ss CITY OF CAIRO

U-68 - Kapitän zur See - Karl-Friedrich Merten

Karl-Friedrich Merten was born in Posen on 15^th August 1905.

He joined the German Navy in 1926. After training he spent many years on surface ships. He joined the U-Boat service on 1^st May 1940. From October 1940 until January 1941 he served on U-38 as a trainee Captain with the experienced Heinrich Liebe.

On 11^th February 1941, Merten commissioned U-68 and lead 5 successful patrols. He operated all over the world, patrolling in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Indian Oceans. U-68 was in the U-boat wolfpack "Gruppe Eisbär" (Polar Bear Group), consisting of four submarines, U-68 (Merten), U-156 (Hartenstein), U-172 (Emmermann), U-504 (Poske) a fifth U-boat, U-159 (Witte) joined the group later, which in the course of a few weeks during September/October 1942, sank more than 100,000 tons of shipping off South Africa.

On 22^nd September 1941 Merten torpedoed his first ship the 5,302 ton British steamer ss SILVERBELLE sailing in convoy SL87 and on the 6^th November 1942 he sunk his last ship the 8,034 ton British steamer ss CITY OF CAIRO. His total was 27 ships sunk at a tonnage of 170,151.

After this patrol he was appointed to the U-boat Flotilla in Pillau, and this and other training appointments curtailed his operational career. Nevertheless, when the war ended he stood seventh in the table of U-Boat commanders in terms of tonnage sunk. After the war he made a new career in shipbuilding, retiring in 1974.

Long after the sinking of ss CITY OF CAIRO he was invited to a post-war reunion of survivors where one observed: "We couldn't have been sunk by a nicer man".

Herr Merten wrote this letter to the Sunday Express in September 1984.

Kapitän zur See Karl-Friedrich Merten died on 2^nd May 1993.

Allied Tonnage Sunk

First patrol 30 June 1941 - 1 August 1941

U-68 left Kiel under the command of Karl-Friedrich Merten on 30^th June 1941 and arrived at Lorient four and a half weeks later on 1^st August 1941. No ships were sunk during this patrol. See below for ships sunk during the remaining patrols.

During this patrol, on 22^nd September 1941, Merten also claimed the following two ships from Convoy SL87:

• The British ss NICETO DE LARRINGA 5,597 tons
• The British ss EDWARD BLYDEN 5,003 tons

Other sources suggest that both were sunk by U-103 (Winter)

Metens's five patrols in U-68 sunk a total of 27 (confirmed) allied merchant ships at a total tonnage of 170,151 tons.

U-68, under the command of Albert Lauzemis, was sunk north west of Madeira, Portugal on 10^th April 1944 by aircraft from the USS GUADALCANAL. Lauzemis and 55 crew members died. There was only one survivor.

This is a piece of one of the ballast tanks that floated up when the U-68 was sunk. The tanks were pulled aboard the ship, cut up, and made into "paperweights".