German submarine U-129 (1941)

German submarine U-129 was a Type IXC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was laid down at the AG Weser yard, Bremen as 'werk' 992 on 30 July 1940, launched on 28 February 1941 and was commissioned on 21 May with Kapitänleutnant Nicolai Clausen in command.

Her service life began with training in the 4th U-boat Flotilla; she moved to the 2nd Flotilla for operations on 1 July 1941.

She sank 29 ships, a total of 143,748 tons, on ten patrols.

Operational career
She made the short journey from Kiel, arriving in Horten in Norway on 24 July 1941.

1st, 2nd and 3rd patrols
The boat's first patrol involved her departure from Horten, crossing the North Sea and entering the Atlantic Ocean by passing close to the Faroe Islands on the Icelandic side. She arrived at Lorient (where she would be based for most of her career), in occupied France on 30 August 1941.

Her second sortie saw her cross the Bay of Biscay to a point north of the Azores.

Her third patrol was further south, as far south as a similar latitude to Rio De Janeiro, but success continued to elude her.

4th patrol
Things improved dramatically when as part of Operation Drumbeat, she attacked the Nordvangen on 20 February; this ship sank in one minute northeast of Trinidad. Staying in the West Indies / northern South America region, she sank another six vessels.

5th and 6th patrols
The submarine returned to her sunshine haunts; included in the toll was the Hardwicke Grange, which was sunk with torpedoes and the deck gun north of Puerto Rico on 12 June 1942. She also sank the Millinrocket on 17 June off La Isabela, Cuba and a ship from the Soviet Union, the Tuapse, in the Gulf of Mexico on 4 July.

Her sixth patrol included the sinking of the Trafalgar about 1100 mi northeast of Guadeloupe on 16 October 1942 and the West Kebar some 350 mi northeast of Barbados.

7th, 8th and 9th patrols
Patrol number seven saw ships such as the Melbourne Star and the Panam consigned to the deep. On the return journey, tragedy struck; U129 was refuelling from the 'milk cow' supply submarine U-459 when two men were swept overboard. One was recovered fairly swiftly but the other could not be found.

Her eighth foray was west of the Canary Islands but did not produce any results.

U-129's ninth patrol was divided into two; she departed Lorient on 9 October 1943, but put into St. Nazaire on the 11th. A day later she headed for the US eastern coast, sinking the Libertad on 4 December off North Carolina.

10th patrol
The boat began her last operation which at 111 days, was her longest, on 22 March 1944. Steaming south, she encountered the Anadyr about 600 mi south southeast of Recife in Brazil and sank her.

Fate
The boat was taken out of service at Lorient 4 July 1944; she was scuttled on 18 August. She was raised and broken up in 1946.