U530 Submarine: The One that Surrended in Mar del Plata

U530 Submarine

Type IXc/40

Ordered: 15-08-40
Job number: 345
Shipyard: Deutsche Werft AG, Hamburg-Finkenwärder
Laid down: 08-12-41
Launched: 28-07-42
Baubelehrung: 8.KLA, Hamburg
Commissioned: 14-10-42
Feldpost: M 49 518

Destiny

• 10.42 - 02.43 in 4.U-Flottille, Stettin as Ausbildungsboot
• 03.43 - 09.44 in 10.U-Flottille, Lorient as Frontboot
• 10.44 - 05.45 in 33.U-Flottille, Flensburg as Frontboot

Commanders

• 14.10.42 - __.01.45: KL Kurt Lange
• __.01.45 - 10.07.45: OL Otto Wermuth

Record

• 5 Patrols. 2 sunk ships (12.063 tn) 1 damage.

Patrol	Comnander	Date	Hour	Ship	Origin	Type	Tonnage	Position	Method
1a	Lange	09/03/43	21:36	SS.Milos	Swedish	Steam merchant	3.058	AL1763	Torpedo
1a	Lange	05/04/43	22:11	MV.Sunoil	American	Motor Tanker	9.005	AK2521	Torpedo

Patrullas

1st Patrol

She left Kiel on 20 February 1943 for the North Atlantic.
U-530 was to form part of Group Neuland, located west of Ireland. On 7 March 1943, U-530 and ten other U-boats in the patrol line's northern section were sent to the northwest as Group Ostmark. The U-boats formed a patrol line from the 8th ahead of convoy SC121. This convoy had been sighted by U-405 on the 6th south of Greenland.
17 U-boats from Groups Wildfang, Burggraf, and Neptun operated against convoy SC121, apart from Group Ostmark. On the afternoon of the 9th, U-530 sank a straggling merchant ship from the convoy, the SS. Milos (Swedish 3,058 tons). Twelve ships of the convoy would be sunk and another damaged in the operations that would end on the 11th south of Iceland.
The Ostmark Group would be enlarged with the arrival of new U-boats and with three more from the Burggraf Group and would be renamed the Stürmer Group. The new Group would be located from the 14th in the central area of the North Atlantic to operate against convoys SC122 and HX229. In the operations against this convoy, a total of 21 Allied ships would be sunk, on the other hand, the U-384 would be lost. In the attacks, on the 17th, the U-530 would be damaged in a depth charge attack carried out by the destroyer HMS Beverley.
The U-530 and another six U-boats that had been part of the Stürmer Group would form the Seawolf Group, which would be joined by other recently arrived U-boats. On the 25th they were situated south-east of Cape Farewell and south of the patrol line deployed by Group Seeteufel. Both groups were waiting to intercept convoy SC123. From the 26th the patrol lines of Groups Seewolf and Seeteufel would overlap, thus extending the patrol line to 800 miles south of Cape Farewell.
U-305, situated at the northern end of the Seawolf line, sighted convoy HX230 on the 27th. U-530 was one of twenty-two U-boats detached from the two groups to harass convoy HX230. However, due to a strong storm which would develop into a hurricane on the 28th and air escorts arriving in the area on the 29th, the U-boats would not have much success. The operation would end on the 30th, when contact with the convoy was lost, with only one Allied ship sunk.
On the 4th of April, U-530, already returning to base, sighted convoy HX231 and notified Group Löwenherz. On the afternoon of the 5th, U-530 sank a straggler from this convoy, southeast of Cape Farewell, it was the tanker MV Sunoil (American 9,005 tons) that had been torpedoed ten hours earlier by U-563. Between the 11th and 13th of April, U-530 would form part of Group Lerche to attack convoy HX232, all of which would be repelled by the escorts. The operation would end on the 13th west of Ireland. The U530 would arrive at its new base in Lorient on April 22, 1943.

2nd Patrol

It left Kiel on May 29, 1943 towards the Central Atlantic.
On June 14, on its way to its area of ​​operations, it would be ordered to head southwest of the Canary Islands to perform U-Tanker duties. In mid-June it would resupply the U172, U572 and U759 so that they could continue operating and the U180 that was returning to the base.
U-530 arrived in Bordeaux on 3 July 1943.

