Mediterranean U-boat Campaign (World War II) - The Early Years

The Early Years

By October 1939, Dönitz had decided to use three longer-range boats to intercept the first Allied convoys of the war. U-25, U-26 and U-53 were to rendezvous southwest of Ireland before attempting to force the Straits and attack the convoys in the Mediterranean. Things began to go wrong from the outset when U-25 was diverted to a convoy southwest of Lisbon. After an unsuccessful torpedo attack on a steamer on 31 October, Schultze, U-25's commander, surfaced and proceeded to sink his target with fire from his deck gun. This course of action caused a crack in a vital part of the submarine, obliging the boat to return to Germany.
U-53 ran low on fuel after shadowing a convoy in the Bay of Biscay and was also forced to return.
This only left U-26, which compelled by a combination of unsuitable weather, searchlights and British anti-submarine patrols, abandoned any attempt at laying mines before Gibraltar harbour. The boat sailed through the Straits while on the surface and claimed but a solitary ship sunk in the Mediterranean. This 'sinking' was not confirmed by post-war analysis.

U-26 headed back through the Straits, arriving in Wilhelshaven on 5 December 1939; the only U-boat to successfully enter and leave the Mediterrannean in World War II.

This mission was summed-up in the BdU Kriegstagebuch (KTB) War Diary thus:

It was a mistake to send U-25, U-26 and U-53 into the Mediterranean. U-25 had to return before she ever got there, U-53 did not get through and U-26 hardly encountered any shipping worth mentioning. This patrol shows all the disadvantages of a long outward passage.

Many attacks mentioned below were as the result of gun actions or ramming, particularly at the eastern end of the Mediterranean. This was because the potential target was "unworthy or difficult torpedo target."