Black May (59 page)

Of course, in Berlin, the emotions were quite the converse. Inside BdU, staff member and former Knight’s Cross winner on U
-333
Kptlt. Peter “Ali” Cremer surveyed the numbers and listened to official
comment: “As I was soon to learn, the number of boats that failed to return from patrol reached 41, more than one a day, and there was talk of ‘Black May.’ ”
²⁵
And May itself was an omen. For the U-boat men, the months thereafter until the end of hostilities would also be as unremittingly black as the bottom of the harsh and remorseless sea.

The writer has relied primarily on original archival documents, which are identified in the notes section. He has supplemented those sources with material drawn from interviews with surviving principals and from published works: documentary collections, official histories, technical reports, autobiographies, and other secondary titles. All of the published works consulted are named in the notes. Those books found to have been particularly useful are given in the select list below.

Adams, Thomas A., and David J. Lees.
Register of Type VII U-boats.
Warships Supplement, London, 1990.

Bailey, Chris Howard.
The Battle of the Atlantic: The Corvettes and Their Crews: An Oral History.
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1994.

Baker, Richard.
The Terror of Tobermory: An Informal Biography of Vice-Admiral Sir Gilbert Stephenson
, KBE, CB, CMG. W.H. Allen, London, 1972.

Barley, F.W., and D. Waters.
The Defeat of the Enemy Attack on Shipping: A Study of Policy and Operations,
Vol. 1A (Text and Appendices). Naval Staff History, Second World War. Historical Section, Admiralty, London, 1957.

Barnett, Correlli.
Engage the Enemy More Closely: The Royal Navy in the Second World War
. Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1991.

Baxter III, James Phinney.
Scientists Against Time.
Little Brown, Boston, 1947.

Beesly, Patrick.
Very Special Intelligence: The Story of the Admiralty’s Operational Intelligence Centre 1939–1945
. Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, NY, 1978.

Blackett, P.M.S.
Studies of War: Nuclear and Conventional.
Hill and Wang, New York, 1962.

Blair, Clay.
Hitler’s U-Boat War
: The Hunters 11)39–1942. Random House, New York, 1996.

———. Silent Victory:
The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan.
J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and New York, 1975.

Boutilier, James A, ed.
The RCN in Retrospect, 1910–1968.
University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver and London, 1982.

British Vessels
Lost at Sea 1939–45.
Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, Cambridge, Patrick Stephens, 1948.

Buderi, Robert.
The Invention That Changed the World: How a Small Group of Radar Pioneers Won the Second World War and Launched a Technological Revolution
. Simon & Schuster, New York, 1996.

Buell, Thomas B.
Master of Sea Power: A Biography of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King
. Little, Brown and Company, Boston, MA, 1980.

Calvocoressi, Peter.
Top Secret Ultra.
Ballantine Books, New York, 1980.

Cameron, John.
The “Peleus” Trial.
Vol. I of the War Crimes Trial series, ed. by Sir David Maxwell Fyfe. William Hodge and Co, Ltd, London, 1948.

Chalmers, C.B.E, D.S.C, Rear-Admiral W.S.
Max Horton and the Western Approaches.
Hodder and Stoughton, 1954.

Churchill, Winston S.
The Second World War,
6 vols. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1950.

Clark, Ronald W.
The Rise of the Boffins.
Phoenix House, Ltd, London, 1962.

Cole, Robert Hugh.
Underwater Explosions.
Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1948.

Dönitz, Karl.
Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days.
Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London, 1959.

Douglas, W.A.B.
The Creation of a National Air Force: The Official History of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Volume II
. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1986.

———, ed.
The RCN in Transition, 1910 1985.
University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, 1988.

Elliot, Peter.
Allied Escort Ships of World War II: A Complete Survey.
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1977.

Ellis, Chris.
Famous Ships of World War 2, in Colour.
Arco Publishing Company, Inc., New York, 1977.

Fagen, M. D., ed.
A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: National Service in War and Peace (1925–1975)
. Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, 1978.

Franks, Norman L. R.
Conflict Over the Bay.
William Kimber & Co. Limited, London, 1986.

———. Search, Find and Kill:
The RAF’s U-Boat Successes in World War II.

Grub Street, London, 1995.

Fuehrer Conferences on
Naval Affairs 1939–1945.
Foreword by Jak P. Mallmann Showell. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1990.

Gannon, Michael.
Operation Drumbeat.
HarperCollins [Harper
&
Row] Publishers, New York, 1990.