3rd Patrol

She left Bordeaux on 21 September 1943 and arrived in La Pallice on 21 September 1943.

4th Patrol

She left La Pallice on 27 September 1943 and returned on 29 September 1943.

5th Patrol

She left La Pallice on 3 October 1943 and returned on 5 October 1943.

6th Patrol

She left La Pallice on 17 October 1943 to operate in the Caribbean.
In early November U-530 was resupplied by U-488 east of Bermuda. U-530 entered the Caribbean on the 21st via the Martinique Channel. The U-530 would patrol off the Gulf of Darien where it would unsuccessfully attack an oil tanker near San Blas. On December 26th it would torpedo and damage the turbine tanker Chapultepec (American 10,195 tons) northeast of Nombre de Dios, Panama. Three days later the U-530 would be damaged after being rammed by the tanker Esso Buffalo, due to the damage and breakdowns the U-530 would begin the return to base.
The U-530 would arrive at Lorient on February 22nd, 1944.

7th Patrol

It left Lorient on May 22nd, 1944 for the Caribbean.
On the evening of 23 June U-530 rendezvoused with the Japanese submarine I-52 off the Cape Verde Islands. U-530 supplied the Japanese submarine with a new radar system and two German technicians to operate it and a Japanese-speaking pilot to take I-52 to Lorient. Shortly after the rendezvous I-52 was attacked by an Avenger aircraft of VC-69 (Lt-Cdr J. Taylor) from the carrier USS Bogue. The carrier which was searching for U-530 had intercepted a transmission referring to the rendezvous with the submarine.
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U530 surrendered in Mar del Plata

The KL. Wermuth would take the U 530 southwards, arriving at the Mar de la Plata (Argentina) on 10 July 1945.
The crew of the U 530 would be interned and the U 530 would be handed over to representatives of the US Navy in Buenos Aires.
The U 530 would be used as an experimental submarine and would be sunk by a torpedo launched by the American submarine USS. Toro in some exercises on 28 November 1947 northeast of Cape Cod.

The Tale Behind the Painting

In the quiet vastness of the mid-Atlantic on June 23rd, 1944, a secretive exchange unfolds. The Type IXC-40 U-Boat, U-530, eases away from the Japanese C3 Class submarine, I-52, as two Japanese sailors in a rubber dinghy return to their vessel. The scene is shrouded in mystery and intrigue—surely, something clandestine is afoot. And, as history would later confirm, there indeed was.

I-52, later dubbed "Japan's Golden Submarine," was on a perilous mission, code-named "Momi," meaning "Evergreen" or "Fir Tree" in Japanese. Her destination was Lorient, a key port in German-occupied France. This was the maiden voyage of this brand-new C3-class submarine, and she carried a cargo of immense strategic value: essential raw materials like rubber, several civilian engineers and technicians lending their expertise to the Germans, nearly one hundred crew members, and, most tantalizingly, two tons of gold.

As dusk settled on that fateful June evening, the I-52 met with the German U-530. The Germans transferred a "Naxos" radar installation, along with two technicians to operate it and a pilot to guide the submarine safely to Lorient. With their mission complete, the two submarines parted ways, disappearing into the night.

Kapitäleutnant Kurt Lange, commander of the U-530, wisely decided to submerge and continue his patrol toward the Caribbean. In contrast, Commander Uno Kameo of the I-52, perhaps lulled into a false sense of security by the moonless night, chose not to.

But unbeknownst to both captains, Allied forces had been tracking them. Within hours, aircraft from the remarkably successful USS Bogue located the Japanese submarine. Relentless depth charges and torpedoes sent the I-52 to her watery grave, claiming the lives of 109 Japanese sailors and three German crew members.

In 1995, American explorer Paul Tidwell finally discovered and filmed the wreck of the I-52, sparking a new chapter in this tale—one that continues to unfold. Today, the site is recognized as an official Japanese War Grave.

And what of the two tons of gold? They remain untouched, still "up for grabs"—though any treasure hunter would be wise to consult Tidwell, the Japanese government, and a few others before making a claim.

And the U-530? She emerged unscathed from the war. After another year of service, she sailed into Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1945, surrendering to neutral authorities without a scratch.

U-Historia