WORLD WAR 2 U-BOAT ACE OTTO KRETSCHMER SIGNED POSTER PRINT 18" X 23"

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

WORLD WAR 2 U-BOAT ACE OTTO KRETSCHMER SIGNED POSTER PRINT 18" X 23":
$190.50

U-BOAT ACE OTTO KRETSCHMER SIGNED POSTER PRINT 18" X 23"

For sale is a signed print by the infamous U-Boat Ace Otto Kretschmer titled, "U99 - Kapitanleutnant Otto Kretschmer - im Nachtgefecht am 3./4. Nov. 1940 mit den englischen Hilfskreuzern links 'Patroclus' und rechts sinken 'Laurentic'." This poster print is a limited edition signed print issued in 1982 by famed German artist Joachim Sachse.Only 250 of these prints were ever issued and this one is #8 in the series! The left side of the poster is signed by the artist - Joachim Sachse. The right side of the poster is signed in blue ink by one of Germany's most famous U-Boat aces - Otto Kretschmer.

The print itself is in overall great shape. It is not in perfect condition however.Over the years the edges have sufferedslight damage in the way ofsmall nicks to the straight edge and evidence of this can be seen in the closeup of the print's title. The right side white border has a small area where the paper is ever so sligtlyindented and there is a small snake like indentation on the body of the uboat just above the water. Also, in the bottom right corner of the print, an almost unnoticeable crease exists which can be seen when the poster is viewed at certain angles. None of these flawsdetract from the print and you cannot seethem in the photos but they arethere and the buyer should be aware in case you are finnicky when it comes topaper condition.I tookseveral photos of the areas mentioned but the camera does not pick it up so I did not bother to publish them in the listing.

The size of the print is 18" x 23" so it is the perfect size to be framed and mounted in an office or study. This is an awesome opportunityata truly amazing piece of history with a signature from an exceptional character in world history. Good hunting!!!

The Sinking of HMS Patroclus and HMS Laurentic - from NL GenWeb

by Christopher Paddock

During the Second World War, one of the most famous of Germany's U-boat commanders was Kapitanleutnant Otto Kretschmer of U-99. Kretschmer, whose nickname was "Silent Otto", gained his notoriety by sinking more Allied shipping, in terms of tonnage, than any other U-boat commander. He had made a bet with two of his fellow U-boat skippers, Gunther Prien and Joachim Schepke (who were also contenders for the top spot), that he would beat them both in their personal tonnage race. This was, of course, a race that Kretschmer was destined to win, and the event that put him squarely on top, never to be dethroned, occurred on the night of Sunday, November 3rd, 1940, off the coast of Northern Ireland's infamous "bloody Foreland".

HMS Patroclus pictured in 1940 not long before she was sunk in the U-boat attack. Note the guns placed fore and aft. Painting by crewmember R Heyward.

Kretschmer's U-99 was patrolling this area at periscope depth when, some time after 9:00 p.m., he spotted a lone merchant steamer. The ship was unarmed, and seemingly unescorted. He gave the order to surface, and U-99 made its way toward the tempting target. As it did so, Kretschmer suddenly spotted another, much larger, ship looming toward him out of the night. Making a quick calculation of this new contact's speed, bearing, and distance, he decided that he had plenty of time to sink the steamer before the other ship reached his position. At about 9:40 p.m., after a final range calculation, he gave the order to fire. The first torpedo of what would soon become one of the most vicious U-boat battles of the war struck the steamer just aft of the bridge, sending up a sheet of flame and water. The steamer started to list almost immediately, and the crew began abandoning ship. U-99 then swung around to face the second ship. Kretschmer saw that it was still some distance away, but he was surprised to see that a third ship had now appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and was just over a mile distant.

The radio operator aboard U-99 had his hands full intercepting the flurry of plain language message traffic between the three ships. The merchant steamer identified herself as S.S. Casanare (6000 tons), and was frantically reporting that she had just been torpedoed. The second ship, which identified herself as H.M.S. Laurentic (18,000 tons), was reporting to the third ship that there was an enemy U-boat in the vicinity. The third ship acknowledged the message, and identified herself as H.M.S. Patroclus (12,000 tons). Kretschmer soon discovered that, while both ships were listed in Lloyd's Register as merchant vessels, they were also in the Royal Navy List as armed merchant cruisers, which, as warships, were a very real threat to his submarine.

Patroclus pictured during her civilian career as a passenger liner, early 1930’s.