Gibbs, N. H., J.R.M. Butler, J.M.A. Gwyer, Michael Howard and John Ehrman.
Grand Strategy,
6 vols. Michael Howard, Vol. 4, August 1942-September 1943. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, 1956–1972.

Gretton, K.C.B., D.S.O., C.B.E., D.S.C., Vice-Admiral Sir Peter.
Convoy Escort Commander.
Cassell & Company Ltd., London, 1964.

———.
Crisis Convoy.
Kensington Publishing Corp., New York, 1974.

Hackmann, Willem.
Seek & Strike: Sonar, Anti-submarine Warfare and the Royal Navy 1914–54
. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, 1984.

Herzog, Bodo, and Günter Schomaekers.
Ritter der Tiefe: Graue Wölfe.
Weisermühl München-Wels, Wels, Austria, 1976.

Hessler, Günter.
The U-Boat War in the Atlantic 1939–1945.
Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, 1989.

Hezlet, K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., D.S.C., Vice Admiral Sir Arthur.
Electronics and Sea Power.
Stein and Day Publishers, New York, 1975.

Hinsley, F. H., et al.
British Intelligence in the Second World War: Its Influence on Strategy and Operations, 3 vols
. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1981–1984.

Howarth, Stephen, and Derek Law, eds.
The Battle of the Atlantic 1939–1945.
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1994.

Howse, Derek.
Radar at Sea: The Royal Navy in World War 2.
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1993.

Kahn, David.
Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes, 1939–1943
. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991.

Keegan, John.
The Price of Admiralty: The Evolution of Naval Warfare. Viking Penguin, Inc.
, New York, 1989.

King, Fleet Admiral Ernest J.
U.S. Navy at War 1941–1945: Official Reports to the Secretary of the Navy.
United States Navy Department, Washington, D.C., 1946., and Walter Muir Whitehill. Fleet Admiral King: A Naval Record.

W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 1952.

Lloyd’s War Losses,
The Second World War, 3 September 1939–14 August 1945. Vol.

I, British, Allied, and Neutral Merchant Vessels Sunk or Destroyed by War Causes. Lloyd’s of London Press, Ltd., 1989.

Love, Jr., Robert William, ed.
The Chiefs of Naval Operations.
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1980.

Lovell, F.R.S, Sir Bernard.
P. M.S. Blackett: A Biographical Memoir.
The Royal Society, London, 1976.

Macintyre, Donald.
The Battle of the Atlantic.
The MacMillan Company, New York, 1961.

McCue, Brian.
U-Boats in the Bay of Biscay: An Essay in Operational Analysis.
National Defense University Press, Washington, D.C, 1990.

Meigs, Montgomery C.
Slide Rules and Submarines: American Scientists and Subsurface Warfare in World War II
. National Defense University Press, Washington, D.C, 1990.

Middlebrook, Martin.
Convoy.
William Morrow, New York, 1976.

Milner, Marc.
North Atlantic Run: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle for the Convoys
. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1985.

———. The U-Boat Hunters:
The Royal Canadian Navy and the Offensive

Against Germany’s
Submarines.
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1994.

Mulligan, Timothy, ed.
Guides to the Microfilmed Records of the German Navy, 1850–1945, No. 2: Records Relating to U-Boat Warfare, 1939–1945
. National Archives and Records Administration, 1985.

———.
Lone Wolf: The Life and Death of U-Boat Ace Werner Henke
. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK, 1995.

Naval Staff History.
The Development of British Naval Aviation 1919–1945,
Vol. II. Historical Section, Admiralty, London, 1956.

Padfield, Peter.
Beneath the Sea: Submarine Conflict 1939–1945
. BCA, London, 1995.

———. Dönitz:
The Last Führer
. Panther Books, London, 1984.

Pitt, Barrie.
The Battle of the Atlantic.
Time-Life Books, Inc., New York, 1977.

Price, Alfred.
Aircraft versus Submarine: The Evolution of the Anti-Submarine Aircraft, 1912–1980
. Jane’s Publishing Company, Limited, London, 1980.

Report on the Interrogation of Survivors from U-569, Sunk on May 22, 1943
. United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C, 1943.

Rohwer, Jürgen.
Axis Submarine Successes.
Introductory material trans. John A. Broadwin. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1983.

———.
The Critical Convoy Battles of March 1943: The Battle for HX.229/SC.122.
Ian Allan Ltd, London, 1977.

———. U-Boote.
Eine Chronik in Bildern.
Stalling, Oldenburg/Hamburg, 1962.

