Operation Neuland was the code name of the Kriegsmarine extension of unrestricted submarine warfare into the Caribbean Sea during World War II. German U-boats demonstrated range to disrupt British petroleum supplies and American aluminum supplies which had not been anticipated by Allied pre-war planning. Although the area remained vulnerable to submarines for several months, U-boats never again enjoyed the opportunities for success resulting from the surprise of this operation.
Background The Caribbean was strategically significant because of Venezuelan oil fields in the southeast and the Panama Canal in the southwest. The Royal Dutch Shell oil refinery on Dutch-owned Curaçao, processing eleven million barrels per month, was the largest in the world; the refinery at Pointe-à-Pierre on Trinidad was the largest in the British Empire; and there was Lago Oil and Transport Company, another large refinery on Dutch-owned Aruba where Shell operated the Eagle refinery of Oranjestad. The British Isles required four oil tankers of petroleum daily during the early war years, and most of it came from Venezuela, through Curaçao, after Italy blocked passage through the Mediterranean Sea from the Middle East.Kelshall pp.7–22
The Caribbean held additional strategic significance to the United States. The southern United States Gulf of Mexico coastline, including petroleum facilities and Mississippi River trade, could be defended at two points. The United States was well positioned to defend the Straits of Florida but was less able to prevent access from the Caribbean through the Yucatán Channel. Bauxite was the preferred ore for aluminum, and one of the few strategic raw materials not available within the continental United States. United States military aircraft production depended upon bauxite imported from the Guianas along shipping routes paralleling the Lesser Antilles.Kelshall pp.7–18
United States Navy VP-51 Consolidated PBY Catalinas began neutrality patrols along the Lesser Antillies from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 13 September 1939.Scarborough, William E. "The Neutralitv Patrol: To Keep Us Out of World War II?" pp.18-23 NAVAL AVIATION NEWS March–April 1990 The United Kingdom had established military bases on Trinidad; and British troops occupied Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire soon after the Netherlands were captured by Nazi Germany. The French island of Martinique was perceived as a possible base for Axis ships as British relationships with Vichy France deteriorated following the Second Armistice at Compiègne. The September 1940 Destroyers for Bases Agreement enabled the United States to build bases in British Guiana, and on the islands of Great Exuma, Jamaica, Antigua, Saint Lucia and Trinidad.Kelshall pp.4–24
Concept Declaration of war on 8 December 1941 removed United States neutrality assertions which had previously protected trade shipping in the Western Atlantic. The relatively ineffective anti-submarine warfare (ASW) measures along the United States Atlantic coast observed by U-boats participating in Operation Paukenschlag encouraged utilizing the range of German Type IX submarines to explore conditions in what had previously been the southern portion of a declared Pan American neutrality zone. A 15 January 1942 meeting in Lorient included former Hamburg America Line captains with Caribbean experience to brief commanding officers of , , , and about conditions in the area. The first three U-boats sailed on 19 January with orders to simultaneously attack Dutch refinery facilities on 16 February. U-161 sailed on 24 January to attack Trinidad, and U-129 followed on 26 January. sailed on 2 February to patrol the Windward Passage between Cuba and Hispaniola; and five large Italian submarines sailed from Bordeaux to patrol the Atlantic side of the Lesser Antilles. These eleven submarines would patrol independently to disperse Allied ASW resources until exhaustion of food, fuel or torpedoes required them to return to France.Blair pp.503–509, 728
