German submarine U-3 (1935)

German submarine U-3 was a Type IIA U-boat laid down at the Deutsche Werke in Kiel on 11 February 1935 as Werk 238. She was commissioned into the Kriegsmarine on 6 August 1936 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See (Oblt.z.S.) Hans Meckel.

U-3 carried out a total of five combat patrols; she sank two ships while under the command of Joachim Schepke. During April 1940, she was part of the fleet that supported the German invasion of Norway, Operation Weserübung.

As the Type II submarines were too small for combat duty in the Atlantic Ocean, she was assigned to the Baltic for training duties with the 21st U-boat Flotilla, a training outfit.

Emblem
U-3 is known to have had three emblems; one was an oak leaf, with an anchor and a knife or dagger. She also shared this emblem with GS U-29 (1936), GS U-120 (1940), GS U-747, GS U-1274 and GS U-1308.

1st and 2nd patrols
The boat's first patrol was relatively uneventful.

Her second sortie was toward the British east Anglian coast.

3rd patrol
She sank the Danish ship Vendia and the Swedish vessel Gun for a total of on 30 September 1939.

U-3 closed the Vendia and as was common practice in the early days of the war, ordered her to stop after a few warning shots were fired. The ship's fate is disputed. The German submariners said the Danish vessel tried to ram the U-boat. The ship's crew were convinced she swung with the strength of the wind. A torpedo was fired which hit the vessel and sank her.

The Gun was attacked in the Skagerrak 30 nmi northwest of Hanstholm. By now wary from the experience with the Vendia, the U-boat sent a boarding party to the Swedish ship, but was obliged to dive by the arrival of HMS Thistle (N24). U-3 fired a torpedo at the British submarine, which missed; indeed they were not aware they had been targeted. The German vessel left the area and came across a lifeboat from the Gun, telling the Swedes in it to return to their ship as she was still afloat. The German boarding party had left the ship in a lifeboat, but were picked up by the Danish merchant ship Dagmar. U-3 recovered them and put a torpedo into the empty Gun.

4th and 5th patrols
Patrol number four was also quiet, but number five was enlivened by another British submarine, HMS Porpoise (N14), firing six torpedoes 10 nmi west of Egersund at the U-boat on 16 April 1940. They were originally thought to have been aimed at GS U-1 (1935), but the attack caused no damage.

Fate
U-3 was stricken on 1 August 1944 in Gotenhafen. She was captured by Great Britain on 3 May 1945 and scrapped that same year.