the Bay of Biscay, which were picked up by the British Y service and plotted in Rodger Winn's London Submarine Tracking Room, which was then able to follow the progress of the Type IXs across the Atlantic, and cable an early warning to the Royal Canadian Navy. Working on the slimmest of evidence, Winn correctly deduced the target area and passed a detailed warning to Admiral Ernest King in the USA of a "heavy concentration of U-boats off the North American seaboard", including the five boats already on station and further groups already in transit, 21 U-boats in all. Rear-Admiral Frank Leighton of the US Combined Operations and Intelligence Center then informed the responsible area commanders, but little or nothing was done.

The primary target area was the "North Atlantic Coastal Frontier", commanded by Rear-Admiral Adolphus Andrews and covering the area from Maine to North Carolina. Andrews had practically no modern forces to work with: on the water he commanded seven Coast Guard cutters, four converted yachts, three 1919-vintage patrol boats, two gunboats dating to 1905, and four wooden submarine chasers. About 100 aircraft were available, but these were short-range models only suitable for training. As a consequence of the traditionally antagonistic relationship between the US Navy and the Army Air Forces, all larger aircraft remained under Air Force control, and in any case the Air Force was neither trained nor equipped for anti-submarine work.

Answer 2

Stranger things have happened during war. Indeed it is a fact that U Boats where known to penetrate the smaller communities around the Americas, including Canada and go ashore to obtain supplies or trophy's if they where able to. There are reports of the long range boats and crews cominging into contact with settlements in the Carribean, South American states, Canada and the US. It should be remembered that most of the Countries and Islands of the American Continents where either not at war with Germany until 1945 or did not have a defense force capable of repelling even a handful of Kreigsmarine sailors. As for the US doing something about the U Boats when they did enter the war, the did nothing for a number of months until the coast trade was so disrupted by the 'second happy hour' sweep of the Atlantic Seaboard. They did not even blackout there towns, cities, roads and the Germans had a fully illuminated scene of some lovely fat targets thanks to the incompetance of there administration. It was not until 1942 and the experienced Royal Navy Officers telling the Americans how to defeat the U Boats so close to home, that things changed.

Answer 3

Very close, and very successful. In fact I read one account of a ship being sunk by a surfaced U-boat within sight of shore. The US was totally unprepared for submarine warfare at the start of hostilities. They had no convoy system, no regular air patrols and not enough escorts of aircraft to implement these measures quickly.

The Germans were so successful at their early submarine activities off the eastern coast of the US, that the US government was considering a peace treaty with Germany due to all the shipping losses. However, the British "leaked" plans to invade Norway and Hitler withdrew the U-boats from the west atlantic to defend Norway. This was seriously stupid for two reasons. First was the U-boats were enjoying unparalleled success and should have been left to capitalize. Secondly, submarines are not effective in preventing an invasion, they can't hold a blockade.

So, by the time it became obvious that there was no planned invasion, the US had recovered and implemented an effective anti-submarine system off the coast.

Answer 4

A very quick search turned up 35 uboat sightings from just the beaches of Florida during WWII, with the Coast guard engaging several. To this day there are at least three subs that recreational divers dive on within one mile of the coast. As for how successful they were in achieving their targets, they were responsible for sinking thousands of tons of commercial and military cargo on private, military , and merchant marine vessels all along the Atlantic coastline, particularly in 1940-42. After that, with the aid of the Civil Defense corps, the Coast Guard, and Navy, along with the build up of more military vessels along the coasts, there were fewer and fewer German vessels reaching across the Atlantic.

Answer 5

Sightings were announced at the mouth of the Hudson River!

http://www.junobeach.org/images/english/flash/interactive_centre.html - This interactive map of U-boat sinkings...click the years at bottom of the page...


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Answer 6

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Answer 7

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http://www.courierpostonline.com/brainstorm/0804/images/uboat.jpg