Type: IX-C
Built by: AG Weser (Bremen)
Launched: 28 February, 1941
Commissioned: 21 May, 1941
Feldpost Nr.: M41124
Sunk: 18 August, 1944
Sunk by: her crew
Location sunk: Lorient
Position sunk: not applicable (no crew lost)

Commanding Officers of U-129 included Kplt Nicolai Clausen who also commanded U-182; 13 May, 1942 command went to Kplt Hans Witt who also commanded U-161 and U-3524; on 8 July, 1943 command went to Oblt (later Kplt) Richard von Harpe.

U-129 was assigned to the 2nd U-BootFlotille at Lorient from June of 1941 until 4 July, 1944. The boat operated as part of the NEULAND Group in the Caribbean over February and March 1942; again in the Caribbean over June and July; then back again over October and November, 1942. In addition, she patrolled off the US east coast over April and May, 1943; off Florida and the Bahamas over November and December 1943; then off the SE coast of Brazil in May of 1944.

They rescued the entire 119 man crew of the German supply ship KOTA PINANG in the North Atlantic on 4 October, 1941 after that ship was sunk. She was one of the boats participating in the rescue of the crews of the raiders ATLANTIS and PYTHON in the South Atlantic in December of 1941. One crewman was lost overboard on 21 May, 1943.

U-129 was decommissioned in July, 1944 then scuttled by her own crew on 18 August, 1944 outside the base at Lorient.

SHIPS SUNK BY U-128 Under Clausen
20.02.42	NORDVANGEN	Norw stmr	2,400 GRT
22.02.42	GEORGE L. TORAIN	Cana stmr	1,754 GRT
22.02.42	WEST ZEDA	Amer stmr	5,658 GRT
23.02.42	LENNOX	Cana stmr	1,904 GRT
28.02.42	BAYOU	Pana stmr	2,605 GRT
03.03.42	MARY	Amer stmr	5,104 GRT
06.03.42	STEEL AGE	Amer stmr	6,188 GRT
SHIPS SUNK BY U-128 Under Witt
10.06.42	L.A. CHRISTENSEN	Norw	4,362 GRT
12.06.42	HARDWICKE GRANGE	Brit stmr	9,005 GRT
18.06.42	MILLINOCKET	Amer stmr	3,274 GRT
27.06.42	TUXPAM	Mex tnkr	7,008 GRT
27.06.42	LAS CHOAPAS	Mex tnkr	2,005 GRT
01.07.42	CADMUS	Norw stmr	1,855 GRT
02.07.42	GUNDERSEN	Norw stmr	1,841 GRT
04.07.42	TUAPSE	USSR tnkr	6,320 GRT
12.07.42	TACHIRA	Amer stmr	2,325 GRT
17.07.42	PORT ANTONIO	Norw stmr	1,266 GRT
23.07.42	ONONDAGA	Amer stmr	2,310 GRT
15.10.42	TRAFALGAR	Norw	5,542 GRT
23.10.42	REUBEN TIPTON	Amer stmr	6,829 GRT
30.10.42	WEST KEHAR	Amer stmr	5,620 GRT
05.11.42	METON	Amer tnkr	7,027 GRT
05.11.42	ASTRELL	Norw tnkr	7,595 GRT
(NOTE - Witt claimed sinking of three additional ships of 5,000 GRT, 4,000 GRT and 7,000 GRT in this attack on Convoy TAG.18 but there is no confirmation. Witt observed three hits on METON from three of his bow shots, his two stern shots hit ASTRELL.)
02.04.43	MELBOURNE STAR	Brit mtrshp	12,806 GRT
24.04.43	SANTA CATALINA	Amer stmr	6,507 GRT
05.05.43	PANAM	Pana tnkr	7,277 GRT
SHIPS SUNK BY U-128 Under von Harpe
04.12.43	LIBERTAD	Cuba stmr	5,441 GRT
06.05.44	ANADYR	Brit stmr	5,321 GRT
11.05.44	EMPIRE HEATH	Brit stmr	6,643 GRT

On 13.12.43, U-129 fired a GNAT torpedo at a destroyer and claimed a sinking, but the torpedo detonated prematurely at 47 seconds. No confirmation of any hit

On 30.12.43, U-129 fired a spread of four torpedoes at a destroyer but heard only the end-of-run detonation of one GNAT in the spread after 12 minutes, 35 seconds. A sinking was claimed No confirmation of any hit.

On 25.05.44, U-129 claimed damaging a 5,000 GRT steamer after hearing a GNAT detonation after 4 minutes, 30 seconds. No confirmation of any hit.

