Unterseeboot 862
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Unterseeboot 862 (U862) was a Type IXD2 submarine of the Kriegsmarine. Her keel was laid down on August 151942 by AG Weser of Bremen. She was commissioned on October 71943 with Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Timm in command. Timm commanded U862 for her entire career in the Kriegsmarine, receiving a promotion to Korvettenkapitän on July 11944.
U862 conducted two patrols, sinking seven ships totalling 42,374 tons.
U862 was one of the most travelled of all U-boats. She sailed from Germany in May 1944 and eventually reached Japanese-controlled Penang Island in September 1944 where U-flotilla 33 was based.
On the way there, she launched a T5/G7es Zaunkönig I acoustic homing torpedo at a tanker. The Zaunkönig came around full circle to home in on U862 itself. Only an emergency crash dive saved the U-boat from its own torpedo. She also shot down a British PBY Catalina aircraft on August 201944 and then escaped an intense search for her. She sank several merchant ships in the Mozambique Channel between Africa and Madagascar.
U862 departed for her second war patrol from Jakarta in the Japanese-occupied Netherlands East Indies in December 1944. Assigned the task of operating off Australia, she sailed down the west coast of Australia, across the Great Australian Bight, around the southern coast of Tasmania and then north towards Sydney where she sank the Liberty ship Robert J Walker on Christmas 1944. She then travelled around New Zealand and actually entered the port of Napier at night undetected. Returning west across the Bight, she sank the American ship Peter Silvester, loaded with mules bound for Burma. U862 was the only German submarine to operate in the Pacific Ocean during World War II.
U862 was also a trial boat for the FuMo 65 Hohentwiel radar system. This was cranked out of a casing on the port side of the conning tower and rose on a mast. The aerial was hand trained onto targets whilst the U-boat was at the surface. The radar had a range up to 7 nautical miles and was very effective where there was little risk from air attack on the U-boat.
Upon Germany's surrender, May 61945, she put into Singapore and was taken over by Japan. On July 151945 she became the Japanese submarine I-502. I-502 surrendered at Singapore in August 1945 and was scuttled there on February 131946.
The crew of U862 suffered no casualties, and returned to Germany several years after the war.