Roskill, D.S.C., R.N., Captain S.W.
The War at Sea 1939–1945,
3 vols, in 4 pts. Vol. II,
The Period of Balance.
Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, 1956.

Rössler, Eberhard.
Die Torpedos der deutschen U-Boote: Entwicklung, Herstellung und Eigenschaften der deutschen Marine-Torpedos
. Koehlers Verlags GmbH, Herford, Germany, 1984.

———. The U-Boat:
The Evolution and Technical History of German Sub marines.
Trans. Harold Erenberg. Arms and Armour Press, London/Melbourne, 1981.

Runyan, Timothy J., and Jan M. Copes, eds.
To Die Gallantly: The Battle of the Atlantic.
Westview Press, Boulder, Colo., 1994.

Seth, Ronald.
The Fiercest Battle: The Story of North Atlantic Convoy ONS.5, 22nd April-7th May 1943
. Norton Publishing Co., New York, 1961.

Showell, Jak P. Mallmann.
U-Boats Under the Swastika.
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1987.

Sims, U.S. Navy, Rear Admiral William Sowden.
The Victory at Sea.
Doubleday, Page and Company, Garden City, NY, 1921.

Slessor, Sir John.
The Central Blue: The Autobiography of Sir John Slessor, Marshal of the RAF
. Frederick A. Praeger, New York, 1957.

Smith, Bradley F.
The Ultra-Magic Deals: And the Most Secret Special Relationship, 1940–1946
. Presidio Press, Novato, CA, 1992.

Stern, Robert C.
Type VII U-Boats.
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1991.

Sternhell, Charles M., and Alan M. Thorndike.
Antisubmarine Warfare in World War II.
Report No. 51 of the Operations Evaluation Group. Navy Department, Washington, D.C., 1946.

Syrett, David.
The Defeat of the U-Boats: The Battle of the Atlantic.
Columbia, SC, University of South Carolina Press, 1994.

Tarrant, V. E.
The U-Boat Offensive 1914–1943.
Arms and Armour Press, London, 1985.

Terraine, John.
The U-Boat Wars 1916–1945.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1989.

Vause, Jordan.
Wolf: U-Boat Commanders in World War II.
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1997.

Waddington, C.H., C.B.E., M.A., Sc.D., F.R.S.
O.R. in World War 2: Operational Research Against the U-Boat.
Elek Science, London, 1973.

Weinberg, Gerhard L.
A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II.
Cambridge University Press, New York, 1994.

Werner, Herbert A.
Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of the German U-Boat Battles of World War II
. Bantam Books, New York, 1969.

Williams, Kathleen Broome.
Secret Weapon: U.S. High Frequency Direction Finding in the Battle of the Atlantic
. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1996.

Williams, Mark.
Captain Gilbert Roberts, R.N., and the Anti-U-Boat School
. Cassell Ltd, London, 1979.

Y’Blood, William T.
Hunter-Killer: U.S. Escort Carriers in the Battle of the Atlantic
. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1983.

AA.
Anti-aircraft.

Abaft.
Toward the stern of a ship.

aft.
Rearward, or toward the stern of a vessel.

air gap.
The mid-Atlantic region that, until spring 1943, was not covered by British or American ASW aircraft.

AK voraus (äußerste Kraft voraus)
. Engines ahead full.

AK zuruck
.
Full speed astern.

Alarm!
Order for an emergency dive by a U-boat, corresponding to U.S. Navy submarine usage, “Dive! Dive!”

AOC-in-C.
Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (RAF) Coastal Command.

A.P.
Armor-piercing.

Asdic.
An acronym that grew out of Anti-Submarine Division (of the British Admiralty) standing for a shipborne sound-ranging device that returned a pulse echo indicating a U-boat’s bearing and range, though not (before 1943) its depth. The U.S. equivalent system was called
Sonar.

ASV
II. Metric radar.

ASV
III. Centimetric radar.

ASW.
Anti-Submarine Warfare.

Ato (T-I,
G7a). Standard German torpedo with air-steam propulsion system.

A.U. Committee.
(British) War Cabinet Anti-U-Boat Warfare Committee.

ballast tanks.
Tanks outside the pressure hull of a submarine which, when flooded with water, enabled the submarine to dive.

B-Dienst (Funkbeobachtungsdienst)
.
The German radio-monitoring and cryptographic service.

BdU (Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote)
.
Commander-in-Chief U-Boats (Admiral Karl Donitz). The abbreviation was also commonly used to identify the Admiral’s staff or headquarters.