Patroclus had, in fact, been shadowing Casanare since the morning of the 3rd, acting as an oceangoing escort to protect the steamer from German surface raiders. When Casanare's distress message was received on Patroclus' bridge, her commanding officer, Captain William Wynter, decided to rush to the scene to pick up survivors. His senior officers argued against such a course of action, since a U-boat was still prowling the area. The senior executive officer, Commander R. P. Martin, told Capt. Wynter "If we go over there and stop, we shall be sunk within half an hour, sir!" But Wynter's decision was final. He dismissed their arguments, saying, "If I don't stop, I will never be able to show my face in Liverpool again! I'm going to help those poor chaps!" When Martin reminded him that Admiralty orders forbade needlessly exposing H.M. Ships to U-boat attacks, Wynter angrily rebuked him, saying, "The Admiralty is not in command of this ship!" Laurentic's presence was purely coincidental, but she now, by chance, found herself much closer to the quickly foundering steamer than her escort.

Able Seaman James Paddock pictured in the summer of 1940.
In the attack on HMS Patroclus, Mr. Paddock, grandfather of the author of this article,
was badly injured and spent several months in hospital.

Kretschmer calculated the range to Laurentic as 1500 yards, and, at 10:50 p.m., fired a torpedo at her on the turn (a move he was famous for). The torpedo struck the ship amidships in the boiler room, but, as the smoke and flame of the explosion dissipated, Laurentic gave no sign of listing or settling in the water, despite the fact that an enormous hole had been torn in her side.

This confused Kretschmer, who watched as the crew began abandoning ship. He decided to sit tight and watch for evidence of sinking. A fire had broken out below decks, and thick clouds of smoke were billowing out of every hatch and opening on the ship, but nearly thirty minutes later the ship had still not settled much lower in the water, and had radioed that she was under attack. At about 11:20 p.m. U-99 fired another torpedo at Laurentic, which struck near the stern. Again, amazingly, this had no discernable effect on the ship. A now totally bewildered Kretschmer decided to fire a third torpedo at the hole made by the first in order to break the ship's back. At 11:30 p.m. he closed to 250 yards, casting increasingly nervous glances at the onrushing Patroclus, and fired the third torpedo at Laurentic, which struck the ship exactly where he had intended. This seemed to do the trick, and Laurentic began to settle noticeably in the water. The ship fired starshell, which illuminated the whole area, and her forward gun opened fire on the U-boat. This, plus the rapidly approaching Patroclus, forced U-99 to withdraw some distance from the scene.

As Patroclus approached the scene, she dropped two depth charges set for 150 feet, with the intention of scaring off the U-boat that they believed, wrongly, had submerged (inexplicably, Patroclus’ lookouts had failed to spot the U-boat, which was still on the surface a mere 350 yards from them). When the ship reached Laurentic she immediately began the slow process of hauling up lifeboats. The crew of U-99 had both heard and felt the dull booming of Patroclus' depth charges, but the only effect this had was to clue Kretschmer into the fact that she did not know where his U-boat was. He turned U-99 around to face the warships once again. Since the starshell fired by the Laurentic had by now gone out, the area was again cloaked in darkness. U-99 closed to within 300 yards without being spotted, and, at 12:22 a.m., fired a torpedo which struck Patroclus near the stern, immediately beneath a loaded lifeboat that was being hauled aboard. The lifeboat, the men aboard it, and a huge section of Patroclus' hull were blown to pieces. Kretschmer and his officers were astounded to see a large number of empty oil drums erupt from the ship's newly torn hull to bob like corks on the ocean swell. At 12:44 a.m. U-99 fired a second torpedo at the same section of Patroclus' hull, but it malfunctioned and yawed wildly off course, striking the ship below the foremast. A large section of the forward well deck disintegrated, and several of Patroclus' crew vanished into the smoking void. A third torpedo was fired at 1:18 a.m., and another volley of escaping oil drums confounded the U-boat's commander. Kretschmer concluded, correctly, that they had been placed in Patroclus' hold in order to sustain the ship's buoyancy and survivability in the event of a torpedo attack. He further concluded that Laurentic's reluctance to sink was likely due to the same reason.

H.M.S. Laurentic pictured in pre-war service as a passenger liner with the White Star line.

