U-Boat Operations

Operations information for U-99
18.06.1940 - 25.06.1940 First Sailing - active patrol U-99 left Kiel under the command of Otto Kretschmer on 18th Jun 1940 for operations W of Norway and arrived at return on 25th Jun 1940 after one week.
27.06.1940 - 21.07.1940 Second Sailing - active patrol On the 27th Jun 1940, U-99 left Wilhelmshaven under the command of Otto Kretschmer for operations SW of Ireland and after three and a half weeks arrived at return on 21st Jul 1940. Otto Kretschmer hit seven ships on this patrol, two of these ships were in convoy: One was from convoy HX-52 and one was from convoy HX-53. On 5th Jul 1940 he sank the Canadian 2,053 ton Magog, sailing with convoy HX-52. On 7th Jul 1940 he sank the Swedish 1,514 ton Bissen. On 7th Jul 1940 he sank the British 1,964 ton Sea Glory. On 8th Jul 1940 he sank the British 5,758 ton Humber Arm, a member of convoy HX-53. On 12th Jul 1940 he claimed as a prize the Estonian 2,136 ton Merisaar. On 12th Jul 1940 he sank the Greek 4,860 ton Ia. On 18th Jul 1940 he sank the British 4,434 ton Woodbury.
25.07.1940 - 05.08.1940 Third Sailing - active patrol U-99 departed under Otto Kretschmer from Lorient on 25th Jul 1940 for operations in the North Atlantic and arrived at return on 5th Aug 1940 after one and a half weeks. Otto Kretschmer hit seven ships on this patrol, four of these ships were in convoy, all of them from convoy OB-191. On 28th Jul 1940 he sank the British 13,212 ton Auckland Star. On 29th Jul 1940 he sank the British 7,336 ton Clan Menzies. On 31st Jul 1940 he sank the British 5,475 ton Jamaica Progress. On 31st Jul 1940 he sank the British 6,322 ton Jersey City, part of convoy OB-191. On 2nd Aug 1940 he damaged the British 6,556 ton Lucerna, from convoy OB-191. On 2nd Aug 1940 he damaged the British 8,016 ton Alexia, sailing with convoy OB-191. On 2nd Aug 1940 he damaged the Norwegian 10,973 ton Strinda, a member of convoy OB-191. You can read more about the Norwegian ship listed for this patrol at www.warsailors.com. Click the link for more information on Strinda.
04.09.1940 - 25.09.1940 Fourth Sailing - active patrol U-99 left Lorient under the command of Otto Kretschmer on 4th Sep 1940 for operations in the North Atlantic and after three weeks arrived at return on 25th Sep 1940. Otto Kretschmer hit seven ships on this patrol, six of these ships were in convoy: One was from convoy HX-71, three were from convoy HX-72 and two were from convoy SC-3. On 11th Sep 1940 he sank the British 2,468 ton Albionic. On 15th Sep 1940 he sank the Canadian 1,780 ton Kenordoc, part of convoy SC-3. On 16th Sep 1940 he sank the Norwegian 1,327 ton Lotos, from convoy SC-3. On 17th Sep 1940 he sank the British 2,372 ton Crown Arun, sailing with convoy HX-71. On 21st Sep 1940 he sank the British 3,668 ton Baron Blythswood, a member of convoy HX-72. On 21st Sep 1940 he sank the British 5,156 ton Elmbank, part of convoy HX-72. On 21st Sep 1940 he sank the British 9,154 ton Invershannon, from convoy HX-72. You can find more about convoy HX-72 at the warsailors.com page on convoy HX-72. Commander Longobardo from the Italian Navy was aboard U-99 during this patrol to gain experience in Atlantic operations.You can read more about the Norwegian ship listed for this patrol at www.warsailors.com. Click the link for more information on Lotos.
13.10.1940 - 22.10.1940 Fifth Sailing - active patrol On the 13th Oct 1940, U-99 left Lorient under the command of Otto Kretschmer for operations in the North West approaches and arrived at return on 22nd Oct 1940 after just over one week. Otto Kretschmer hit seven ships on this patrol and all of them were in convoy, all of them from convoy SC-7. On 18th Oct 1940 he sank the Greek 3,854 ton Niritos, sailing with convoy SC-7. On 18th Oct 1940 he sank the British 4,815 ton Fiscus, a member of convoy SC-7. On 18th Oct 1940 he sank the British 6,055 ton Empire Miniver, part of convoy SC-7. On 19th Oct 1940 he sank the Norwegian 1,643 ton Snefjeld, from convoy SC-7. On 19th Oct 1940 he damaged the British 3,106 ton Clintonia, sailing with convoy SC-7. On 19th Oct 1940 he sank the British 5,154 ton Empire Brigade, a member of convoy SC-7. On 19th Oct 1940 he sank the Greek 5,875 ton Thalia, part of convoy SC-7. You can read more about the Norwegian ship listed for this patrol at www.warsailors.com. Click the link for more information on Snefjeld.
30.10.1940 - 08.11.1940 Sixth Sailing - active patrol U-99 departed under Otto Kretschmer from Lorient on 30th Oct 1940 for operations in the North West approaches and after just over one week arrived at return on 8th Nov 1940. Otto Kretschmer hit four ships on this patrol, one was from convoy HX-83. On 3rd Nov 1940 he sank the British 5,376 ton Casanare. On 3rd Nov 1940 he sank the British 18,724 ton HMS Laurentic. On 4th Nov 1940 he sank the British 11,314 ton HMS Patroclus. On 5th Nov 1940 he sank the British 6,993 ton Scottish Maiden, from convoy HX-83.
27.11.1940 - 12.12.1940 Seventh Sailing - active patrol U-99 left Lorient under the command of Otto Kretschmer on 27th Nov 1940 for operations in the North Atlantic and arrived at return on 12th Dec 1940 after just over two weeks. Otto Kretschmer hit four ships on this patrol, three of these ships were in convoy: two were from convoy HX-90 and one was from convoy OB-252. On 2nd Dec 1940 he sank the Norwegian 4,276 ton Samnanger. On 2nd Dec 1940 he sank the British 16,402 ton HMS Forfar, sailing with convoy HX-90. On 3rd Dec 1940 he sank the British 8,376 ton Conch, a member of convoy HX-90. On 7th Dec 1940 he sank the Dutch 5,237 ton Farmsum, part of convoy OB-252. You can read more about the Norwegian ship listed for this patrol at www.warsailors.com. Click the link for more information on Samnanger.
22.02.1941 - 17.03.1941 Eighth Sailing On the 22nd Feb 1941, U-99 left Lorient under the command of Otto Kretschmer for operations in the North Atlantic and after over three weeks arrived at return on 17th Mar 1941. Otto Kretschmer hit eight ships on this patrol and all of them were in convoy: six were from convoy HX-112 and two were from convoy OB-293. On 7th Mar 1941 he sank the British 6,568 ton Athelbeach, from convoy OB-293. On 7th Mar 1941 he sank the British 20,638 ton Terje Viken, sailing with convoy OB-293. On 16th Mar 1941 he sank the British 5,728 ton Venetia, a member of convoy HX-112. On 16th Mar 1941 he sank the Norwegian 6,593 ton Ferm, part of convoy HX-112. On 16th Mar 1941 he sank the Swedish 6,673 ton Korshamn, from convoy HX-112. On 16th Mar 1941 he sank the Canadian 7,375 ton JB White, sailing with convoy HX-112. On 16th Mar 1941 he sank the Norwegian 8,136 ton Beduin, a member of convoy HX-112. On 16th Mar 1941 he damaged the British 9,314 ton Franche Comte, part of convoy HX-112. You can read more about the Norwegian ships listed for this patrol at www.warsailors.com. Click the links for more information on Ferm and Beduin.