U-129 and the Reuben Tipton

I recently had the opportunity to visit with two men that portrayed the roles of the hunter and the hunted in the Battle of the Atlantic. During World War II, German submarines stalked the Atlantic singularly and in groups from Boston to England, and from Brazil to Africa.

The man being hunted by the submarines, or U-Boats, was Elmer Flaws. Elmer worked on the REUBEN TIPTON, a moderate size cargo ship in its day. Many cargo ships during the war were equipped with some measure of defense, usually it was mounted machine guns and one or two deck cannons. On the REUBEN TIPTON, Elmer was one of four crew members that operated the ship’s only four inch cannon. Elmer’s first few voyages early in 1942 went without incident. The REUBEN TIPTON steamed from the US to Cuba and back, bringing in 10,000 tons of brown sugar. Then from New York to Scotland before continuing south to the Persian Gulf. From the Gulf she sailed to India for a load of raw rubber and topped off her holds with other merchandise in Port Elizabeth, North Africa. The REUBEN TIPTON had nearly completed the homeward leg of her Atlantic crossing when she ran into trouble off the coast of Brazil.

Before the U.S. entered the war, Germany recognized America as a neutral country. Germany was at war with England, and many of Germany’s submarine captains had voiced their anger about the hundreds of American ships that regularly sailed to England loaded with planes, arms, food and oil. England was being supplied by the supposedly neutral United States to fight back at Germany, and the submarine captains could not take any action against this as the U.S. ships passed before their sights. All that changed three days after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, when Germany declared war with the United States. Now anything found floating in the Atlantic was fair game.

Just before sunrise on October 23, 1942, Elmer had just completed his watch shift and was preparing to get some sleep.

He had just sat down on his bunk when there came a deafening explosion. The entire ship jumped, throwing Elmer straight up so that all he had to do was straighten his legs to find himself standing on the floor. He ran topside to the cannon, but in the darkness, only large round bales of rubber could be seen adrift in the ocean. The rubber cargo was floating out of a large hole in the ship’s side, punched through by a torpedo. The REUBEN TIPTON still had power although headway was reduced. Elmer fired a few random shots in the direction the torpedo came from hoping to force the sub down. If the U-Boat was forced to dive, the cargo ship might escape as the forward speed of a World War II submarine was reduced by more than two-thirds when submerged.

The strategy may have worked, but not for long. At 0830 that same morning came two more explosions. Elmer was already on deck as were most of the other men. He was forced to abandon his post when the smoke and heat from the fires became overwhelming. Soon it became obvious that the ship was sinking. Elmer worked to dislodge a small life raft, jammed in its holdings, but calls from other crewmen persuaded him to join them in a large life boat they were preparing to cast off.

The 396 foot REUBEN TIPTON then started down stern first; stood straight up, and slipped beneath the waves. Three men in the engine room were unable to escape. In the life boat sat Elmer and 48 other men, some of whom were burned. The captain and an officer made their way to the small life raft which somehow dislodged itself during the sinking. The cooks had packed food and other provisions in yet another boat after the first torpedo struck, but this was lost in one of the explosions from the second attack.

When the seas had settled again, the German submarine surfaced and pulled alongside of Elmer’s life boat. The U-Boat captain and two armed men emerged from the conning tower hatch asking questions for their logbook such as the name of their ship, destination, cargo & size. Afterwards, the German captain wished the men luck and with a roar of diesel engines, they were off again in search of more quarry. Not until many years later would Elmer learn that this was the U-129 commanded by the very young Captain Witt. Submarines rarely took on survivors as there was barely room on board for its own crew. By comparison, the REUBEN TIPTON displaced 10,000 tons while the average German submarine displaced a mere 760 tons.

HARRY’S NOTE - REUBEN TIPTON was not 10,000 tons. That was probably an estimate used in press releases; and 760 tons was the tonnage reported by the Germans for a TYPE IX-C boat while it was really more than 1,000 tons.

Captain Witt and his U-129 enjoyed unobstructed hunting in the early part of the war. The United States was lacking pitifully in destroyers and long range planes to protect ships out in the Atlantic. But this would soon change and the U-129, along with all her other submersible counterparts, would become the hunted.

After REUBEN TIPTON went down, Elmer and his 48 shipmates drifted in the Atlantic with only a supply of fresh water as provision. The life boat was crowded and there was nothing to do except watch the horizon for possible rescue. Not until five days later were they picked up. They had drifted some 220 miles from the point where their ship sank. The captain and the officers who were in the raft became separated from the rest of the crew on the first day, but Elmer was informed that they had been rescued three days before.