Type: IX-C40
Built by: AG Weser (Bremen)
Launched: 2 March 1942
Commissioned: 13 June 1942
Feldpost Nr.: M05635
Sunk: 20 24 August 1943
Sunk by: USN A/C (VC-13 from USS CORE)
Location sunk: North Atlantic
Position sunk: 20º 00’N x 37º 06’W (29 men lost)

The only Skipper of U-185 was Kapitänleutnant August Maus (Knights Cross) and he was taken prisoner when the boat was sunk. Maus had been I.W.O. under the very successful Karl-Friederich Merten on U-68 before getting his own command. U-185 was assigned to the 10th U-bootflottille at Lorient.

U-185 patrolled off the western shores of Gibraltar and Spain in both November 1942 and February 1943. During March and April of 1943, she was in the Caribbean and off Cuba. On the 14th of June 1943, she rescued 18 survivors of U-584 and transferred them to the destroyer Z-24. Her final Feindfahrt (war patrol) was off Brazil over July and August of 1943. On 11 August 1943, U-185 rescued 22 survivors of U-604 and transferred them to U-172 and during this action, they shot down one Allied aircraft.

Radio messages were as follows:

“Attacked by aircraft. Damages. U-172.”

A few minutes later:

“LIBERATOR attacked. Sinking. U-604.”

One hour later, the radio message was:

“Rescued crew U-604. Downed aircraft. Damages. U-185.”

U-172 took the survivors of U-604 home; U-185 was lost.

SHIPS SUNK BY U-185 UNDER MAUS
12.07.42	PETER MARSEK	Brit stmr	5,476 GRT
03.10.43	VIRGINIA SINCLAIR	Amer tnkr	6,151 GRT
The tanker VIRGINIA SINCLAIR was built in 1930, owned by the Sinclair Refining Company and operated by the WSA. Under her Master Fred C. Vosloh, she was carrying 66,210 barrels of aviation gasoline, drawing 24 feet, 8 inches. Her armament consisted of one 4 inch deck and two .30 caliber machine guns. She was making 8½ knots when attacked. After she had sailed from Baytown, Texas to Panama, she joined Convoy KW.123 which consisted of ten ships. The torpedo from U-185 hit astern on the starboard side and the explosion destroyed the engines and steering gear. Fortunately for the crew, the ship sank so fast that the AvGas did not ignite. The nine officers, twenty nine men and six Armed Guards got off the ship into three lifeboats and one raft. The sub-chaser USS SC-742 rescued all survivors about three and a half hours later and landed them at Guantanamo, Cuba. One officer and two men died on watch below and four others never left the ship. Air trapped in the forward spaces of the ship kept her bow floating about fifteen feet out of the water, and she had to be sunk by naval gunfire.
03.10.43	JAMES SPRUNT	Amer stmr	7,177 GRT
This was a brand new Liberty Ship, built in 1943. She was owned by WSA and operated by Black Diamond SS Company. Under her Master Elie C. Carr, she was carrying 4,000 tons of general cargo and explosives, and she drew 28 feet 10 inches. Her armament consisted of one 5 inch deck gun and nine 20mm automatic guns. She was making 9.5 knots when attacked. This was her maiden voyage, and she departed Texas and was bound for the Panama Canal and thence to Karachi, India. She sailed in position #42 of Convoy KG.123 but somehow she drifted out of her assigned position between the third and fourth columns. The lone torpedo struck the vessel and ignited her cargo of explosives. Debris scattered all over the convoy and a ship forty miles away could see the blast. Within thirty seconds, the ship was totally gone and so were her eight officers, thirty six men and twenty five Armed Guards.
04.06.43	JOHN SEVIER	Amer stmr	7,176 GRT
A fairly new ship, she was built in 1942, owned by the WSA and operated by Pacific Atlantic SS Co. Under her Master Charles F. Drury, she was carrying 9,060 tons of bauxite ore and drew 28 feet, 2 inches. Her armament consisted of one 4 inch deck gun, two .30 caliber machine guns and four 20mm automatic guns. She was making 6.5 knots when attacked She sailed from Guantanamo Bay to Mobile, Alabama in Convoy GTMO.83 which consisted of four ships and she was the lead ship in the port column when lookouts saw the wake of a torpedo coming at them. Within seconds, it struck the starboard side at the #5 hold and actually penetrated the hull before detonating inside the ship. Most of the damage therefore, was to the portside of the ship, flooding #4 and #5 holds quickly. The Master ordered the engines secured and the ship abandoned about fifteen minutes after the attack. All eight officers, thirty one men, seventeen Armed Guards and one passenger got off the ship in four lifeboats and one raft. In about four hours, the destroyer USS BENNETT (DD-473) rescued all hands, landing them at Guantanamo Bay. None were lost. The ship sank by the stern.
07.07.43	WILLIAM BOYCE THOMPSON	Amer tnkr	7,061 GRT
An older ship, built in 1921, she was owned by the Sinclair Refining Co. and operated by the WSA. Under her Master Fred C. Vosloh, (formerly Master of VIRGINIA SINCLAIR) she was in water ballast and drew 18 feet. Her armament consisted of one 4 inch deck gun and two .50 caliber machine guns. She was at 8½ knots when attacked. On 3 July she sailed from Bahia, Brazil for Trinidad in Convoy BT.18 as the Flagship of the Convoy Commodore. The first attack from U-185 scored a hit starboard side at the engine room which destroyed the engine and badly damaged the entire after end of the ship. She rapidly began to settle at the stern. Without orders to do so, twelve men panicked and abandoned ship in the #4 lifeboat. These men were picked up by the JAMES ROBERTSON and the corvette USS SURPRISE (PG-63). The remainder or the eight officers, thirty two men, eleven Armed Guards and six passengers were taken off by USS SURPRISE. The tanker remained afloat and had to be sunk by naval gunfire. One officer and two men died below on watch and a fourth man later died ashore from the explosion.
07.07.43	JAMES ROBERTSON	Amer stmr	7,176 GRT
A brand new Liberty Ship, built in 1943, she sailed in Convoy BT.18 from Bahia, Brazil to Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana in convoy station #21. She was owned by the WSA and operated by American President Lines. Under her Master Harold F. DeLasaux she carried one and half tons of radio sets and the balance in ballast, drawing 10 feet, 8 inches. Her armament consisted of one 4 inch deck gun and nine 20mm automatic guns. She was hit by at least two torpedoes that struck at the #2 and #3 holds. This destroyed the engine room bulkhead and blew off many hatch covers and the deck was spewed with pieces of metal, rock ballast and pieces of lifeboat. The rudder was jammed and the engine still running, she cut through the column and first collided with ALCOA BANNER in convoy position #32 and a few seconds later, she hit COTAZALOIDE in convoy position #33, striking that ship in her #1 hatch. The Master gave the order for some of the crew to abandon ship but one lifeboat swamped during its launching. The others jumped overboard and swam to the rafts. PC-575 picked up the twenty one men in the rafts eighteen hours later and landed them at Trinidad. The remainder of the crew later abandoned the ship but stood by and in the morning, reboarded the ship to retrieve personal belongings. A Brazilian vessel rescued the Master and twenty three men, including three survivors of WILLIAM BOYCE THOMPSON. On 9 July, the remaining men on the two lifeboats made port - one at Fortaleza, Brazil and the other at Cascavel, Brazil. The only casualty was one Armed Guard who drowned in the chaos.
07.07.43	unknown	unknown	unknown
(One final detonation was heard and a sinking ship assumed)
07.07.43	THOMAS SINNICKSON	Amer stmr	7,176 GRT
This Liberty Ship was built in 1942, was owned by the WSA and operated by the Stockard SS Co. Under her Master Joseph Linder, she was carrying 700 tons of magnesium ore and the rest in ballast, and she drew 18 feet. Her armament consisted of one 4 inch and one 3 inch deck gun, and eight 20mm automatic guns. She was at 8½ knots when attacked. On 3 July, she departed Bahia, Brazil in Convoy BT-18 consisting of fourteen ships. She took up convoy position #22 and then moving into position #21 when JAMES ROBERTSON was sunk. The first torpedo hit hold #1 starboard side and within seconds, another torpedo hit near the #2 hold in a fuel bunker. The vaporized fuel oil blew high into the sky and ignited, blowing three life rafts overboard and the fourth life raft on top of the after gun tub. The Master then proceeded astern in an effort to save the ship on a beach about ninety miles away, but the pumps could not keep up with the inrush of water and about thirteen hours after the attack, eighteen men transferred to the corvette USS SURPRISE (PG-63). The corvette radioed for a tug but by the time it arrived, the ship was too far down in the water and the decision was made not to try to save her. The remaining crew abandoned over to USS SURPRISE, which then sank the wreck with gunfire. The only casualty was one Armed Guard who was killed in the initial attack.
07.07.43	BAGÉ	Braz stmr	8,235 GRT
08.06.43	FORT HALKETT	Brit stmr	7,133 GRT

