german u boats of WWII?

Question

who, what ,, when and why?
i was also wondering where the germans had there basew for the u boats since germany had to water around them.

Answer 1

After the capture of Denmark and Norway the German U-boats had bases on the Atlantic coast which put them much closer to British trade routes.

Answer 2

Germany has port areas exposed to the sea and actualy did have water around them, to a small extent, the Baltic sea north towards Norway and Denmark and the North Atlantic facing northern England and Greenland. Germany had such a concerted area of sea ports they expanded their ports in occupied countries as a matter of necessity. Having such a small sea front the German Navy could have Early on, prior to expansion, been blockaded from ever leaving a German port...

Germany had 27 known U-Boat ports is several different occupied countries.

German ports for U-Boats were" : Cuxhaven, Flensburs, Gotenhafen, Kiel, Pillau, Rendsburg and Warenhof;
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Germany also had U- Boat ports in Greece: Salams, In Spain, Vigo, In Holland, Breda, Roosendal, Rotterdam, Assen; In Denmark, Aalborg, In France, St. Nazaire and Lorient; In Belgium, Antwerp and last, Norway, at ; Bergen, Hausesund, Horten, Apenes (Horton base also) Kirkens, Narvik, Ramsundt and roundheim.


This shows Germany was well intent on taking the war to the seas in a serious manner.

Answer 3

The first U-Boat bases in September of 1939 were at Keil and Wilhelmshaven. Wilhelmshaven was a short trip out to the waters between Germany, France and England while Keil required a couple of days of navigating through inland waters until you reached the North Sea.
As the war progressed other bases popped up in LaRochelle(France), LaSpeitza (Italy) and many others along the French coast. The Mediterrian had U-Boats prowling it but this was much to the dissapointment of Admiral Doenitz who felt the Med was a diversion and the allied shipping through there wasn't enough to concern himself with. He felt the supplies and convoys from the US to England were the ones his U-Boats should be concentrating on.
The beginning of the war....'39 to '40 was "The Happy Times" for the U-Boats. Sonar was not really as good as it would become and U-Boats were sinking English ships left and right. The campaign in '42 off the Eastern seaboard scored very big hits for the U-Boats as the Americans weren't quite prepared for submarine warfare. One U-Boat captain slid in under cover of darkness off of Cape Hatteras in early '42 and was aghast at the fact that despite Germany being at war with the US, the entire coastline was lit up. Ships were steaming in and out of the harbor and lights twinkled on board freighters, docks and buildings on shore. Loading all his tubes and using two lit bouys that marked the entrance of the harbor as reference points, he was able to judge the speed from the shadowy outlines of ships coming and going between the bouys and set his target speed and angle on bow with ease. He sunk 8 or 9 ships before submerging and slipping away into deeper water and home.
By late '42 times became difficult for U-Boats as the Americans and British began concentrating on anti-sub warfare. ASDIC, advanced depth charges and hedgehogs fired from the bow of the destroyers made escape for the U-Boats more and more difficult.
By the end of the war the U-Boat service had lost 30,000 sailors from his 40,000 members.

Answer 4

Germany did (and still does) have Baltic sea ports - I think the most important for U Boats was Bremerhaven - and what about Hamburg?

Answer 5

Before Operation Chariot they had St Nazaire in Northern France.