List of all U-boats
U-106
Type | IXB | ||||||||||||||||
| Ordered | 24 May 1938 | ||||||||||||||||
| Laid down | 26 Nov 1939 | AG Weser, Bremen (werk 969) | |||||||||||||||
| Launched | 17 Jun 1940 | ||||||||||||||||
| Commissioned | 24 Sep 1940 | Oblt. Jürgen Oesten (Knights Cross) | |||||||||||||||
| Commanders |
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| Career 10 patrols |
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| Successes | 22 ships sunk, total tonnage 138,581 GRT 2 ships damaged, total tonnage 12,634 GRT 1 auxiliary warship damaged, total tonnage 8,246 GRT 1 warship damaged, total tonnage 31,100 tons | ||||||||||||||||
| Fate |
Sunk on 2 August 1943 in the North Atlantic north-west of Cape Ortegal, Spain, in position 46.35N, 11.55W, by depth charges from a British and an Australian Sunderland aircraft (228 Sqn RAF/N & 461 Sqn RAAF/M). 22 dead and 36 survivors. | ||||||||||||||||
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Wolfpack operations
U-106 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
Raubritter (1 Nov 1941 - 15 Nov 1941)
Westwall (1 Dec 1942 - 16 Dec 1942)
Unverzagt (12 Mar 1943 - 22 Mar 1943)
Attacks on this boat and other events
30 Oct 1941
After torpedoing the large American tanker Salinas the boat was hunted for nine hours by escorts from convoy
ON 28 and suffered severe damage. (Sources: Blair, vol 1, page 374)
27 Jul 1942
15.30 hrs, Bay of Biscay, outbound: strafing and bombing by a Wellington (311 Sqn RAF/A) killed the I WO, Oberleutnant zur See Günter Wißmann and wounded the commander. The boat had only left Lorient two days earlier and was forced to return to base by severe damage.
1 Aug 1943
The boat was attacked by a British B-24 Liberator (59 Sqn RAF/K, pilot F/L M. Charlton) in the Bay of Biscay. No damage from the two depth charges dropped, but strafing killed one crewman and wounded two others. [Matrosengefreiter Rolf Ebeling]
2 Aug 1943
The boat was attacked by a Canadian Wellington (407 Sqn RCAF/C) in the Bay of Biscay and straddled by six depth charges, one of which one actually bounced off the stern and exploded close nearby. Severe damage forced U-106 to make for port, and despite at first managing to keep the shadowing aircraft at a distance, other Allied forces vectored to the area located and sank her in the evening.
4 recorded attacks on this boat.
Men lost from the boat
23 Oct 1941
A tragic event occurred in heavy weather. When the replacement watch opened the conning tower hatch they found that all four men of the previous watch had been lost overboard. [Oberleutnant zur See Werner Grüneberg, Fähnrich zur See Herbert von Bruchhausen, Oberbootsmannmaat Karl Heemann, Matrose Ewald Brühl]
27 Jul 1942
15.30 hrs, Bay of Biscay, outbound: strafing and bombing by a Wellington (311 Sqn RAF/A) killed the I WO, Oberleutnant zur See Günter Wißmann and wounded the commander. The boat had only left Lorient two days earlier and was forced to return to base by severe damage.
1 Aug 1943
The boat was attacked by a British B-24 Liberator (59 Sqn RAF/K, pilot F/L M. Charlton) in the Bay of Biscay. No damage from the two depth charges dropped, but strafing killed one crewman and wounded two others. [Matrosengefreiter Rolf Ebeling]
Related: For more info on such losses see - Men lost from U-boats -
U-boat Emblems
We have 2 emblem entries for this boat. See the emblem page for this boat or view emblems individually below.
 2 Swordfish |
Battleaxe |
Media links
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There was another U-106 in World War One
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 12 Jun 1917 and commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 28 Jul 1917. The Naval war in WWI was brought to an end with the Armistice signed on 11 Nov, 1918. Read about SM U 106 during WWI.
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