U-977 Last of the U-boats

U977 began life when her keel was laid at the Blohm and
Voss shipyard in Hamburg, 24 July 1942, launched 31
March 1943 and finally commissioned on 6 May 1943. She
was a standard type VII-C U-boat, displacing 500 tons.
During working up exercises in the Baltic rammed at least
three times, and damage to pressure hull was considered
serious enough to use U-977 only as a training boat. Being
hard pressed for home defense the Kriegsmarine forced the
school ship into line service after overhaul and fitting of a Schnorchel device at the Howaldt Yard in
March 1945. She fitted out from there with a combat crew under Oberleutnant zur See (Lieutenant
j.g.) Heinz Schffer and arrived at Kristiansand 30 April 1945 after dodging allied patrol aircraft in
transit.
U-977 left Kristiansand Norway on 2 May 1945, the day after the German announcement of Hitler's
death, with orders to proceed to the English Channel and begin her first and last war patrol. A few
days later the captain picked up fragments of Kriegsmarine signals which he was unsure of. The fact
that the signals were sent un-coded and were signed "Allied Committee" convinced him that the
signals were illegitimate and not in agreement with the German High Command. Using her
Schnorchel 3 to 4 hours each night she proceeded submerged along the Norwegian coast. On 7 May
the observation periscope was damaged due to its being left up while diving.
When the German surrender became official 8 May, there were long discussions on board U-977,
then in the vicinity of Bergen. Those of the married crew members who so desired were given the
choice of leaving the boat or continuing to Argentina. On 10 May between 0230 and 0330 three
enlisted men and 13 petty officers accordingly took 3 of the large rubber boats, one of which was
damaged and abandoned, and 16 of the one-man rubber boats and put ashore at the island of
Holseny near Bergen. When found by the British later they would say they were the survivors of
U977, that it had been sunk by a mine. In the subsequent voyage the remaining 32 officers and men
stood only their usual respective watches, 4 hours on and 8 off, however with less men on each
watch. It was stated by the U-boat commander that the only one man he regretted giving up was the
pharmacist's mate.
Dr Goebbels, master of propaganda for Nazi Germany had made it a point in the period proceeding
the fall of Berlin that the Allied Morgenthau Plan to turn Germany into a "goat pasture" and further
stated that all German men be "enslaved and sterilized" to bring about the end of the race. Another
consideration was the bad treatment and long delay in return home suffered by German prisoners-
of-war held in France at the end of World War I. When contrasted with the opportunity of better
living conditions in the Argentine region, with its large expatriate community and historically
friendly relations to Germany it seems today like an understandable choice.
The journey was extremely difficult for the crew and many were apparently on the edge of a nervous
breakdown. The crew had their worst fears assail their mind as they tried to live in their diesel-fume
filled and molding submarine. The boat stopped in Cape Verde Islands for a short swim break to
raise morale and then headed south on the surface. Crossing the equator on July 23, 28 of the 32
officers and men were given the customary Neptune Ceremony. The trip was largely a monotonous
voyage into the unknown, diving every time they saw an aircraft or ship on the horizon. The
undermanned ship was short of fuel and could travel on one diesel in order to conserve it.
The U-boat sailed into harbor in Argentina with flags flying on August 17, 1945 after 107 days at sea
and after an elapsed cruise of 7,644 sea miles. The U-boat was turned over in perfect condition,
complete with ten usable torpedoes and all of her code books and classified technical manuals. She
only had 5 tons of fuel left aboard of the 85 tons she left Norway with. The officers and crew of the
U-boat had hoped to avoid being turned over to the Russians and even possibly to be allowed to
settle in South America. This was not to come to pass. While eight miles offshore of Argentina the U-
boat encountered two Argentine naval dredges to whom she promptly shot off signal flares and
surrendered to Lieutenant of Frigate Rodolfo Brave Senz. With Lt Saenz on the bridge U977
entered the Argentine naval base the Naval de Mar del Plata.
The crew was not interned but instead was sent to the United States under armed escort. In 1939
Germany possessed just 57 submarines, and over the six years of WWII it built 1,163 modern
technologically advanced submarines at its dockyards. U-977 was the last one in its arsenal and was
now a prisoner.
The last of Hitler's U-boats was towed to the Boston and handed over to the US Navy on 13 Nov,
1945. She was torpedoed off Massachusetts the same week during torpedo trials by the US
submarine USS Atule. U.S. authorities feared that Hitler had fled using the submarine, and was
hiding somewhere in South America. This myth had no credence except in conspiracy theories.
Though several extreme websites claim that the Brazilian light cruiser Bahia was sunk by U977
around July 4, 1945, while it was on route to Argentina with gold and Nazi leaders, nothing of the
kind was further from the truth. It was discovered that the Bahia was sunk by an accidental
explosion triggered by an antiaircraft gun hitting racked depth charges during gunnery practice.
After a brief tour of an American POW camp, Oberlt. Heinz Schffer, published a book in 1952
called; U-977 - 66 Tage unter Wasser which was translated into English in the early 1950's and
whose latest English edition was in 2005. For the rest of his life, he vigorously denied being part of a
"ghost convoy" that had carried Hitler to South America; however the only remorse shown in the
book is for losing the war.
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