SHIPS DAMAGED BY U-185 UNDER MAUS
12.21.42	unknown	unknown	unknown
(U-185 fired a three torpedo spread against a MOKAMBO Class freighter and heard a detonation after 63 seconds, but the ship continued on her way.)
07.07.43	S. B. HUNT	Amer tnkr	7,176 GRT
During the attack on U-185 by the aircraft, bombs had ripped the 105mm off the deck, leaving a huge hole. The explosions caused the sub to roll and pitch violently and she took a lot of water down the hatches. The men on the ladders trying to reach the guns were tossed to the deck below. Maus was knocked down and received a huge gash in his forehead. He called down to his chief engineer and asked if they could dive the boat. L.I. Ackermann hollered back that it was not possible for U-185 to dive. He yelled that the sea water had reached the batteries and chlorine gas was everywhere. Men were fighting to reach the ladder and out to the fresh air. Kapitänleutnant Horst Höltring, the rescued C.O. of U-604, was jokingly known as ‘the Gangster’ in the U-Bootwaffe because, unlike the other Skippers, he wore a pistol on his belt. In the bowroom, one of his rescued crewmen was gasping with the chlorine and begged Höltring to kill him with the pistol and put him out of his misery. The shot was like thunder in the close confines of the submarine. The crewman’s body was thrown backwards. The gas had gotten Höltring too, and he slowly put the pistol into his mouth and pulled the trigger. Maus and medical officer von Klieg were on the bridge, yelling for the men to remain calm and get out of the boat in an orderly manner. Finally, satisfied that nobody was left below alive, Maus and von Klieg carried Ackermann to join the other survivors on the foredeck. 29 men were rescued.