German submarine U-193

The boat's first patrol was preceded by a short trip from Kiel in Germany to Bergen in Norway in May 1943. She then left the Nordic port on 22 May, heading west. She negotiated the gap between Iceland and the Faroe Islands and entered the Atlantic Ocean.

She did not encounter any Allied shipping, and failed to find her first victory. An unidentified aircraft attacked U-193 south of the Canary Islands on 6 July, wounding two men and destroying the Metox radar detection equipment.

The submarine entered Bordeaux in occupied France, on 23 July.

U-193's second foray began with her departure from La Pallice, (she had moved there in September), on 12 October 1943. Moving to the Gulf of Mexico, she sank the independently sailing 10,000-ton American oil tanker SS Touchet west of Florida[3] with the loss of ten of her crew. The remainder of the patrol was a failure, however, as a combination of dud torpedoes, well-organized convoys and effective counter-measures combined to prevent the boat gaining a single hit.

As the second patrol came to an end in February 1944 after five frustrating months at sea, U-193 caused an international incident following an attack by Allied aircraft and convoy escorts off the Spanish coast. In her desperate attempts to escape, she dived straight into the seabed, causing serious damage to the boat. Knowing a journey to a German-held port was now impossible, her captain, Hans Pauckstadt, decided to intern his boat in Ferrol, Spain. Under international law, if U-193 remained in the neutral harbour for more than 24 hours, then the Spanish authorities were obliged to detain the submarine for the remainder of hostilities. This did not occur, U-193 stayed in Ferrol for ten days whilst Spanish workmen performed superficial repairs to the U-boat.

U-193 then left the port despite Allied protests and returned to La Pallice in France, where more extensive repairs were completed and Paukstadt was replaced by Kptlt. Dr. Ulrich Abel. Abel had served as Watch Officer on U-154 under the command of de:Oskar Kusch. Abel denounced Kusch, which led to Kusch's court martial and execution for defeatism. This six-day passage is often listed as U-193's 'third' patrol, although there was no intention of operating against Allied shipping.

Following repairs, U-193 departed on her fourth and final patrol and was never heard from again. Her loss remains a mystery. A post-war assessment states that on the 28 April 1944, she was seen and attacked by a British Royal Air Force Vickers Wellington bomber of No. 612 Squadron RAF,[4] whose depth charges sank the boat with all 59 hands not far from Nantes. This attack was actually against U-802, inflicting no damage.[5]