A sudden salvo of high explosive shells from Patroclus' guns landing within feet of his submarine broke his train of thought and tore him back to reality. Kretschmer knew that a single hit would likely render him unable to dive, making U-99 a virtual sitting duck. The submarine powered up to full surface speed, and sheered off in the general direction of the spot where Casanare had gone down. All that remained of her now was two lifeboats full of survivors, who stared, transfixed, as U-99 sailed past them. The roar of an aircraft engine suddenly got Kretschmer's undivided attention. He looked up to see a British Sunderland flying boat, bristling with machine guns and depth charges, swooping down on him barely 50 feet above the water. An already iffy situation had just become infinitely more perilous, and Kretschmer cleared the conning tower and ordered an alarm dive. Meanwhile, aboard Patroclus, the crew had gone to "mine and torpedo" stations, falling in abreast at their assigned lifeboats with life vests and warm clothing, while a few crewmen disarmed the fuses on the ship's remaining depth charges. After a few somber words of encouragement from Commander Martin, the crew began abandoning ship.

Leveling off far below periscope depth, the U-boat's crew waited fearfully for the explosions of the depth charges they felt sure were plunging toward them. Amazingly, nothing happened, and Kretschmer ordered the forward torpedo tubes reloaded. He decided to wait another 30 minutes before resurfacing, in case the Sunderland was still circling the scene. When U-99 surfaced once again, at about 3:30 a.m., her commander saw that the flying boat had indeed departed. The sub made its way back to Patroclus. When they reached the scene Kretschmer was astounded to see that Laurentic was still afloat. She and Patroclus sat on the surface like two harpooned whales, hardly moving in the swell. All around the ships were the surviving crewmen of Laurentic and some from Patroclus, men in lifeboats, on carley floats, and in the water. Many of Patroclus' crew still remained aboard her, however.

A painting of U-99 in action against Patroclus, by German painter Joachim Sachse. Laurentic is seen sinking on the right.

Shortly after 4:00 a.m. a conning tower lookout aboard U-99 called Kretschmer's attention to a destroyer coming toward them on the horizon. The U-boat's crew had been at action stations all night, and the men were weary, but now "Silent Otto" was seeing red, and he wasn't about to let it go. The armed merchant cruisers floated mockingly on the surface before him, and Kretschmer said angrily "We have got to sink those ships before the destroyer gets here!"

At 4:35 a.m. U-99 turned and closed to within 250 yards of the nearer of the two ships, Laurentic, before firing at her a fourth time. The torpedo struck the ship in the stern, a large section of which fell away and sank immediately. This section contained the ship's depth charges, which were still strapped into their racks, and had not been defused. Some of these charges had been set shallow (set to explode a short distance underwater), and quickly detonated just after the stern section disappeared from sight. This, of course, set off the rest of the charges, and the resulting underwater explosion was tremendously violent. The blast shook Patroclus, forcing many of her remaining crew into the freezing water. It bounced the wooden lifeboats off the surface like rubber balls, and pitched U-99 over onto her side at a dangerous angle, slamming Kretschmer and his officers against the inside of the conning tower, and throwing the submarine's crew into panic and confusion for several minutes. As the U-boat righted itself, the officers on the conning tower saw Laurentic's bow slowly rise into the air, and at 4:53 a.m. she slid beneath the waves.

Patroclus now sat alone on the surface, and Kretschmer estimated that he had less than 30 minutes to sink her and get to safety before the destroyer arrived. At 5:16 a.m. U-99 turned toward her, and fired a fourth torpedo at a range of 300 yards. This struck her amidships again, and there was yet another deluge of empty oil drums, which fell like massive hammers among the men in the water, injuring many, and killing some. The U-boat then began shelling Patroclus with her deck gun, hitting her amidships and aft, and starting a fire in the aft well deck above the aft magazine. Luckily the magazine did not ignite, since the deck in that area was soon awash, and the fire went out. Patroclus responded with her S3 gun (starboard 3 inch), causing shrapnel damage to U-99's conning tower, forcing her gun crew off the deck, and forcing U-99 to back off.

An increasingly frustrated Kretschmer quickly fired his fifth torpedo, striking Patroclus near the bow, taking number S3 gun and her gun crew overboard. This torpedo smashed numbers 1 and 5 lifeboats, killing the men aboard them. With the fifth hit there were no more barrels, and Patroclus finally seemed to be sinking. The few crewmen remaining aboard her, mostly senior officers, flooded her magazines and threw confidential documents overboard. The wireless radio operator sent a report to the Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches that Patroclus had been torpedoed and was sinking.

