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Much of this information, the data, the photos etc. comes directly from the veterans, the veterans' organizations and is the most accurate available anywhere..............much of this information is not even known elsewhere.
 

TYPE BUILDER LAUNCHED
II-B Deutsches Werft (Kiel)  7 Dec 1935
     
COMMISSIONED FELDPOST Nr. SUNK
 4 Jan 1936 M23452 20 Nov 1936
     
SUNK BY LOCATION SUNK POSITION SUNK
torpedoboat T-156 Flotilla LOHS  
     
    SUNK
    10 Sep 1944
     
SUNK BY LOCATION SUNK POSITION SUNK
her crew Costanzia  

             1st sinking - 8 Men Lost    (names not listed because it was pre-war)
             2nd sinking - No men lost

Commanders of U-18 include:

LAST NAME FIRST NAME RANK FROM TO OTHER BOATS COMMENTS
Pauckstadt Hans Oblt zS   4 Jan 1936   U-12, U-20, U-30, U-34 and U-193  
Bauer Max-Hermann Kplt   10 Dec 1938 U-50 KIA aboard U-50
Mengersen Ernst KK 10 Dec 1938 20 Aug 1040 U-143, U-101 and U-607  
Linder Hans KK 20 Aug 1940 17 Dec 1940 U-202  
Vogelsang Ernst KK 17 Dec 1940   U-132 KIA aboard U-132
Wißmann Friederich Kplt     9 Apr 1941 U-518  
von Rosenberg-
     Gruszczynski		 Hans-Achim Oblt zS   9 Apr 1941   3 Jun 1941 U-384  
Fleige Karl KK December 1942 April 1944 U-4712  
Bartsch   Oblt zS     U-17  
Arendt Rudolf Oblt zS April 1944 10 Sep 1944    

U-18 was initially attached to the U-Bootflottille Lohs.  On 20 November 1936, she was sunk in a collision with the German torpedoboat T-156 and eight men were lost.  she was salvaged the following year and returned to service in 1937.

 SPECIAL NOTE; MORE INFORMATION - There is much more information on this boat and others in our book "The Rare Types".   CLICK HERE for more information on this boat.
She had patrols in the Baltic over August and September of 1939 which included an engagement with a Polish submarine on 3 September 1939 with no outcome.  She patrolled in the North Sea periodically from September 1939 to January 1940 which included one patrol off Northern Scotland in October 1939.
 

Ernst Mengersen Ernst Vogelsang Karl Fleige

After combat in the early years of World War II, U-18 was reassigned to the 24th and 22nd U-Bootflottille as a schulboot (school boat) for another year.  Some of the Skippers listed here were training aboard U-18.

                  SHIPS SUNK BY U-18 (Mengersen commanding)

DATE NAME NATION TYPE GRT
18 November 1939 WIGMORE  * English Fishing boat    345 tons
23 January 1940 VARLID Norway Freighter 1,085 tons

*  WIGMORE was listed as part of an Icelandic fishing convoy.

U-18 was one of the six Type II-B boats that were disassembled in Germany, moved via rivers and autobahns to Rumania where they were rebuilt and recommissioned in Galati, Romania on 6 May 1943 as the 30th U-Bootflottille in the Black Sea.  She had seven Feindfahrten (war patrols) in the Black Sea until her crew scuttled her off Costanzia.
 

                  SHIPS SUNK BY U-18 (Fleige commanding)

DATE NAME NATION TYPE GRT
23 June 1943 LENINGRAD  * Soviet Freighter 1,783 tons
17 July 1943 VOROSILOV Soviet Freighter 3,908 tons
29 August 1943 unknown  ** Soviet Q-Ship    800 tons
18 September 1943 unknown Soviet Freighter    800 tons
  8 November 1943 unknown Soviet Tanker 2,000 tons
18 November 1943 unknown Soviet Freighter 1,500 tons
17 February 1944 unknown   *** Soviet Freighter 1,500 tons
24 April 1944 unknown Soviet Tugboat    500 tons
24 April 1944 unknown Soviet Barge    600 tons
11 August 1944 unknown Soviet Freighter 1,500 tons
13 August 1944 unknown Soviet Gunboat    ??? tons

    *  LENINGRAD was hit after a torpedo run of two and a half minutes
  **   A "Q-Ship" is an ASW ship disguised as an old freighter to lure the submarine in close, a U-Boat trap
***   They fired through an open ASW net and observed a sinking ship

The unusually high number of "unknowns" and rounded off tonnage would indicate that there was no visual observation of ship sinkings and no confirmation from B-Dienst or other sources.

Under Fleige, U-18 concentrated her attacks in the area of the Batumi roadstead harbor. and off Tuapse in late 1943.  The conning tower emblem shown above was used when Fleige was commanding.

On 10 September 1944 U-18 was scuttled by her own crew off Costanzia as the Red Army closed in.
 

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Many thanks to our friend and Sharkhunters Member since 1987 GEORG HÖGEL for all the conning tower emblems used in our monthly KTB Magazine and also here on the pages of our website.  GEORG was radioman aboard U-30, the first boat into combat, the first to sink a ship (the liner ATHENIA) and the first into an occupied French port.  When that Skipper (Lemp) took command of U-110, GEORG was one of the former crew to transfer to the new boat under Lemp.  After the war, he was Professor of Art at a major German university.