World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseU-977 was a German Navy type VIIC submarine. Although she was launched during war time, she had not been sent on any war patrols until nearly the end of the European War on 2 May 1945. She departed Kristiansand, Norway under the command of Oberleutnant Heinz Schäffer. She was to move into the port of Southampton in Britain to attack British shipping, and had reached waters north of Scotland by 5 May when President Karl Dönitz ordered all German submarines to return to their home ports in an attempt to de-escalate hostilities at the war's end. Although Schäffer followed orders to cease all offensive activities, he decided to head for Argentina instead of home; his post-war interrogation showed that he refused to return to Germany because he believed that the Allies would destroy Germany despite the surrender and the German people would be enslaved. On 10 May, 16 of his married crewmen were allowed to disembark onto dinghies near on Holsenöy Island, Bergen, Norway so that they could return home to their families. Stories had it that U-977 had traveled a significant portion of the journey, 66 days, under water without surfacing, although some later investigations found this to be probably untrue. She crossed the Equator in Jul, then arrived at Mar del Plata in Argentina on 17 Aug. Upon arrival, the crew surrendered to the Argentine Navy. She was towed to Boston, Massachusetts, United States to be given to the United States Navy, arriving on 13 Nov 1945. On 22 Aug, her crew was transferred into United States federal jurisdiction by presidential decree for interrogation. U-977 was sunk as a target by USS Atule off Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

ww2dbaseConspiracy theorists often suspected that U-977 had carried Adolf Hitler and/or gold from Nazi German reserves to Argentina.

Photographs

U-977 Operational Timeline