U-234

This article is about a fictional representation of a real world subject.

U-234, alternatively called U-1324 in the anime, was a German Navy attack submarine that was active in World War II. She was led by Captain Wentzel H. Ahbe with 44 crew members.

Features

The U-234 was a U-boat equipped with torpedoes and sonar technology like any other attack submarine. In the manga, she was a Type VII-C U-boat, whereas in the anime she was a Type IXC U-boat. On her exterior, the submarine had the laughing swordfish emblem of the 9th U-boat Flotilla.

History

Das Wieder Erstehen Des Adlers

U-234 departing from Nazi Germany

In 1945 in the last days of Nazi Germany, the U-234 was docked at a naval base in Kiel, Germany. Captain Ahbe's last order in the closing months of World War II in Europe was to take the U-234 and its veteran crew from the Kriegsmarine naval base at Kiel to ostensibly return Japanese Lieutenant Colonel Matsudo to Batavia (now Jakarta). Before the U-boat left, the SS officer Lieutenant Colonel Spielberger forced his way onboard using papers from the Nazi secret police. Unknown to the crew members, Spielberger was carrying the painting The Twelve Knights led by Brunhilda on orders from his superior Lieutenant General Lackenbauer of the SD. As U-234 departed from Kiel, Ahbe and Matsudo conversed with each other on the conning tower, getting along well. On the other hand, both men had suspicion about Spielberger and his icy presence.

U-234's deck and crew

Near the Cape Verde Islands, the sailors began to capture sea turtles to cook for dinner, and Matsudo played shogi with Fritz. Meanwhile, Spielberger continued sitting alone in the barracks area whereas everyone else fraternized with each other. In due time, Ahbe succeeded in navigating her around Cape Agulhas safely to the Indian Ocean, where the crew spotted a British freighter. The captain wanted to attack them since Britain was Nazi Germany's enemy, but Spielberger advised against it because the former was not ordered to do so. Fritz asked his captain what they would do, and Ahbe ordered him to have their men hurry up with the torpedo launcher under maintenance. He then advised the SS officer to get below deck, but the latter claimed that an attack would be an unnecessary risk. Staring at Spielberger, Ahbe sternly asked Spielberger how he could recommend ignoring the enemy since he did not want Nazi soldiers to die for nothing, and Spielberger nonchalantly responded that sinking the ship would have no effect on Germany's fate. Guiding Spielberger back into the boat, Ahbe declared that his men would keep fighting until the very end.

Near the Nicobar Islands on March 25, 1945 close to their destination, Ahbe's crew ran into trouble when they encountered United States Navy destroyers in the area. Quietly traveling below the ocean surface, Ahbe ordered the garrison crew to set course to two-zero-zero. Fritz looked at his map and assessed that they could get behind the enemy if U-234 turned twice, adding that the second turn would be in four minutes. A sonar operator detected more ships in the area, so Ahbe ordered the U-boat to set both engines to full power, set course to one-seven-zero, and fire a torpedo. Accordingly, U-234 fired a torpedo at one of the Allied ships, which moved away. At that point, the crew members stopped the boat to make her silently run, with the garrison crew being silent in anxious anticipation. As Fritz noted one ship right above them, the same ship immediately deployed several depth charges. Quickly thinking, Ahbe shouted an order to turn 20 degrees to port and dive to 40 meters, but the depth charges hit U-234 before she could move. Hearing about the water leak in the rear compartment, Ahbe ordered his men like Sören and Schultz to get bracing frames to the diesel room. He also heard his men urging him to close the fore hatch since the torpedo room was flooded beyond saving. Forty seconds later, with failing ballast tanks preventing her from controlling buoyancy, U-234 crashed against the ocean floor at a steep angle, further damaging the boat and leaving it stranded at a depth of 57 meters on the seafloor.

