The Surrender of the U-Boat Fleet 1945

In the weeks after the end of the War in May 1945, 156 U-boats surrendered to the Allies. Some of these either surrendered at sea or directly in a variety of ports, whilst the majority were taken over whilst moored in German bases in Norway, Denmark and France. Nine gave themselves up in the USA, Canada and Argentina. This book provides a comprehensive record of the surrender of all these vessels, and it also includes the story of the 200 or so U-boats which were scuttled, rather than surrendered, in the final days of the War. And it includes details of others which have been raised since and then either been used or scrapped.

The author begins by describing the development of Allied policy in 1943, 1944 and early 1945 for the surrender and disposal of the German Navy and its surviving U-boats. It then explains the surrender arrangements, as well as the discussions concerning U-boats at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945 and by the Tripartite Naval Commission (TNC) in Berlin between August and December 1945. The uses and fates of all the surrendered U-boats are then described, particularly those which were formally allocated to the UK, the USA and the USSR. It includes the story of the capture of U-505, before concluding with a schedule showing the final disposal details of each of the U-boats which surrendered.

The level of detail, and the exhaustive research incorporated in this work, makes it both an important new reference book and a fascinating analysis of one of the most significant events of the War’s end; it also leads the reader into the world of postwar submarine development and the tussle between the US and Soviet navies to best exploit the technical advances that originated with the wartime U-boat.

Praise for The Surrender of the U-Boat Fleet 1945

“It is, with no doubt, the most complete account on this topic … The time is more than ripe for this.”
– Dr Axel Niestle, German Naval Historian

“Thank you so much for your precious work bringing light into the end of the German U-Boats at the end of WW II. My congratulations for a wonderful piece of research.”
– Horst Bredow, Director of the Cuxhaven U-Boat Archive and Museum

“A remarkably well researched work.”
– Glenn Helm, US Naval History and Heritage Command

About the Author

Derek Waller’s interest in the fate of the remaining vessels of the German Navy began in the early 1950s as a schoolboy hobby, leading to the publication of a short article about the surviving U-boats in 1970. Then, after a full career in the Royal Air Force, he picked up the topic again as a retirement project in 2010, since when he has written many articles about the U-boats which survived the War.