Operation Regenbogen彩虹行动
On 30 April, 1945, in order to preserve the honour of the Kriegsmarine, Dönitz ordered that the entire fleet should be scuttled, only ships that would be needed for fishing, transport and mine clearance after the war should remain intact. He kept the hopeless military struggle on for a few more days both in order to rescue as many as possible from the Baltic states and also to ensure the Kriegsmarine commanders had enough time to prepare to scuttle their ships.
The code name Regenbogen was to signal the order to scuttle the ships. But at 1514 hours on May 4 Dönitz was forced to withdraw this order by condition of the Allied commanders. But the U-boat commanders in the Western Baltic believed this new surrender order to be against Dönitz will and scuttled their vessels anyway.
When things settled down 232 U-boats had been scuttled in the Western Baltic. Of these 231 U-boats 16 were not in commission (paid off) and 5 had not been launched.
On 30 April, 1945, in order to preserve the honour of the Kriegsmarine, Dönitz ordered that the entire fleet should be scuttled, only ships that would be needed for fishing, transport and mine clearance after the war should remain intact. He kept the hopeless military struggle on for a few more days both in order to rescue as many as possible from the Baltic states and also to ensure the Kriegsmarine commanders had enough time to prepare to scuttle their ships.
The code name Regenbogen was to signal the order to scuttle the ships. But at 1514 hours on May 4 Dönitz was forced to withdraw this order by condition of the Allied commanders. But the U-boat commanders in the Western Baltic believed this new surrender order to be against Dönitz will and scuttled their vessels anyway.
When things settled down 232 U-boats had been scuttled in the Western Baltic. Of these 231 U-boats 16 were not in commission (paid off) and 5 had not been launched.