German submarine U-862

German submarine U-862 was a German Type IXD2 U-boat of the Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was the only German submarine to operate in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. After Germany's surrender in May 1945, U-862 put into Singapore and was taken over by the Imperial Japanese Navy under the name I-502.

U-862 was laid down on 15 August 1942 by AG Weser of Bremen. She was commissioned on 7 October 1943 with Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Timm in command. Timm commanded U-862 for her entire career in the Kriegsmarine, receiving a promotion to Korvettenkapitän on 1 July 1944. U-862 conducted two patrols, sinking seven ships totalling 42,374 tons.

1st patrol
U-862 was one of the most travelled of all U-boats. She sailed from Germany in May 1944 and eventually reached Penang, in Japanese-controlled Malaya, in September 1944. Penang was the base for the 33rd U-boat Flotilla, code-named Monsun Gruppe ("Monsoon Group").

On the way there, she launched a T5/G7es Zaunkönig I acoustic homing torpedo at a tanker. The Zaunkönig came around full circle to home in on U-862. Only an emergency crash dive saved the U-boat from its own torpedo. She also shot down an Allied PBY Catalina aircraft on 20 August 1944 and then escaped an intense search for her. She sank several merchant ships in the Mozambique Channel between Africa and Madagascar.

2nd patrol
U-862 departed for her second war patrol from Batavia in the Japanese-occupied Netherlands East Indies in December 1944. Assigned the task of operating off Australia, she sailed down the west coast of Australia, across the Great Australian Bight, around the southern coast of Tasmania and then north towards Sydney where she sank the U.S.-registered Liberty ship SS Robert J. Walker on 25 December 1944. She then travelled around New Zealand and entered the port of Napier at night undetected. This has given birth to an urban legend in New Zealand, where it is said that the captain of the U-862 sent sailors ashore at night to steal fresh milk from a farm. This may arise from a joke made by Captain Timm to Air Vice Marshal Sir Rochford Hughes in the late 1950s.

U-862 then returned to the Indian Ocean. On 6 February 1945, about 1,520 km (820 nm) southwest of Fremantle, U-862 sank the U.S.-registered Liberty ship, SS Peter Silvester, which was loaded with mules bound for Burma.

U-862 was also a trial boat for the FuMo 65 Hohentwiel radar system. This was cranked out of a casing on the port side of the conning tower and rose on a mast. The aerial was hand trained onto targets whilst the U-boat was at the surface. The radar had a range up to 7 nmi and was very effective where there was little risk from air attack on the U-boat.

Transfer to Japan
When Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945, she put into Singapore and was taken over by the Imperial Japanese Navy. On 15 July 1945 she became the IJN submarine I-502. The I-502 surrendered at Singapore in August 1945 and was scuttled in the Strait of Malacca at 3.08333°N, 100.63333°W on 13 February 1946.

The German crew of U-862 suffered no casualties, and some returned to Germany several years after the war. Others were interned at Kinmel Camp, Bodelwyddan, North Wales, and remained in Wales and settled in the neighbouring communities of Rhyl, Rhuddlan and Prestatyn, due to the risks of returning to the Soviet occupied areas of Germany after the war. Two of the crew are buried at the new cemetery at Rhuddlan, North Wales, on nearby plots.