German submarine U-137 (1940)

German submarine U-137 was a Type IID U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Her keel was laid down on 16 November 1939 by Deutsche Werke in Kiel. She was launched on 18 May 1940 and commissioned on 15 June 1940 with Oberleutnant zur See Herbert Wohlfarth in command.

U-137 conducted four patrols, sinking six ships totalling and damaged one vessel of 4,917 GRT. She also damaged one auxiliary warship of 10,552 GRT. She was scuttled shortly before Germany's surrender on 2 May 1945 at Wilhelmshaven. U-137 never suffered any casualties to her crew.

1st patrol
U-137 made the short journey from Kiel to Stavanger in Norway in September 1940. It was from the Nordic port that she began her first patrol on the 21st. Her route took her through the 'gap' between the Faroe and Shetland Islands and on in to the Atlantic west of Scotland and Ireland.

She sank the Manchester Brigade west of Malin Head on the 26th and damaged the Ashantian on the same date. The ship had been abandoned by her crew; the master and eight crew-members had returned to the vessel where the master was scandalized to see that the ship had been looted following the presence of a boarding party from the armed trawler HMS Wolves. Ashantian was repaired and returned to service in September 1941. She was sunk in April 1943.

Continuing her success, the U-boat sank the Stratford, in the same general area as her other victims, also on the 26th.

U-137 arrived at Lorient on the French Atlantic coast, on 29 September.

2nd patrol
The Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Cheshire was torpedoed northwest of Ireland on 14 October 1940. The ship was towed to Belfast Lough and then moved to Liverpool for repairs that took six months.

Having set off from Lorient on 9 October, the boat returned there on the 17th.

3rd patrol
Sortie number three commenced with U-137's departure from Lorient on 3 November 1940 and returning to her old hunting grounds west of Scotland and north of Ireland. Her run of victories continued, sinking the Cape St. Andrew west northwest of Aran Island on the 13th; the Planter on the 16th north northwest of Bloody Foreland and two ships on the same day, from the same convoy (HG-46), the Veronica and the Saint Germain north northwest of Tory Island on 17 November.

The submarine steamed to Norway, again round the British Isles, docking in Bergen, on 22 November.

4th patrol
The boat's last operational patrol was to the north of the Shetland Islands, but she did not attack any targets. She then moved from Bergen to Helsingör in Denmark and on to Kiel, arriving there on 29 August 1941.

Fate
U-137 became a 'school' (or training) boat in December 1940, a position she would hold for the rest of the war. She was one of many that were scuttled in the Raederschleuse (a lock named after the Grand Admiral), in Wilhelmshaven, on 2 May 1945. The wreck was broken up, although the post-war date is unknown.

Summary of raiding History
* Survived the war.