Implementation
U-156 The second patrol of U-156 was under the command of Werner Hartenstein. On the evening of 15 February, U-156 surfaced after nightfall, two miles off Aruba. Hartenstein commenced his attack at 0131 on 16 February, when he fired two torpedoes at the tankers SS Pedernales and SS Oranjestad lying at anchor outside San Nicolaas. Ten minutes later, U-156 moved to within mile of the Lago refinery and prepared to bombard it with her 10.5 cm deck gun. However, a crewman failed to remove the tampion from the muzzle, and the first shell detonated in the barrel. One gunner was killed, another was seriously injured, and the muzzle of the gun barrel was splayed open. Following the attack, U-156 sailed past Oranjestad, 14 miles to the west, and fired three torpedoes at the Shell tanker Arkansas berthed at the Eagle pier. One struck the ship, causing minor damage, one missed its mark and disappeared in the water, and the third beached itself. On February 17, four Dutch marines were killed as they attempted to disarm the beached torpedo. Hartenstein kept U-156 submerged north of Aruba after daybreak. At nightfall the crew buried the sailor who died when the gun exploded, and the captain received permission to sail to Martinique, where the injured crewman was put ashore. The crew used hacksaws to shorten the damaged gun barrel by 40 centimeters, and used the sawed-off gun to sink two ships encountered after all torpedoes had been expended sinking two other ships. U-156 started home on 28 February 1942.Kelshall pp.26–31, 42, 47–48, 57
+Cruise of U-156DateShipFlagGRT Notes16 February 1942Pedernales4,317Tanker torpedoed outside San Nicolaas harbor, but later repaired16 February 1942Oranjestad2,396Tanker torpedoed outside San Nicolaas harbor, and capsized in 48 secondsKenshall p.2916 February 1942Arkansas6,452Tanker torpedoed at Eagle Pier near Oranjestad but later repaired20 February 1942Delplata5,127Freighter torpedoed at Cressman p.7725 February 1942La Carriere5,685Tanker27 February 1942Macgregor2,498Freighter sunk by gunfire28 February 1942Oregon7,0176 crewman killed aboard tanker sunk by gunfire at Cressman p.79
U-67 The third patrol of U-67 was under the command of Günther Müller-Stöckheim. In coordination with the attack on Aruba U-67 moved into Curaçao's Willemstad harbor shortly after midnight on 16 February to launch six torpedoes at three anchored tankers. The four bow torpedoes hit, but failed to explode. The two torpedoes from the stern tubes were effective on the third tanker.Kelshall pp.26&32
+Cruise of U-67DateShipFlagGRT Notes16 February 1942Rafaela3,177Tanker torpedoed in Willemstad harbor, but later repaired21 February 1942Kongsgaard9,467Tanker14 March 1942Penelope8,436Tanker
U-502 The third patrol of U-502 was under the command of Jürgen von Rosensteil. In coordination with the attacks on Aruba and Willemstad, U-502 waited to ambush shallow draft Lake Maracaibo crude oil tankers en route to the refineries. After three tankers were reported missing, the Chinese crews of surviving tankers refused to sail; and Associated Press broadcast a report that tanker traffic had been halted in the area. U-502 moved north and started home via the Windward Passage after launching its last torpedoes on 23 February.Kelshall pp.26, 33, 35, 43-44, 54
+Cruise of U-502DateShipFlagGRT Notes16 February 1942Tia Juana2,395Shallow-draught 'Lake Maracaibo' crude oil tanker16 February 1942Monagas2,650Shallow-draught 'Lake Maracaibo' crude oil tanker16 February 1942San Nicholas2,391Shallow-draught 'Lake Maracaibo' crude oil tanker22 February 1942J.N.Pew9,033Tanker torpedoed at ,33 killed; 3 survivors23 February 1942Thallia8,329Tanker23 February 1942Sun9,002Tanker damaged by torpedo at Cressman p.78