Beaufort scale.
A scale on which wind velocities are registered from o (calm) to 12 (hurricane); also from o to 17.

Bletchley Park.
A mansion and grounds in Buckinghamshire northwest of London, officially called Government Code and Cypher School, where cryptanalysts attacked intercepts of encrypted German wireless (radio) traffic.

bombe.
Word used to describe the electromechanical scanning machine devised at Bletchley Park to decrypt the German Enigma cipher.

bow.
The forward end of a vessel.

bows.
The forward exterior hull of a vessel sloping back from the stem.

bridge.
The raised structure from which a power vessel on the surface is navigated.

bulkhead.
A wall-like structure inside seagoing vessels used to subdivide space, form watertight compartments, or strengthen the interior framing.

C. A.O.R..
Chief Advisor on Operational Research to the Admiralty (Professor Blackett).

CinC, CNA.
Commander-in-Chief Canadian North West Atlantic Command.

CinCWA.
Commander-in-Chief Western Approaches.

cipher.
A secret system of communication (“cypher” in the U.K.) that substitutes letters for letters (
see
code).

code.
A secret system of communication that substitutes ideas for ideas (
see
cipher).

conning tower.
The low observation tower of a submarine, containing a helmsman’s steering controls and topped by an open bridge.

cryptanalysis.
The process of “breaking” or “penetrating” a code or cipher by uncovering its key.

cryptography.
The science or study of code and cipher systems employed for secret communication.

D/C.
Depth charge.

dead reckoning.
The calculation of one’s position at sea based on course, speed, and elapsed time since the last observed position, taking into account currents, winds, and compass declinations.

decrypt.
A deciphered message; to decrypt: to solve a ciphered message.

D. E.M.S..
Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships.

diesel.
A compression-ignition type engine; also the combustible petroleum distillate used as fuel.

eel.
In German
aal,
a U-boat nickname for torpedo.

E-Maschinen
.
Battery-powered dynamotors on a U-boat, used for underwater travel.

Enigma
.
Another name for the
Schlüssel M
cipher machine. The term was also commonly used to denote the machine’s encrypted product.

Eto (T-III,
G7e). Standard German torpedo with battery-powered electric propulsion system.

Fächerschuss
.
A simultaneous spread, or fan, launch of two or more torpedoes.

Fähnrich zur See
. Midshipman.

Fangschuss
.
A finishing shot, or coup de grâce.

FAT.
(From
Federapparat,
some say
Flächenabsuchender Torpedo
) An anticonvoy torpedo that, after a straight run, made a succession of loops, right or left, through a convoy’s columns; called by the British
Curly.

fathom.
Six feet or 1.829 meters.

Feindfahrt
.
Operational patrol.

I.W.O.
First Watch Officer on a U-boat.

flak
.
(A contraction of
Flugzeugabwehrkanone,
or, some say,
Fliegeabwehrkanone)
A term commonly used for German anti-aircraft gun or gunfire.

flank
speed. Full speed.

fore.
Forward, or toward the bow of a vessel.

Fregattenkapitän
.
Captain (junior).

F.T.
See Funk-Telegraphie.

FuMB (Funkmessbeobachter
). A radar detection device, or search receiver, popularly called Metox after the first French firm to manufacture it.

Funk-Telegraphie (F.T
.
). Wireless Telegraphy (W/T), or radio; the abbreviation
F. T.
stood for a wireless message.

GC&CS.
Government Code and Cypher School.
See
Bletchley Park.

GMT.
Greenwich Mean Time.

green.
Starboard (
Steuerbord
); that is, right.

Gröner
.
The merchant fleet handbook, with silhouettes of all known freighters and tankers of all nations, compiled by German nautical authority Erich Gröner.

Grossadmiral
.
Grand admiral, corresponding to fleet admiral (U.S. Navy) or admiral of the fleet (Royal Navy).

gross register tonnage (GRT).
The measurement of all the enclosed spaces in
a ship expressed in hundreds of cubic feet. As a rule the GRT is more than the weight of a ship alone but less than the weight of the same ship fully loaded.

GRT.
See
gross register tonnage.

Gruppe.
Literally, “group”; a patrol line of U-boats with a specific mission, usually given a code name, for example,
Gruppe Star
(Starling).

GSR.
German search receiver designed to detect Allied radar.

GST.
German Summer Time.

guerre de course
.
French term meaning a war on seaborne trade or commerce.

H
.E.. High explosive. The term is used both for a gun firing high explosive rounds (shells) and for the rounds themselves.

head.
Toilet (WC).

