SENSUIKAN!

© 2001-2003 Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp

12 December 1942:
Kiel, Germany. The 1,763-ton surface displacement Type XB minelaying submarine is completed at Krupp's Germania Werft and commissioned in the Kriegsmarine as the U-219. Korvettenkapitän (KK) Walter Burghagen is the Commanding Officer. The U-219 is assigned to the 4th Flotilla at Stettin for training.

Summer 1943:
The Kriegsmarine decides to send U-boats to operate in the Indian Ocean. The first group arrives in the Far East at the end of September 1943, after the tropical monsoon rains period. Thereafter, the group is named "Monsun" (Monsoon).

1 July 1943:
The U-219 is reassigned to the 12th Flotilla based at Bordeaux, France.

5 October 1943:
The U-219 departs Kiel for Kristiansand, Norway (7 Oct) then arrives at Bergen, Norway (9 Oct).

22 October 1943:
KK Burghagen departs Bergen for the Central Atlantic. During this patrol the U-219 refuels and resupplies the U-91, -510, -170, -103 and the U-172.* The U-219 is to be in the second group of Monsun U-boats sent to the Orient. Enroute, she is to lay mines off Cape Town, South Africa and Colombo, Ceylon, but the U-219's orders are changed and she is recalled to Bordeaux.

12 December 1943:
S. Atlantic, SSW of the Canary Islands. The U. S. Tenth Fleet (a signals intelligence "paper" fleet) learns of a refueling rendezvous between the U-219 and the U-172. Grumman TBM "Avenger" torpedo-bombers of Composite Squadron VC-19 from the escort carrier USS BOGUE (CVE-9) find and damage the U-172. The next day, the BOGUE's aircraft and destroyer screen sink the U-172. The Americans search for Burghagen's U-219 until 14 December, but she makes good her escape.

1 January 1944:
Arrives at Bordeaux. Thereafter, work to permanently convert the U-219 to a transport submarine is begun during which she is fitted with a snorkel. In addition to her 37-mm AA gun, a quadruple-mounted 20-mm "Flakvierling" AA gun is fitted to replace a pair of single-mount 20-mm AA guns.

23 August 1944:
The U-219 departs Bordeaux bound for Penang, Malaya. Burghagen is ordered to refuel Oberleutnant zur See Karl Albrecht's U-1062, Type VIIC in-bound from Penang after delivering 39 torpedoes to supply Gruppe Monsun". The "Enigma" coded traffic setting up the rendezvous at 11-51N, 34-45W is read by Allies.

28 September 1944:
South Atlantic Narrows. A radar-equipped TBF Avenger of Task Group 47.7's escort carrier USS TRIPOLI's (CVE-64) Composite Squadron VC-6, piloted by Lt William R. Gillespie, reports contact with a surfaced U-boat. Gillespie delivers a low-level rocket attack, but the U-219's four 20-mm AA guns shoot him down. This is the last aircraft from escort carriers lost to U-boats in the Atlantic.

Another Avenger piloted by Lt (jg) Joseph W. Steere fires eight rockets at the U-219, while Lt (jg) Douglas R. Hagwood's Grumman FM-2 "Wildcat" fighter strafes the U-boat. Steere then drops a Mark 24 "Fido" acoustic torpedo and sonobuoys. Burghagen escapes the plane unscathed, but two days later, Albrecht's U-1062 is sunk by the USS FESSENDEN (DE-142).

The U-219 attempts to send a report of the air attack, but is attacked again, and for the next three days, by depth charges, bombs and more Fidos. Burghagen finds a salinity layer upon which the U-219 can drift with motors and nearly all machinery turned off using the absolute minimum of battery power. The U-219 remains submerged for 69 consecutive hours until she has to surface because of the toxic level of carbon dioxide built-up in the ship. Burghagen surfaces in the midst of a sandstorm blowing out of Africa. The storm keeps the Allies from regaining radar contact on the U-219.

1 October 1944:
The U-219 is reassigned "on paper" to the 33rd Flotilla at Flensburg, Germany.

2 October 1944:
One of the TRIPOLI's Avengers drops depth bombs on the U-219, but misses.

November 1944:
Incessant Allied air and submarine attacks render Penang untenable as an operational base for submarines. The German U-boats withdraw to Batavia (now Jakarta), Java (now Indonesia) and the Japanese I-boats relocate to Surabaya, Java.

12 December 1944:
The U-219 arrives at Tanjong Priok (Batavia's harbor), the new Monsun U-boat flotilla's base of operations.

26 December 1944:
Tanjong Priok. The anchored U-219, U-861 and another U-boat are slightly damaged when the nearby 1,135-ton Japanese ammunition ship TAICHO MARU suddenly explodes. The harbor's facilities are wrecked and there are many casualties.

5 May 1945: Germany Ceases Hostilities with the United States and Great Britain:
Tokyo. The German naval attaché, Vizeadmiral Paul Wennecker (former CO of Panzerschiff DEUTSCHLAND/LÜTZOW) and Deutscher Admiral Ostasien (German Admiral, East Asia) sends the code-word signal "Lübeck" to all U-boats in Asia. It signifies that Germany has ceased hostilities.

Batavia. KK Kandeler, Commander of the Kriegsmarine's U-boat base, announces that Hitler is dead and that Germany has ceased hostilities in the West, but continues to resist Soviet forces overrunning Berlin. The U-219 is taken over by the Japanese. She was ready to return to Europe with a cargo of raw rubber, tin and other war materials.

Later, the U-219 departs Batavia for Surabaya under KK Burghagen and his crew with some Japanese aboard. At Surabaya she is overhauled by the IJN's No. 102 Repair Unit. Burghagen and his crew are interned in an open camp.

15 July 1945:
Surabaya. The U-219 is commissioned in the IJN as the I-505 and assigned to the 2nd Southern Expeditionary Fleet, but no Japanese crews are assigned because of a lack of submarine personnel in the 2nd Southern Expeditionary Fleet. As a result, she never leaves her moorings.

September 1945: The Surrender of Japan:
Surabaya. The I-505 surrenders to the British.

30 November 1945:
Removed from the Navy List.

February 1946:
Off the Sunda Strait. The Royal Navy scuttles the I-505 at 06-31S, 104-54-8 E.

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Authors' Note:
*Of the 17 U-boats built or adapted to serve as "Milk-Cows" between 1942 and May 1944, only the U-219 survived the war.

Special thanks for help in preparing this TROM go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan. Thanks also go to Allan Alsleben of the United States and the guys at the forum on Jan Visser's "Royal Netherlands Navy Warships of World War II" website for help in identifying the TAICHO MARU. – Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp

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