This was the Villa Kerlilon, which was used by Donitz and his staff as a headquarters for the Atlantic campaign. The last part of the Lorient U-boat base was across the inlet at Kernevel, in Larmor-Plage. However little more than the foundations were completed. In the summer of 1943 work began on a fourth phase of construction, a set of 6 pens (designated KIVb) alongside K1 another six (KIVa) by K2. Royal Canadian Air Force records show 427 Squadron conducted raids from base in Croft. However Allied bombing strategy gave a low priority to these installations and they were not seriously attacked during the first 2 years of operation. This comprised 7 double side wet pens that U-boats could simply sail in and out of.Īll these structures had a substantial bomb-proof roof, though the rails delivering boats to K1 and K2 were left exposed. While these were suitable for boats needing an extended stay the access was too complicated for boats needing a fast turnaround, and a third installation, K3, was built at sea level. A second set of protected bays, K2, were built opposite K1, completing in December 1941. Work commenced in February 1941 and was completed in September that year. The first installation, designated K1, comprised a boat lift and rails to deliver the U-boats to one of 5 enclosed bays. Īs work progressed on the Scorff pens, it became apparent the site was prone to silting, and would require constant dredging, while the soft ground was unable to take the weight of the structures, so plans were advanced for a new set of pens on the rocky Keroman peninsula, where the Etang de Kermeloe branches from the main estuary. These structures were reminiscent of church naves, and were nicknamed "Dom" bunkers ( Dom being the German word for a cathedral). At the same time, in the trawler port, two large above-ground bunkers were constructed to protect U-boats that may require repairs or refit. Work commenced in November 1940, and the installation comprised two wet docks capable of accommodating the larger Type IX U-boat. However the trawler dock was in the open, and offered no protection from air raids, so work commenced on a series of enclosed pens protected by bomb-proof concrete roofs on the banks of the River Scorff, a branch of the Blavet, adjacent to the Lorient Arsenal( fr). The boatlift and turntable was designed to lift a pelagic trawler and could accommodate vessels up to 65 metres in length, just adequate to raise and carry a Type VII U-boat. This was a quayed inlet with a boat lift that could raise vessels out of the water, to be placed, via a turntable into one of twelve bays arranged in a circle. The first area put into use as a U-boat dock was the fisherman's wharf of Keroman( fr) on the River Blavet, between the districts of Keroman and La Perriere. She was repaired and resupplied in 7 days, departing on her next patrol on 13 July. U-30 had departed Wilhelmshaven on 8 June and arrived at Lorient on 7 July after a 30 day patrol which had accounted for 5 allied ships. A special train loaded with replenishment supplies and ordnance, and the personnel to manage them arrived in Lorient at the end of June, and the first U-boat, U-30 docked a week later. Already a French naval base, Lorient had the facilities Dönitz needed, as well as numerous cafes and bars, and a red-light district. Dönitz lost no time in sending teams of engineers and base personnel to the ports, beginning with Lorient. From the coast of France these distances were substantially reduced, with a corresponding increase in the active range and endurance of the U-boat force. Prior to this U-boats had to travel from ports in Germany to their patrol areas, losing valuable time in the long transits necessary. After the fall of France in June 1940 the head of Germany’s U-boat Arm, Konteradmiral Karl Dönitz, was keen to use the French Atlantic ports as forward bases for his U-boat force then engaged in a commerce war against the United Kingdom.
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