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SHARKHUNTERS International
History of the German submarine U-30
    
Various conning tower emblems used by U-30.  Above left was the first that Lemp used but it was replaced by the floppy eared puppy after a little dog on the dock grabbed a piece of line, ran off but was jerked to a halt when the line went tight.  The crew adopted the dog.

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.  In the case of U-30, several survivors tell their stories as well.
 

U-30 pre-war

                 U-30 inboard of U-28 pre-war

             No Men lost

Commanders of U-30 include:

Wearing his makeshift Knights Cross made by his crew while at sea after he received radio message that he was to be awarded the medal on his return.	Formal photo of Lemp on receipt of his Knights Cross	Lemp in white cap with Admiral Karl Dönitz

NOTE - Sharkhunters Member's names appear in bold capital letters followed by their Membership Number.

Kplt KURT BABERG (270-1987)	Oberfunkmaat GEORG HÖGEL (240-1987)

Both BABERG and HÖGEL were at our 1987 Sharkhunters 1st Annual Convention held in Key Largo, Florida.  The history we got in the speech by GEORG HÖGEL is funny, and it puts a human face on the war.  It is first-person history found nowhere else.  GEORG attends our Sharkhunters 'Patrols' in Germany, and all the conning tower emblems used by Sharkhunters on our web pages as well as in our monthly KTB Magazine are all from the pen of GEORG HÖGEL, a highly talented artist.

U-30 was attached to the U-Flottille Saltzwedel then to the famed 2nd U-Bootflottille based at Lorient, France.  She had a minelaying mission in Liverpool Bay on 6 January 1940 then a patrol west of the Bay f Biscay over June and July 1940.

U-30 had a unique and interesting combat career during which she;
   *  torpedoed the battleship HMS BARHAM on 28 December 1939 (no appreciable damage);
   *  had an engagement with a Royal Navy submarine on 13 March 1940;
   *  recovered the crew of a downed German aircraft on 29 March 1940;
   *  rescued thirteen survivors from the Swedish SS HAGAR on 3 May 1940 after the ship struck a British mine;
   *  refueled from supply ship MAX ALBRECHT in El Ferrol Harbor, Spain on 25 June 1940;
   *  was the first U-Boat into combat in World War II;
   *  fired the first torpedo in World War II when she attacked a rock they mistook for a cruiser;
   *  sank the first ship in World War II, the liner ATHENIA;
                liner ATHENIA  
   *  was the first U-Boat into Reykjavik Harbor in WW II when they disembarked two wounded men - a crewmember and an RAF pilot;
   *  rescued a turkey and named his Alfons (great story further on);
   *  was the first U-Boat into a captured French port (Lorient).
 

                  SHIPS SUNK BY U-30 (Lemp commanding)

  *  The sinking of ATHENIA, the first ship sunk in World War II, caused a storm of propaganda back and forth with England denouncing the action and the German Propaganda Ministry trying to convince the world that 'agents of Churchill' placed a time bomb aboard the ship to make Germany look bad.  Karl Dönitz ordered Lemp to expunge all mention of this action from the logbook of U-30 and it was GEORG HÖGEL who had to tear the pages out of his radio log.

