Unterseeboot 219

Unterseeboot 219 (U-219) was a German Type XB minelaying U-boat. She ventured to the South Atlantic with the second Monsun Gruppe to the Indian Ocean. This group of U-boats was part of U-Flotte 33 also comprised U-848, U-849, U-850, U-177 and U-510. U-219's mission had been to lay mines off Cape Town and Colombo, but when the group's U-tanker was destroyed U-219 was required to refuel the rest of the group at sea so they could return to Germany. Only U-510 continued to Penang Island.

Her next voyage from Bordeaux in France was as a cargo carrying transport. Her cargo included part of a consignment of twelve dismantled V-2 rockets for Japan. Her sister vessel U-234 carried a civilian V-2 expert to advise the Japanese on the V-2 rocket's manufacture. It is also likely she carried uranium oxide in her hollow keel boxes. Japanese "Cherry boats" or I-class submarines operated under the Yanagi scheme as transports from France are known to have carried uranium oxide powder in an amalgam with mercury. From a practical view point this would have overcome the problem of pressure crushing the containment vessel, as the material was stored outside the pressure hull.

U-219 and U-195 both sailed for the far east from France in August 1944 along with U-180. U-219 and U-195 shared the consignment of twelve V-2 rockets and both reached Djakarta in December 1944. U-219 was seized by the Japanese after Germany's surrender and was eventually captured at Surabaya.