Type: IX-C40
Built by: AG Weser (Bremen)
Launched: 31 March 1942
Commissioned: 5 August 1942
Feldpost Nr.: M10459
Sunk: 20 August 1944
Sunk by: scuttled by her crew
Location sunk: Bordeaux
Position sunk: (no men lost)

Tower emblem of U-188

The only Skipper of U-187 was Kapitänleutnant Siegfried Lüdden and he was decorated with the Knights Cross.

U-188 was attached to the 10th U-bootflottille, based at Lorient until her scuttling at Bordeaux, home of the 12th U-bootflottille. During one patrol in the North Atlantic, the Skipper and one crewman were wounded in an air attack on 2 May 1943. Her patrols took her into the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, the Indian Ocean and to the Japanese base at Pulu-Penang. In an unusual twist of fate, the logbook (KTB) of U-188 covering 5 May 1944 through 19 June 1944 was lost when French guerrillas captured Lüdden and the KTB near Limoges. U-188 was decommissioned in August of 1944 and blown up in Bordeaux.

SHIPS ATTACKED by U-188
04.11.43	HMS BEVERLEY	Brit DD	1,190 GRT
(During this attack, Lüdden observed a hit on a tanker which broke her back and she sank in 45 minutes; another ship was seen settling by the bow. No Allied confirmations were given for these other two ships.)
09.21.43	CORNELIA P. SPENCER	Amer stmr	7,176 GRT

This was a new Liberty Ship, built in 1943. She was owned by WSA and operated by A. L. Burbank and Co. She drew 23 feet with her cargo of 2,910 tons of steel and 300 tons of gum, and was making 8 knots when attacked. She carried two 3-inch guns and eight 20mm automatic guns. Her Master was Elmer H. Kirwan.

On 16 September, she sailed from Aden, Arabia bound for Durban. She was not zigzagging and the torpedo hit her portside by the #5 hold, which immediately flooded. The force of the explosion broke the shaft, making the engine useless. U-188 surfaced nearby, and the Armed Guards went to their guns.

With seventy-five rounds of 3-inch guns coming their way, Lüdden took U-188 back down, where he fired a second torpedo. This torpedo hit portside aft and caused an internal explosion in the after magazine, killing two men. This torpedo also blew off the rudder and the propeller.

The ship was now settling rapidly, so Kirwan ordered abandon ship. The survivors got off without incident.

At 0915, a third torpedo hit amidships portside, and the ship sank immediately. The four lifeboats set out on a westerly course and on the next afternoon, two boats were spotted by the destroyer HMS RELENTLESS (H-85). One boat had 16 men, the other had 18, and the destroyer picked them up. SS SUNDOWN CASTLE spotted the third boat with 16 men and picked them up. The fourth boat landed on the Somalia coast some 15 days after the sinking. Only the two men killed in the explosion of the second torpedo were lost; all others survived.

01.20.44	FT BUCKINGHAM	Brit stmr	7,122 GRT
01.25.44	FT la MAUNE	Brit stmr	7,130 GRT
01.26.44	SAMOURI	Brit stmr	7,219 GRT
01.26.44	SURADA	Brit stmr	5,427 GRT
01.29.44	OLGA E. EMBIRICOS	Grk stmr	4,677 GRT
02.03.44	CHUNG CHENG	Cana stmr	7,176 GRT
SHIPS DAMAGED by U-188
10.05.43	BRITANNIA	Norw tnkr	9,977 GRT