German submarine U-859

Template:U-Boat Frame Template:U-Boat Title Template:U-Boat Infobox Template:U-Boat Career Template:U-Boat Patrol Template:U-Boat Patrol Template:U Boat Commanders Template:U Boat Command Template:U Boat Sinkings Template:U Boat Sink Template:U Boat Sink Template:U Boat Sink Template:U-Boat End Frame Unterseeboot 859 (usually abbreviated to U-859) was a German IX type U-boat built during World War II. She was one of a select number of boats to join the Monsun Gruppe or Monsoon Group, which travelled to the Far East for service alongside the Imperial Japanese Navy. U-859 was built in Bremen during 1942 and 1943, and was heavily adapted following her completion in July 1943, with the addition of a Snorkel to enable her to stay underwater for longer during the perilous passage to Penang in Malaya. Thus she was not ready for war service until the spring of 1944, when following her working up period and all modifications she departed Kiel for the East.

War Patrol

Although U-859 only had a single war patrol from which she never returned, her six month career was highly eventful and carried her halfway across the world and into an entirely different theatre of conflict. Following her departure on the 4 April, the boat avoided shipping lanes and remained underwater for as long as possible during the dangerous daylight hours, when allied aircraft constantly patrolled the Northern Atlantic Ocean. U-859 was participating in the trade of vital low-bulk war supplies with the Japanese, and was reported to be carrying mercury and possibly Uranium-oxide for use by Japanese scientists. It was vitally important for both industrial and diplomatic reasons that this trade link was kept open and so Kptlt. Johann Jebsen was instructed to avoid all unnessesary contact with allied units.

Three weeks into the cruise however, Jebsen saw a target he could not refuse. The MV Colin, formerly an Italian freighter taken over by American authorities and registered in Panama, was slowly steaming unescorted in the North Atlantic following engine failure. Three torpedoes sank her before the U-859 went on her way southwards. ^[1] The passage of the boat continued smoothly for the next two months, and she rounded the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Indian Ocean without further trouble. On the 5 July she was spotted by a Lockheed Ventura aircraft, which swooped down on the boat only to be brought down by the 88mm flak gun on the conning tower. There were no survivors from the aircraft's crew.

Her second victim was her most famous, and became one of the most famous treasure shipwrecks of the Twentieth Century. The unescorted liberty ship SS John Barry was transporting a cargo of 3 million silver one-riyal coins to Saudi Arabia as part of an American government agreement with the Saudi royal family. The silver coins were stacked in huge boxes in the hold, and went down with the ship when she was torpedoed about 100 miles south of the entrance to the Arabian Sea. A massive salvage operation succeeded in retrieving many of the lost coins in 1994 ^[2]. Three days later another unescorted merchant, the British SS Troilus was also sunk ^[3], with six hands drowned.

Setting sail for Penang, U-859 was nearing the end of her exhausting patrol, when on the 23 September disaster struck. In the Far East, unlike in the Western theatre, it was allied submarines, not German ones who were the top hunters, and as Penang was a Japanese-held port, it was unsurprising that there would be a predator waiting nearby. In the Malacca Straits hid the British submarine HMS Trenchant, who saw the U-859 sail past on the surface one evening and did not let the opportunity escape. A single torpedo hit the U-boat which sank immediately with several compartments flooded and 47 men drowned, including her commander.

Twenty of the crew did manage to escape however, opening the hatch in the relatively shallow sea and struggling to the calm surface, where they remained for sometime until picked up. Eight were discovered by Japanese naval units passing through the region and taken to shore to await repatriation. Twelve more found their way to Allied prison camps, having been collected by Allied units.

Salvage

Between 1969 and 1974 the West German government used the "Flex LD" deep sea recovery vessel to recover her wreck and ship the U-859 back to Germany. ^{[citation needed]}

Raiding career

Date	Ship	Nationality	Tonnage	Fate
26 April 1944	MV Colin	Panamanian	6,255	Sunk
28 August 1944	SS John Barry	American	7,176	Sunk
1 September 1944	SS Troilus	British	7,422	Sunk

References

Sharpe, Peter, U-Boat Fact File, Midland Publishing, Great Britain: 1998. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.
U-boat.net webpage for U-859