WATCH: Surrender of German U-Boats at Lisahally Port (1945)

#SpotlightSunday features some silent footage from 1945 showing the surrender of German U-boat submarines at Lisahally Post during Operation Deadlight.

Staff Reporter

02:32:00 22 Nov 2020

Operation Deadlight was the Royal Navy's executive action which led to the sinking of 116 German U-Boats off the coast of Northern Ireland and Donegal between 27 November 1945 and 12 February 1946.

This was the culmination of the long-held determination of the British Government to ensure the total elimination of the German Navy’s submarine fleet after the end of WW2.

The Royal Navy therefore pressed ahead in the first half of 1944 with the detailed planning for the post-war transfer of all remaining German U-Boats to British ports. It was intended that the U-Boats would be moved to the naval port at Lisahally, and to the naval anchorage in Loch Ryan in south-west Scotland. 

                          

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The proposed transfer arrangements were code-named Operation Pledge.

Operation Pledge
On 4 May 1945 the German Navy had ordered all U-Boats to cease operations and return to Norwegian ports. This was superseded on 8 May when the Admiralty ordered all U-Boats to surrender, and for those at sea to head for designated reception ports; the prime one of which was Loch Eriboll in north west Scotland. As a result, 156 U-Boats surrendered on both sides of the Atlantic.

Of the 156 U-Boats that had surrendered either from sea or in ports at the end of the European War (plus the one that had been interned in Spain), 138 were transferred to Lisahally and Loch Ryan to await decisions on their final disposal. Of the remainder, nine had surrendered from sea in Canada, the USA and Argentina, and 10 were unseaworthy in European ports.

Thirty U-Boats were to be allocated to each of the UK, the USA and the USSR, but a decision was deferred about the fate of the unallocated submarines. This was taken at the 18th Meeting of the Commission on 29 October, when it was agreed that all unallocated submarines were to be sunk in the open sea in a depth of not less than one hundred metres by not later than 15 February 1946.

Thus, of the 135 U-Boats moored in Loch Ryan and at Lisahally, eight were allocated to the UK, one to the USA and 10 to the USSR. This left 116 U-Boats at Lisahally and in Loch Ryan awaiting final disposal by the Royal Navy. This therefore led to Operation Deadlight.