Kretschmer cast an anxious glance toward the onrushing destroyer, which had now closed to within gun range. Patroclus was sinking, but painfully slowly, and the U-boat's commander decided to give her one final deathblow. At 5:25 a.m. the sixth torpedo slammed into the foundering ship's heavily damaged midsection, and broke her back. The ship convulsed, arching into the air like a cat, and, with a loud sound of buckling metal, she split in two. Patroclus' bow and stern rose into the air, and as the few remaining crew aboard her scrambled frantically to get off, the stern section dropped out of sight in mere seconds, the bow sinking more slowly. The men floating in the water swam as hard as they could to get away from the roiling spot where the ship's stern had disappeared, in a desperate attempt to avoid being dragged under by the suction of the sinking ship. Patroclus' bow, in what seemed like a final act of defiance, was still sticking several feet out of the water. It would not sink for a further two hours.

Having all but exhausted his supply of torpedoes, Kretschmer decided not to engage the oncoming destroyer, which had begun firing on him. He ordered an alarm dive, and U-99 left the area as quickly as it could. The destroyer, H.M.S. Achates, reached the scene moments later and immediately lit up the sky with several starshell. She began picking up survivors from the three sunken ships, and radioed for any other ship in the vicinity to approach and assist. Having made asdic (sonar) contact with the fleeing U-99, she dropped a couple of depth charges. This was quickly stopped, however, since it was determined to be too much of a danger to the men in the water. Some time later another destroyer, H.M.S. Hesperus, arrived on the scene and began picking up the few crewmen that remained in the water, including Commander Martin. The two destroyers then ferried the survivors of Patroclus, Laurentic, and Casanare to Greenock, Scotland. Some were on their way to naval bases for reassignment, others to hospitals for long and painful periods of recuperation.

Kapitanleutnant Otto Kretschmer, commander of U-99 and top U-boat ace of World War II

Otto Kretschmer, while returning U-99 to her patrol area, recorded in his log the curious use of the empty oil drums, stacked by the hundreds in the holds of the armed merchant cruisers as a torpedo countermeasure. Ultimately it didn't save the ships, but it did force him to exhaust the lion's share of his torpedo supply to sink them. He would record a very similar incident less than a month later, when, on December 2nd, he attacked and sank another armed merchant cruiser, H.M.S. Forfar. Her holds were also jammed with oil drums, and it took 5 torpedoes to sink her.

Kretschmer also recorded the following in his war diary: "It seems strange that the second cruiser, Patroclus, should have gone out of her way to approach the scene and deliver herself into my hands."

It is interesting to note that the commanding officer of the destroyer H.M.S. Hesperus, which was so instrumental in the rescue of the survivors, was Captain Donald MacIntyre. Just over 4 months later, in March, 1941, MacIntyre (in command of another destroyer, H.M.S. Walker) would finally corner and sink U-99, southeast of Iceland, taking "Silent Otto" and most of his crew as prisoners of war.

H.M.S. Patroclus:
76 dead, including Bertram Leslie Moore of Dildo (3rd Contingent).

230 survivors, including the following Newfoundlanders:
James H. Paddock, Bonavista (3rd Contingent)
Albert Froude, Bourgoyne's Cove (3rd Contingent)
Joe Clarke, Dunfield, Trinity Bay (3rd Contingent)
William Mouland, Bonavista (3rd Contingent)
George Sheppard, Lark Harbour (4th Contingent)
Robert Greene, St. John's (7th Contingent)

Fred Gullage of Corner Brook (4th Contingent) was wounded and died in hospital in Scotland on January 1st, 1941.

The ship's Captain, William Wynter, was also lost.

H.M.S. Laurentic:
The following Newfoundlanders were lost on the Laurentic:
Roy McLeod, Bay Roberts (3rd Contingent)
Francis J. Roche, Placentia (5th Contingent)

The following Newfoundlanders survived the sinking of the Laurentic:
Leonard Nash, Branch (1st Contingent)
John Power, Branch (3rd Contingent)
William Lundrigan, Upper Island Cove (3rd Contingent)
Angus Crowley, Holyrood (3rd Contingent)
Patrick Gushue, Conception Harbour (3rd Contingent)
Percy Morris, Jeffreys (3rd Contingent)
James Whelan, Buchans (3rd Contingent)

The merchant steamer S.S. Casanare lost 8 crewmen.