U-889 surrendered to Royal Canadian Navy

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello Everyone,

I picked up this photo of the U 889, a Type IXC U-boat, at an outdoor antiques show and sale this morning. It was a long morning in the rain and just as we were about to leave I spotted this actual photo of a submarine and I figured I was going to bring something home even if it was an unresearchable photo from WW II. When I got home I saw that it had the identity number U889 on the tower. Here's some of what I found out this afternoon.

From www.hazegray.org

"At the end of The Second World War, a couple of German U-boats surrendered to the Royal Canadian Navy, U 190 and U 889 on May 12th and 13th, 1945, respectively. These large IXC/40 type submarines were commissiooned into the RCN and used for testing and evaluation. Early in 1946, U 889 was turned over the the United States Navy for further testing, and a year later she was sunk in torpedo tests off the coast of New England. The U 190 stayed with the RCN a bit longer, and was paid off in July of 1947."

Another (unidentified) source has this to say (note the different date)

"On May 10, 1945 U 889 became the first U-boat in the Western Atlantic to surrender when she gave herself up [12 miles] off Shelburne, N.S. [Nova Scotia], to HMC Ships OSHAWA and ROCKCLIFF (Algerines) and DUNVEGAN and SASKATOON (corvettes). In January 1946 she was turned over to the United States Navy."

A short history of the U 889 comes from www.submariners.co.uk

"U-889 was a type IXC U-boat which spent some months in Canadian hands after the German surrender in 1945, before being handed over to the United States Navy the following year. She was examined in minute detail and the results have survived, giving a unique account of the layout and equipment of a U-boat.

The U-889 was built by Deschimag or AG Weser Bremenin 1944 and commissioned on 8th August 1944.

She left Kiel on the 28th March 1945 and arrived at Horten two days later. On the 2nd April she sailed west with orders to attack shipping in the approaches to Halifax, but on the 10th May she was still 60 miles south of Cape Race when Admiral Donitz broadcast the order to surrender.

After surfacing she was sighted by an aircraft of the no. 10 Squadron RCAF [sunderland flying boats] and handed over to an Escort group who took her into Shelburne, Nova Scotia."

Following is a list of the crew of the U 889,

Name Rank

Braeucker Fredrick KpLt. 01.07.44

Eve Willi OLt.ing

Gamhofer

Haas Hans OStrm.

Jager Lt.z.S

Kaluscha Max Fk.

Lochert Werner Lt.z.S

Lutzmann Gunter- Fk

Werner

Mursinsky Arthur KpLt

Remmers Hein OStrm

Sass Walter Lt.z.S

Notes:

Gunter-Werner Lutzmann lives in Stratford, Ontario, which is only 20 km from me, perhaps a phone call and an in-person interview might be interesting. But what to ask?

Regarding the ranks above, I can't tell you what the abbreviations stand for, sorry. More research ahead.

So my last minute purchase turned out to be very researchable and a piece of WW II Canadian Naval history. Finding these gems is like fishing, you never know when you will "get a bite" so keep your line in the water until the very last second.

Cheers

Brian

[Guest Rick Research]

I believe they were ordered to paint their numbers to indicate non-hostile status and intent to surrender.

Name Rank

Braeucker, Friedrich Kapit?nleutnant zur See (date of rank) 01.07.44 #111, born Munich 13 July 1919. Crew 1937a. Held prisoner until December 1948. This was his one and only submarine posting after changing from torpedo boats in August 1943. You can no doubt find everything else on line at Uboat Net.

Eve Willi Oberleutnant (Ing.) (date of rank 1.12.43 #117). Crew December 1939. Born 23.11.21. In 1963 living with wife Gertrud in Olavarria, Argentina

Gamhofer

Haas, Hans Obersteuermann

J?ger, Leutnant .z.S.-- NOT Horst, so presumably actually a Reserve officer

Kaluscha, Max Fk. (Funker???)

Lochert, Werner Lt.z.S (SIC) actually Oberleutnant zS 1.1.45, Crew January 1941.

Lutzmann, Gunter- Fk

Werner

Mursinsky, Arthur Kapit?nleutnant 1.10.41 #39a so actually SENIOR to Braeucker. Crew April 1937. Never commanded a submarine.

Remmers, Hein Obersteuermann

Sass, Walter Lt.z.S 1.4.44 #128, Crew October 1941. Born 3 June 1922. In 1963 wife Dorothea born 27.2.XX, living in Hannover, Lt zS aD

these are apparently only the officers and petty officers, since the crew was obviously much larger.

[Brian Wolfe]

Many thanks, Rick.

Regards

Brian

[Chris Boonzaier]

Notes:

Gunter-Werner Lutzmann lives in Stratford, Ontario, which is only 20 km from me, perhaps a phone call and an in-person interview might be interesting. But what to ask?

How about..."Would you please sign my photo?" :-)

[Brian Wolfe]

How about..."Would you please sign my photo?" :-)

Good point, Chris.

As obvious as that sounds, if he is still living there and I was granted an interview, that would be the one thing I would have probably forgotten to ask for.

Regards

Brian

[Guest IMHF]

Very nice

Thank you

Lorenzo