© 2001-2006 Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp
Revision 2
5 September 1942:
Bremen, Germany. A 1,616-ton surface displacement Type
IXD-1 cruiser submarine is completed at A. G. Weser and commissioned in the
Kriegsmarine as the U-195. She is equipped with experimental fast-running diesel
engines. Kapitänleutnant Heinz Buchholz (former CO of U-15) is the Commanding
Officer.
20 March 1943:
Departs Kiel to patrol in the Cape of Good Hope and
Madagascar areas.
April-May 1943:
Atlantic. U-195 sinks 7,200-ton American
merchant JAMES W. DENVER and 7,191-ton American freighter SAMUEL JORDAN
KIRKWOOD and damages 6,797-ton American freighter CAPE NEDDICK.
23 July 1943:
Arrives at Bordeaux, France.
In the summer of 1943, the Kriegsmarine decides to send U-boats to
operate in the Indian Ocean. The first group of U-boats arrives in the Far East
at the end of September 1943, after the tropical monsoon rains period.
Thereafter, the group is named "Monsun".
October 1943-April 1944:
Bordeaux. U-195 is converted to serve as
a transport submarine and equipped with new diesels and a snorkel. Her torpedo
tubes are removed. She is able to carry 252-tons of oil.
16 April 1944:
Oberleutnant zur See (OL) Friedrich Steinfeldt assumes
command.
21 August 1944:
U-195 departs Bordeaux, France. She carries
mercury and lead, steel, uncut optical glass and aluminum in her keel for Japan
and spare torpedoes and a spare propeller for the U-boat base at Penang. U-195 also
carries samples of Germany's latest new weapons: V-series rockets, acoustic torpedoes, radar
sets and accessories.
November 1944:
Incessant Allied air and submarine attacks render
Penang untenable as an operational base for submarines. The German U-boats
withdraw to Batavia (Jakarta) and the Japanese I-boats relocate to Surabaya,
Java (Indonesia).
20 December 1944:
Indian Ocean. Refuels Europe-bound U-843.
27 December 1944:
U-195 arrives off the coast of Java. She is met
by a two-seat Arado Ar-196A floatplane. The plane has Japanese Hinomaru markings, but is
flown by OL Ulrich Horn (former air officer of MICHEL). The Arado provides
anti-submarine escort for several hours.
U-195 comes into Tanjong Priok (Batavia's harbor), the Monsun U-boat
Flotilla's new base of operations. It is a disaster scene because the day before
the 1,135-ton Japanese ammunition ship TAICHO MARU exploded wrecking the
harbor's facilities and causing many casualties. The anchored U-219, U-861 and
another U-boat are damaged slightly.
Nevertheless, U-195's crew turns out on deck in fresh Kriegsmarine
tropical uniforms of short sleeve shirts and shorts. Korvettenkapitän (KK=LtCdr)
Dr. Hermann Kandeler (formerly of raider THOR), Commander of the Kriegsmarine's U-boat base, and other German and
Japanese officers greet them as they tie up. Several of the flotilla's boats
including U-510, U-532 and U-861 are anchored in the harbor being prepared
for supply runs to Bordeaux.
19 January 1945:
U-195, still under OL Steinfeldt, departs Batavia
for Norway, but her diesels develop trouble. She is directed to refuel U-532
and then return to Batavia.
9 February 1945:
U-195 makes a rendezvous with and refuels
Fregattenkapitän Ottoheinrich Junker's U-532 bound for Europe with a cargo of
tungsten and bales of raw rubber. U-195's crewmen give mail to U-532 for
delivery to their families at home.
4 March 1945:
U-195 returns to Batavia, but departs the next day.
7 March 1945:
Arrives at Surabaya, Java for repairs.
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.
Surabaya. KK Konrad Hoppe (formerly of raider MICHEL), Commander of the Kriegsmarine's U-boat base, calls muster on their tennis courts. Hoppe announces that Hitler is dead and
that Germany has ceased hostilities in the West, but continues to resist Soviet
forces overrunning Berlin. [2]
The U-195's crew lowers her battle flag. A Japanese patrol boat is
anchored next to the U-boat. Her Captain and some of his men board U-195 and
hoist a rising sun ensign. Thereafter, the U-boat's crew is interned by the
Japanese in a nearby open prison camp.
15 July 1945:
U-195 is commissioned in the IJN as I-506. She
is overhauled at the No. 102 Repair Unit at Surabaya and then assigned to the
2nd Southern Expeditionary Fleet. No Japanese crew is assigned to I-506 as a
result of lack of submarine personnel. She never leaves her moorings.
September 1945: The Surrender of Japan:
I-506 is surrendered.
Soon, Indonesian rebels overrun Surabaya, seize I-506 and blow up the city's
electrical power plant. Nepalese Gurkhas in British service arrive from
Singapore, rout the rebels and restore order. The Union Jack is hoisted above
the former U-boat. Her former German crewmen are recruited to run the diesel
engines that drive her generators and make electricity for the city.
30 November 1945:
Removed from the Navy List. On that same day, OL
Steinfeldt dies of dysentery and is buried near Bogor, Java.
February 1946:
Bali Sea. I-506 is scuttled by the Royal Navy at
06-50S, 114-42E.
Authors' Note:
[1] The plane Horn used in Penang came from the German supply ship RIO GRANDE.