Heimische Gewasser
(Home Waters).
A German naval cipher, called DOLPHIN at Bletchley Park.

HF/DF (“Huff-Duff”).
High-frequency/direction finding.

H.H..
Hedgehog, a code name for mortar spigot-fired contact-fused projectiles employed by escort vessels against U-boats.

Huff-Duff.
Nickname for HF/DF (q.v.).

hull.
The primary hollow, floatable structure of a boat or ship.

hydrophone.
Underwater sound detection device employed by both U-boats and surface warships. In German,
Gruppenhorchgerät,
or GHG.

hydrophone effect.
Underwater sound, for example, propeller cavitation of a surface ship or U-boat, detected and shown on instruments as having a certain bearing and range.

hydroplanes.
Extended surfaces fore and aft on a U-boat’s outboard hull that directed the pitch of the boat underwater.

Kaleu
.
Diminutive form of the rank
Kapitanleutnant.

Kapitänleutnant
(Kptlt.).
Rank corresponding to Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy.

Kapitän zur See
.
Rank corresponding to Captain in the U.S. Navy.

keel.
The central structural member of a ship’s hull that runs fore and aft along the bottom of the hull for the full distance from stem to sternpost.

Kernével.
Residential district bordering the port of Lorient where Admiral Dönitz had his headquarters (BdU) from the fall of France until March 1942.

knot.
A unit of speed equivalent to one nautical mile (1.1516 statute miles) per hour.

Konteradmiral
.
Rear Admiral.

Korvettenkapitän
. Commander.

Kriegsmarine
.
The World War II German Navy, so named from 1935 to 1945.

Kriegstagebuch
(KTB).
German war diary kept by ships and U-boats at sea, also by shore-based headquarters staffs.

KTB.
See Kriegstagebuch.

Kurzsignale
.
Short radio (wireless) messages, often to give positions at sea.

Leitender Ingenieur
(L.I.)
Chief Engineering Officer.

Leutnant zur See
. Ensign.

L.I..
See Leitender Ingenieur.

L/L.
Leigh Light, the powerful searchlight mounted on certain RAF Coastal Command aircraft.

Marinequadrat
(qu).
Naval square, an arbitrarily drawn rectangular region of the ocean drafted to Mercator’s projection permitting the organization of the ocean surface into a grid chart where the many individual naval squares were identified by letter digraphs and numbered zones.

Mehrfach
.
A multiple, though not simultaneous, launch of torpedoes.

meter.
39.37 inches.

Metox.
See FuMB.

MOMP.
Mid-ocean meeting point south of Iceland, where U.S. and British naval escorts exchanged responsibility for guarding Atlantic convoys. Also called
chopline
(change of operational control).

Morse code.
A message system of dots and dashes, clicks and spaces, or flashes of light that represent letters of the alphabet.

nautical mile.
1.1516 statute miles.

Naxos-U
.
Code name for FUMB7 German search receiver (GSR) capable of detecting centimetric radar.

NHB/MOD.
Naval Historical Branch, Ministry of Defence, London.

Oberleutnant zur See
(Oblt.z.S).
Lieutenant (Junior Grade).

O.I.C.
Operational Intelligence Centre of the Admiralty.

O.R.S.
Operational Research Section of RAF Coastal Command.

periscope.
An extendable tubelike optical device containing an arrangement of prisms, mirrors, and lenses that permitted a U-boat to view the surface of the sea or the sky from a submerged position.

PLE.
Prudent Limit of Endurance.

port.
The left-hand side of a vessel as one faces forward.

pressure hull.
The U-boat cylinder containing personnel and essential operating systems that was designed to withstand many atmospheres of water pressure when submerged.

quarter.
The arc of 45 degrees to either side horizontally from the stern of a vessel.

RAF.
(British) Royal Air Force.

RAAF.
Royal Australian Air Force.

RDF.
Radio Direction Finding, a British cover name for radar.

RCAF.
Royal Canadian Air Force.

RCN.
Royal Canadian Navy.

R.C.N.V.R..
Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve.

red.
Port
(Backbord)-,
that is, left.

Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes
.
Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross.

RN.
(British) Royal Navy.

RNR.
Royal Naval Reserve.

RNVR.
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

Rohr
.
Torpedo tube.

R.P.
Rocket Projectile.

Rudeltaktik
.
The nighttime “wolf pack” technique of massing U-boats in a patrol line across a convoy’s course and of engaging the convoy’s formations in a radio-coordinated attack.