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U 190 and the HMCS Esquimalt
by Bill Walker
U-190
was launched in Germany on 3 June 1942. It left Germany on its
first operational patrol on 20 February 1943, returning to its base at Lorient,
France on 30 March. Thereafter it made a total of six operational
cruises into the Atlantic before surrendering on the last of these to
the Royal Canadian Navy on 11 May 1945.
U-190 does not appear to have been all that successful, in
that during the first five of its cruises it sank only one allied vessel -
the 7015 ton cargo ship Empire Lakeland on 8 March 1943. It fired
torpedoes on a number of other occasions, but without result. It was to
have one other success on the last of its cruises, and this was to bring
it firmly within the context of Canadian naval history.
U-190 left a base in Norway on its sixth and final mission
on 22 February 1945. Armed with 6 contact torpedoes and eight T-5 Gnat
acoustic torpedoes, it mission was to interdict allied shipping off Sable
Island and the approaches to Halifax harbour. It was part of new
strategy on the part of the commander-in-chief of the German Navy, Admiral
Karl Dönitz, initiated in the dying days of the Nazi regime, to increase
pressure on shipping in North American waters in an attempt to ease allied
naval pressure in waters closer to home.
Early on the morning of April 16 the Boat was sitting in a favourite
spot off the Sambro light ship when a pinging on the hull indicated that
her position was being picked up by asdic signals from a vessel on the
surface. The ASDIC was in fact aboard the Canadian Bangor class
minesweeper, HMCS Esquimault, engaged in carrying out a routine
patrol of the area. Perhaps lulled into a sense of ease by the news of the
imminent German collapse in Europe, she was observing none of the standard
security measures that were mandatory for vessels operating in these
waters. She was not zig-zagging as required, she was not streaming her
Canadian-designed Cat gear, developed specifically to deflect attacks from
German Gnat Torpedoes, and she had even turned off her (admittedly
obsolete) radar. And no-one on board seemed aware that the ASDIC had in
fact picked up a contact. Below the waters the crew of U-190 was sure that
they had been located. And when the Esquimault suddenly turned towards
them and headed directly towards their periscope they were convinced that
an attack was being made. The U190 swung about and fired off one Gnat
torpedo from a stern tube, expecting that it was fired too close to have
any effect, as they desperately attempted to get clear of the perceived
danger.
The torpedo in fact hit home, tearing into the Esquimault's starboard
side. She immediately began to list to starboard and sank within four
minutes. She was the last Canadian vessel to be lost due to enemy action
in the Second World War.
While eight of Esquimault's crew probably went down with her, the
remainder escaped and managed to get into Carley floats on the water. Its
sinking was so rapid, however, that there was no time to send out distress
signals, with the result that it was hours before anyone realized what had
happened and not until eight hours later that HMCS Sarnia first
came across any survivors. During this period a total of 44 had died of
exposure, and only 26 remained alive.
 After its
encounter with the Esquimault, U-190 successfully escaped the area and
remained on patrol off the Canadian coast until instructions were received
from Dönitz to surrender on 8 May. The boat was finally intercepted by
Canadian corvettes 500 miles of Cape Race in Newfoundland on 11 May.
Within hours her captain had signed a document of unconditional surrender.
With the white ensign flying from her masthead, she sailed under Canadian
escort into Bay Bulls, Newfoundland, on 14 May. The crew were then taken
as prisoners to Halifax.
When
the U-190 surrendered in May 1945, the senior officers included: Lt Werner
Müller, 22 years old, and Lt Ernst Glenk, 21 years old, both
veterans of
three years in the U-boat fleet.
The Post War Story of the U190 continues
here.
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