U-161 The second patrol of U-161 was under the command of Albrecht Achilles. Achilles and his first watch officer Bender had both visited Trinidad while employed by Hamburg America Line before the war. U-161 entered Trinidad's Gulf of Paria harbor at periscope depth during daylight through a deep, narrow passage or Boca. An electronic submarine detection system registered its passage at 0930 on 18 February 1942, but the signal was dismissed as caused by a patrol boat. After spending the day resting on the bottom of the harbor, U-161 surfaced after dark to torpedo two anchored ships. U-161 then left the gulf with decks awash and running lights illuminated to resemble one of the harbor small craft; and then moved off to the northwest before returning to sink a ship outside the Boca. After sunset on 10 March 1942 U-161 silently entered the shallow, narrow entrance of Castries harbor surfaced on electric motors to torpedo two freighters at dockside; and then raced out under fire from machine guns. The two freighters had just arrived with supplies to construct the new US base; and the harbor previously considered immune to submarine attack was later fitted with an anti-submarine net. U-161 started home on 11 March 1942.Kelshall pp.26, 35-42, 44, 49–51, 60–64, 67
+Cruise of U-161DateShipFlagGRT Notes19 February 1942British Consul6,940Tanker torpedoed in Gulf of Paria, but later repaired19 February 1942Mokihana7,460Torpedoed in Gulf of Paria, but later repairedCressman p.7621 February 1942Circe Shell8,207Tanker23 February 1942Lihue7,001Torpedoed at Cressman pp.77–787 March 1942Uniwaleco9,755Whale Factory ship used as a fuel oil carrier10 March 1942Lady Nelson7,970Torpedoed in Castries harbor, later repaired10 March 1942Umtata8,141Torpedoed in Castries harbor, but later repaired14 March 1942Sarniadoc1,940Torpedoed, explodedKelshall p.66 21†15 March 1942Acacia1,130USCG lighthouse tender sunk by gunfire south of Haiti
Luigi Torelli Luigi Torelli under the command of Antonio de Giacomo sank two ships. +Cruise of Luigi TorelliKelshall pp.45&56 Date Ship Flag GRT Notes 19 February Scottish Star 7,300 freighter 25 February Esso Copenhagen 9,200 tanker
U-129 Under the command of Nicolai Clausen U-129 spent its fourth patrol intercepting bauxite freighters southeast of Trinidad.Blair p.507 The unexpected sinkings caused a temporary halt to merchant ship sailings. The Allies broadcast suggested routes for unescorted merchant ships to follow when sailings resumed. The U-boats received the broadcast and were waiting at the suggested locations.Kelshall p.55 +Cruise of U-129 Date Ship Flag GRT Notes 20 February Nordvangen 2,400 Bauxite freighter sunk with no survivors 23 February George L. Torian 1,754 Bauxite freighter 23 February West Zeda 5,658 no casualties aboard freighterKelshall p.53 torpedoed at 23 February Lennox 1,904 Bauxite freighter 28 February Bayou 2,605 Manganese freighter 3 March Mary 5,104 FreighterKelshall p.57 torpedoed at Cressman p.80 7 March Steel Age 6,188 33 killed;sole survivor taken captive from freighter torpedoed at
Leonardo da Vinci under the command of Luigi Longanesi-Cattani sank one Allied ship. +Cruise of Leonardo da Vinci"Leonardo da Vinci" at regiamarina.net, Cristiano D'Adamo; retrieved 25 July 2019 Date Ship Flag GRT Notes 28 February Everasma 3,644 freighter torpedoed at
U-126 U-126 patrolled the Windward Passage under the command of Ernst Bauer.Kelshall p.52 +Cruise of U-126 Date Ship Flag GRT Notes 2 March Gunny 2,362 freighter 5 March Mariana 3,110 no survivors from freighter torpedoed at [36 lost] 7 March Barbara 4,637 freighter torpedoed at Cressman p.81 7 March Cardonia 5,104 freighter torpedoed at 8 March Esso Bolivar 10,389 tanker damaged by torpedoes within sight of GuantánamoKelshall p.60 9 March Hanseat 8,241 tanker 12 March Texan 7,005 freighter torpedoed at Cressman p.82 12 March Olga 2,496 freighter torpedoed at 13 March Colabee 5,518 freighter damaged by torpedoes at
Enrico Tazzoli The large 1,331-ton under the command of Carlo Fecia di Cossato sank six ships.