5th U-boat Flotilla

Jim · Sep 22, 2007

These picture panels come from he 5th U-boat Flotilia visitor's book and illustrate the histories of individual U-boats. The 5th U-Flotilla in Kiel, under Korvkpt Karl-Heinz Moehle, specialised in kitting-out and provisioning U-boats preparing for their first operational war patrol. The majority of the U-boats passed through it before going on to another unit, and so the 5th was the biggest of all flotillas. It was customary for officers of each boat to sign the visitor’s book and this quickly grew into a number of volumes, which are now preserved in the U-Boot - Archives.
The final line of each caption provides three pieces of information. “WP” indicates the number of times the boat left a port for war patrols. “S” gives the number of men who survived, and “K” gives the number of men who were killed if the boat was sunk by enemy action at sea.