  **  FANAD HEAD was stopped in accordance with the 'Prize Rules' and the ship's crew was told by Lemp to get on the other side of U-30 so they would not be harmed when he torpedoed their ship, which they did.  They had no bread aboard U-30, so they remembered the days of World War I when they would board enemy ships and take what they needed before sinking them, so Lemp sent four men aboard to look for bread and he had one other man in a rubber boat to bring back whatever the men found.  Every case they found marked 'bread' contained milk!  Suddenly two planes appeared, SKUA dive bombers, so Lemp had to dive but he had U-30 pointed directly at the side of FANAD HEAD but there was not enough room for the boat to dive before hitting the freighter.  Lemp ordered full reverse while still flooding.  U-30 was able to dive safely, but to the men he left aboard FANAD HEAD and the one in the dinghy, it appeared that the submarine had sunk.  They were running at 30 meters when a bomb hit directly above them, so Lemp took the boat deeper - down to sixty meters but again a bomb hit directly above them.  What was going on, GEORG thought - then Lemp was heard to ask, "Bootsmann, how many meters line you have to the dinghy boat?"  The reply from the bootsmannsmaat solved the riddle - "Eighty meters line."  Every twist and turn made by U-30 underwater was mirrored by the rubber boat on the surface, showing the two dive bombers where the boat was.  Lemp gave orders - the boat shot to the surface and the bootsmannsmaat, with a knife clenched in his teeth in true pirate fashion, leapt out of the hatch, cut the line, dropped back in the boat and slammed the hatch behind him.  The boat dived again.  Soon it was clear and Lemp surfaced the boat.  To his surprise he found that he now had six men on the ship when he put only four U-Bootfahrer on FANAD HEAD.  One SKUA had been too low when he released his bomb and the concussion of his own bomb blew him out of the air.  Both of the aircrew were injured, but one was very badly injured.  Lemp got all his men and the two British airmen aboard and with U-30 a few hundred meters off the beam of FANAD HEAD, fired at her.  GEORG was tracking the torpedo on the sound gear and he reported that the torpedo was running straight for the target.  It hit, detonated and blew FANAD HEAD in half, both halves sinking immediately.  With that, GEORG heard Lemp shout a curse; unusual for the very calm and proper Lemp and at that moment is sound gear picked up two sets of high speed screws coming in fast.  When FANAD HEAD sank, Lemp saw two Royal Navy destroyers coming in fast.  He had not been able to see them before FANAD HEAD sank because they were coming from the other side.  When the ship sank, they were clearly visible and Lemp realized that these destroyers must have been part of a Royal Navy task force which also included the aircraft carrier that launched the two short range dive bombers.  He took U-30 deep and they rode out the counter attack.  They later landed the wounded British airmen and one wounded U-Bootfahrer at Iceland.

  ***  Ran onto mines laid by U-30 in January 1940.

  ****  Not absolutely certain this was SEA GLORY.
 

BLAIRLOGIE	FANAD HEAD	OTTERPOOL
RANDSFJORD	CLEARTON	CLAN MacPHEE

Sharkhunters Members get all this information and a whole lot more including a monthly Magazine with facts, veteran's memories and stories you cannot get anywhere else - and when you join, you may select one of our hand-signed photos of veterans of the war as your free gift.  Send us an email at sharkhunters@earthlink.net with your name, and request a FREE sample of our KTB Magazine.  You will love it - and there is NO obligation!
 

On 28 December 1939, U-30 was on her way to lay mines in Liverpool Bay and so had only one torpedo aboard - and the 31,100 ton Royal Navy battleship HMS BARHAM (right) sailed in her path.  Not wanting to miss this golden opportunity, Lemp fired his only torpedo.  The torpedo hit and detonated properly but probably did no more than scratch the pain on the battleship.

On 15 January 1940, the 5,642 ton British steamer GRACIA was damaged when she ran onto a mine planted by U-30.

There are many stories from combatants and survivors alike.  Some of them are below.

  There is an incredible and lengthy history attached to U-30, much of it told to us by GEORG HÖGEL.  Click on his photo to read his memories of the war - some sad, some very funny.  Click his photo here.

Eleven year old Russel Park was a passenger aboard ATHENIA that fateful September night in 1939.  Here he recounts what took place.  Click the photo of ATHENIA here to read this first person story.

  Art students Thomas Fielder and John Bernard were passengers aboard ATHENIA that fateful 3rd of September 1939.  Click on the photograph here and read his story of survival on the high seas as only one of the pair survived.

  Cathleen Schurr had worked in England since graduating an American college and she was reluctant to leave her adopted country, but war clouds were gathering very fast so she decided to leave England.  She only got a ticket aboard ATHENIA because someone had cancelled thereby leaving a vacant berth.  She felt fortunate to have gotten this one last ticket...................

  Cathleen Schurr tells her survival story aboard the rescue ship CITY OF FLINT after ATHENIA went down.


U-30 was scuttled by her own crew off Flensburg Bay while under command of Schimmel in the unofficial Operation Regenbogen (Rainbow) against orders from Großadmiral Karl Dönitz.  Sometime between 1947 and 1953 she was raised by the Allies and broken up.
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Click on our emblem here to see all the benefits of Membership including a FREE photo that has been hand-signed by the veteran.  Almost 100 veterans, all Sharkhunters Members, hand-signed 100 each of their photos for us to give to new Members.  Most of these are not available anywhere else in the world.  Don't miss your opportunity - join now.

Sharkhunters Members get all this information and a whole lot more including a monthly Magazine with facts, veteran's memories and stories you cannot get anywhere else - and when you join, you may select one of our hand-signed photos of veterans of the war as your free gift.  Send us an email at sharkhunters@earthlink.net with your name, and request a FREE sample of our KTB Magazine.  You will love it - and there is NO obligation!

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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.