Other U-Boats in the Gulf of Mexico
A chart showing the level of U-boat activities and attacks
in the Gulf of Mexico in 1942 and 1943, adapted from Melanie Wiggins'
Torpedoes in the Gulf: Galveston and the U-Boats, 1942-1943. The red bars
indicate ships torpedoed or sunk; the blue bars indicate the number of
U-boats operating in the Gulf of Mexico during that month. (In many cases, a
U-boat's service on station in the Gulf of Mexico spanned more than one
month, and so is counted more than once.) In the original tables in Ms.
Wiggins' book, which was published before the discovery of U-166,
that boat is listed as having been active in August 1942; for this chart,
U-166 is only counted as having been active in July 1942.
The large Type IXC submarine, with its long range and
complement of torpedoes, was the preferred type for assignment to the
Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
According to Melanie Wiggins' Torpedoes in the Gulf: Galveston and the
U-Boats, 1942-1943, a total of 24 U-boats attacked ships in the Gulf of
Mexico. These included, in approximate chronological order:
| Boat |
Type |
Notes |
| U-103 |
IXB |
One ship sunk. |
| U-508 |
IXC |
Six ships sunk. |
| U-507 |
IXC |
Eight ships sunk. |
| U-506 |
IXC |
Eight ships sunk. |
| U-106 |
IXB |
Five ships sunk. |
| U-504 |
IXC |
No ships sunk. |
| U-753 |
VIIC |
Four ships sunk. |
| U-67 |
IXC |
Eight ships sunk. |
| U-129 |
IXC |
Six ships sunk. |
| U-134 |
VIIC |
No ships sunk. |
| U-154 |
IXC |
One ship sunk. |
| U-157 |
IXC |
No ships sunk. |
| U-158 |
IXC |
Six ships sunk. |
| U-509 |
IXC |
No ships sunk. |
| U-171 |
IXC |
Three ships sunk. |
| U-571 |
VIIC |
Three ships sunk. |
| U-84 |
VIIB |
Five ships sunk. |
| U-166 |
IXC |
Two ships sunk in Gulf of
Mexico. Only U-boat lost in the Gulf of Mexico. |
| U-600 |
VIIC |
No ships sunk. |
| U-183 |
IXC/40 |
One ship sunk. |
| U-155 |
IXC |
Two ships sunk. |
| U-527 |
IXC/40 |
No ships sunk. |
| U-518 |
IXC |
No ships sunk. |
| U-193 |
IXC/40 |
One ship sunk. |
