ISSUE 107 : Jul/Aug - 1994 - Australian Defence Force Journal

58 AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE JOURNAL NO. 10" JULY/AUGUST 1994If the tests were successful, she was then under ordersto pass along the eastern coast of Bali and proceedoutward bound for operations off Darwin and northwestAustralia. Japanese units were again alerted tothe presence of a friendly submarine. Five daysbefore departure, the Surabaya Guard Force providedcomplete details of U 537's program after leavingport. The message included the following lines:"10th 0800 in 7-12°S 115-17°E wherediving tests will be carried out for 10 mileson course 156 degrees."' 7Unknown to her crew, U 537's fate had thus beensealed even before the U-boat sailed. In Darwin on6 November, the US submarines Flounder, Guavinaand Bashaw received patrol orders that organisedthem into a coordinated search and attack group.Commander J Stevens. Commanding Officer ofFlounder, was the senior officer. The following day.all three boats departed for their allocated areas. Onthe morning of 10 November. Commander Stevensordered the submarine to submerge in a position northof Lombok Strait. The Flounder's patrol report completesthe story:"0754 Officer of the deck sighted what appearedto be a small sailboat bearing 347° (T).distance about 9,(XX) yards.0809 Target was identified as a German submarinemaking 12 knots.0826 Fired four stern tubes. Track angle 90°starboard, range 1.000 yards, gyro anglesvery small. Torpedoes were set to run at8 feet.0827 Observed hit about 40 feet inside the bow.There was a tremendous explosion and thewhole target was obscured by smoke andflame." I8The sinking took only 20 seconds and had occurredone mile from the advised position. There were nosurvivors from U 537's crew of 58. Flounder went onto sink one other ship on this patrol, eventually securinein Fremantle on 13 December.U862After arrival in the Far East, U 862 had spent sevenweeks undergoing refit in Singapore and 10 days inDjakarta, allowing the crew time for a short period ofrecuperation in the mountains. With all in readiness.Korvettenkapitiin Timm finally began U 862's secondwar cruise on 18 November, unaware of the loss ofU 537. Expecting the other U-boats to be operating inthe west. Timm instead planned to take his boat alongthe shipping routes to the south and cast of Australia.Fortune was with U 862 and for a change insufficientdeparture details were available for allied submarinesto arrange an intercept.Reaching Cape Leeuwin on 28 November. Timmturned his boat east to try to intercept shipping in theGreat Australian Bight. For a week. Timm conducteda fruitless search, eventually suspecting that traffichad been warned and directed away from the normalroutes. U 862 then moved towards the Spencer Gulfhoping to have more success around the focal area ofAdelaide.On 9 December, the Greek steamship Illisos wassighted off Cape Jaffa, 130 miles southeast ofAdelaide. Detecting the ship too late for a submergedtorpedo attack. Timm instead surfaced and orderedhis 10.5 cm deck gun into action. In the rough seasprevailing, accurate fire could not be maintained andas Illisos was also returning fire. Timm soon decidedto break off the attack.On being advised of the incident. NOIC Port Melbourneordered two Australian corvettes in the vicinity.Burnie and Maryborough, to search for the U-boat.The corvettes found nothing on their own ASDIC, butwere counter-detected by U 862's hydrophones. Timmsurfaced, but in poor visibility could not identify thewarships and since the worsening seas prevented atorpedo attack, decided instead to run south at highspeed.No doubt remembering the mine-laying exploits ofGerman surface raiders in 1940 and suspecting thatU 862 might attempt the same. Bumie. Maryboroughand HMAS Lismore were then ordered to sweep theshipping routes in Bass Strait. With the reduction inthe Japanese threat, the local convoy system aroundAustralia had ceased in February 1944, but other safetymeasures were now reintroduced. These measuresincluded routing all shipping, except local traffic,south of Tasmania and ordering ships in southernAustralian waters to zigzag and darken ship at night."Timm had meanwhile moved to a position south ofTasmania where U 862 came across a tanker on acourse for New Zealand. The target was movingquickly and the U-boat again surfaced to try to moveinto an attack position. With night and heavy rainmaking the approach more difficult, the attack wasfinally thwarted by the appearance of an aircraft that,apparently mistaking the U-boat for the tanker,attempted to exchange recognition signals. U 862crash-dived and waited, but the expected counterattacknever came.U 862 then turned north and while passing east ofBass Strait, heard on hydrophones what sounded like