Notes for U-99

On the night of the 16th/17th March U-99 had just sunk MV Korshamn with the last of her torpedoes when the Watch Officer saw a destroyer. He immediately ordered a dive, but once the boat was under it was quickly fixed on ASDIC and attacked by HMS Walker - and old WWI destroyer - and HMS Vanoc. U-99 was driven deep by the attack and severely damaged. KL Kretschmer had no choice but to surface. As U-99 did so he ordered the boat scuttled. As Walker was seen to be lowering a boat and U-99 had not yet gone down, the chief engineer LI OL Gottfried Schroeder went back into the boat and ensured it went down, costing him his life. 40 crew including KL Kretschmer were rescued to become POWs, while 3 crewmen lost their lives including a commander in training, KK Horst Hesselbarth.

Otto Kretschmer was famously known as the Tonnage King and accounted for the greatest total tons of shipping sunk by any commander in WW2.
The Admiralty Report on interrogation of the survivors of U-99 is available. You can find how to obtain a report here.

We have 61 crew names for this boat. click here for crew names of U 99
You can perform other crew searches here. Note that the number of names we give possibly includes prior crew members.

You can discuss this boat or ask questions at the ubootwaffe.net forums

We have an approximate position of 61°00N 12°00W for where U 99 went down, mapped below. The cross represents the position best estimated.

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