With only two hours of air left, Ahbe relieved his crew of their military duties and allowed them to face death however they chose, but Matsudo had already committed ritual suicide. Ahbe went elsewhere in the living quarters to inform Spielberger that the U-boat would never rise again. Angered, Spielberger berated Ahbe, fervently telling the captain about the importance of his mission to deliver the painting. Thinking about his life and final moments, Ahbe admitted that although he fought for his country, he despised the Nazi cause, expressing his bitterness to Spielberger that the Nazis and Hitler had brought Germany to ruin. Additionally, Ahbe questioned Spielberger's devotion to country over family and expressed satisfaction that U-234's sinking would have meaning if it meant his children would never see the Nazi flag fly again, leading the furious Spielberger to shoot him in the head, killing him. Standing up, Spielberger put his own pistol to his head when another sailor came to the quarters and was distraught at discovering his dead captain. Turning around, Spielberger shot the man dead. Hearing the gunshots, Fritz and other men ran to the barracks, where the former was immediately shot in the right shoulder by the SS officer, felling him. Another man shot Spielberger in the chest, knocking him back. Even with his chest wound, he shot back at the men until he died. In addition to the gunfight, the remaining sailors died from a loss of oxygen.

Close to fifty years later in late 1994, the U-234 wreckage was discovered by a French telecommunications company while undersea cable was being laid. Her location was in international waters in territory disputed by several countries, preventing any government from exploring the U-boat immediately. In March 1995, the Lagoon Company received a $50,000 (plus expenses) job from a Spanish antiques dealer, who unknown to them was Alfred, to retrieve the painting from inside the boat. Benny informed everyone about the U-234's history as well as the details of how to enter the boat via its torpedo tubes. Afterward, Dutch had Rock and Revy use scuba gear to dive down 50 meters below the ocean surface. As Rock and Revy continued to dive, a large ship, the White Heather, fired TOW missiles without warning at Black Lagoon, forcing the PT boat to flee the salvage area. Revy used explosives to create an opening into the U-boat, sealing off the entrance after she and Rock got inside. Rock was freaked out by the various skeletons throughout, but Revy nonchalantly walked through and in the living quarters noticed blood and the positions of the skeletons, indicating a shootout.

Revy and Rock discovering the shootout aftermath

Examining Spielberger's skeleton further, Rock found the painting under his arm and put it in a waterproof container. On the other hand, Revy still wanted some time to collect the artifacts in the U-boat, including Ahbe's Iron Cross and other war medals. Seeing Fritz's skeleton, Rock asked the skeleton not to stare at him because he also looked down on Revy's actions. When she returned from retrieving the valuables, Rock tried to advise her that she should leave the artifacts behind since they had meaning to the deceased, but Revy told him that the objects only had worth as money, threatening to kill Rock if he ever moralized to her again. At that moment, members of the neo-Nazi Aryan Socialist Union, who were also hired by Alfred to retrieve the painting using White Heather, went inside not knowing about Revy and Rock inside. Revy, preparing her firearm, then shot at one of the neo-Nazis, starting a firefight. As Rock tried to take cover, he accidentally tripped on a skeleton and let go of the painting onto the other side, allowing the neo-Nazis to steal their treasure and leave via their diving vessel.

Kruppen Feller brought the painting back up to the ASU's ship, and below them Revy escaped the U-234 to try and attack. Rock quickly followed Revy out of the U-boat to prevent Revy from attacking, leaving the U-234 flooded. Later, Dutch picked up Revy and Rock at the diving spot, and he and Revy got the painting back after raiding the ASU's ship.

Trivia

• The U-234 was based on the real WWII German submarine U-234 with different events. Whereas the real U-234 left on March 25, 1945 from Kiel and surrendered in May 1945 to Allied Forces, in the manga/anime, that date was the day when the U-boat was attacked in the ocean. The character Lieutenant Colonel Matsudo was based on the real passenger Lieutenant Colonel Genzō Shōji, who also studied aeronautics in Nazi Germany. There were no SS officers aboard the U-234 in real life.