Seewolf was the name of three separate wolfpacks of German U-boats that operated during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II.

1941

The first U-boat group code-named Seewolf operated in the North Atlantic, to intercept Allied convoys to and from Gibraltar, and to and from Sierra Leone in west Africa. The group comprised 17 U-boats, from the dissolved groups Bosemuller and Kurfurst, that had operated in the same area. Due to bad weather, and evasive routing by the British, it had no success against the target convoys, though five independently routed ships were found and sunk; on 6 September U-95 sank Trinidad, a neutral vessel en route from Dublin to Lisbon, and on 15 September U-94 sank three ships that had dispersed from ON 14 the previous day. On 14 September U-95 and U-561 were bombed by aircraft from Coastal Command and forced to return to base.Blair (1996) p.389

Seewolf was formed on 2 September, and dissolved two weeks later, on 15 September 1941. It comprised the following boats:-

U-boatCommanderDate JoinedDate LeftCommentsWilhelm Zahn4 September 194115 September 1941Walter Flachsenberg2 September 19413 September 1941Heinrich Schonder2 September 19417 September 1941Hans-Werner Kraus2 September 19417 September 1941Otto Ites5 September 194115 September 1941Empire ElandNewburyPegasusGerd Schreiber2 September 194114 September 1941TrinidadHeinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock2 September 194110 September 1941Robert Gysae3 September 194115 September 1941Herbert Opitz2 September 19417 September 1941Karl Thurmann2 September 194113 September 1941Ottokar Arnold Paulssen2 September 194115 September 1941Günther Krech2 September 194112 September 1941Robert Bartels2 September 194115 September 1941Klaus Bargsten2 September 19417 September 1941Theodor Fahr2 September 19419 September 1941Fort RichepanseJoachim Preuss2 September 19418 September 1941Gerhard Bigalk2 September 19415 September 1941

Five merchant ships were sunk for a total of .

1943

The second Seewolf group operated in the North Atlantic in March 1943 against convoys to and from North America. It comprised 19 U-boats, mostly from groups Sturmer and Dranger, which had attacked convoys HX 229 and SC 122. The group was positioned to intercept the fast HX and slow SC convoys from North America, and was co-incident with group Seeteufel, 16 U-boats positioned to attack outbound ON and ONS convoys. Convoys SC 123 and ONS 1 evaded both groups; several Seewolf boats found HX 230, but all attacks failed in foul weather. With no success to report, the group was dissolved and most boats returned to base, though four remained as a cadre for group Adler.Blair (1998) p.268-270

This Seewolf was formed on 21 March, and dissolved a week later on 30 March. It comprised the following boats:-

U-boatCommanderDate JoinedDate LeftCommentsHorst Uphoff24 March 194330 March 1943Walter Schug21 March 194330 March 1943Heinz Rahe25 March 194330 March 1943Rudolf Bahr21 March 194330 March 1943Werner Schwaff21 March 194330 March 1943Hans Hunger21 March 194330 March 1943Paul-Karl Loeser21 March 194328 March 1943Hans Geissler21 March 194329 March 1943Klaus Hartmann21 March 194328 March 1943Herbert Uhlig21 March 194330 March 1943Kurt Lange21 March 194330 March 1943Heinrich Müller-Edzards21 March 194330 March 1943Hans-Jürgen Zetzsche21 March 194330 March 1943Ralph Kapitzky21 March 194330 March 1943Kurt Baberg21 March 194330 March 1943Jürgen Krüger21 March 194330 March 1943Horst Rendtel21 March 194330 March 1943Herbert Brünning21 March 194330 March 1943Herbert Engel21 March 194330 March 1943 No ships were sunk or damaged

1945

Seewolf was formed in March 1945Blair p686-688 in an effort to re-establish the U-boat offensive in American waters; it was the last wolfpack of the Atlantic campaign. Seven of the nine boats that sailed to the Americas were in Seewolf; a further two sailed independently.

Coincidentally, Allied Intelligence formed the view that the Germans were planning to mount a missile attack on the United States, using V-1 or V-2 missiles adapted for launch at sea by submarines. This led to a vigorous response by the United States Navy, code-named Operation Teardrop, to find and destroy the Seewolf boats. This was successful; Of the five boats in American waters by April (two boats had returned to base for repairs, and were still in transit at the end of April) four boats were sunk during the month.

Seewolf boats had one success; U-546 sank , shortly before she herself was sunk.

The fifth boat was detected and destroyed on 6 May 1945, the last boat in American waters to be destroyed. The two boats in transit when Germany surrendered were given up to the USN on 8 May 1945.

U-boatCommanderDate JoinedDate LeftCommentsHans-Werner Offermann14 April 194522 April 1945Paul Just14 April 194524 April 1945 sunk 24 Apr 1945Richard Bernardelli14 April 19451 May 1945Thilo Bode14 April 19451 May 1945Gerhard Schtözau14 April 194516 April 1945Franz Barsch14 April 194515 April 1945

One US warship was sunk by this wolfpack.

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