Main Shipbuilding Committee
The main shipbuilding committee , abbreviated to HAS, was a committee of the Reich Ministry for Armaments and Ammunition , which was responsible for the planning and production of submarines for the German Navy .
Armament reorganization
After the Reich Minister for Armaments and Ammunition Fritz Todt was killed in a plane crash on February 8, 1942, Adolf Hitler appointed Albert Speer as his successor. As part of the reorganization of his ministry, Speer set up 13 main committees to control the war-important requirement areas. At Speer's suggestion, naval armaments were also incorporated into this system.
Foundation and organization
The main shipbuilding committee was founded in the spring of 1942 under the leadership of State Councilor Rudolf Blohm ( Blohm & Voss ). The HAS was divided into sub-committees that dealt with various priority areas, such as merchant shipbuilding or ship electrical engineering. The warship construction subcommittee, to which Robert Kabelac was subordinated, was further subdivided into special committees for the individual submarine types of the Kriegsmarine. From July 1942 Otto Merker , former director of the Magiruswerke , was head of the HAS. A year later, the joint decree of July 22, 1943 by OKM ( High Command of the Navy ) and the Reich Ministry for Armaments and Ammunition redefined the tasks of the HAS. As a result, the committee was reorganized, subordinated to the Ministry of Armaments and entrusted with the thorough construction and production planning of the shipbuilding projects and repair orders of the navy as well as with their control and the coordination of the operating facilities. The now more numerous tasks of the HAS were partially carried out by central design offices. The engineering office Glückauf in Halberstadt and Blankenburg took over the thorough construction and production planning of the submarine projects .
Submarine building program from 1943
From the summer of 1943, the HAS was responsible, among other things, for the production of the new Type XXI submarines as part of the new submarine construction program . The characteristics of the so-called "electric boats" of the Type XXI were - in contrast to the previous models - mainly geared to underwater travel. This submarine class was the first step from a “submersible” to a “pure” submarine. The main shipbuilding committee redesigned the draft plans accordingly, then organized the construction of these boats in sectional construction and finally coordinated the suppliers.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Eberhard Rössler : History of the German submarine building Volume 1 , Bernard & Graefe Verlag Bonn 1996 ISBN 3 86047 153 8 , page 221
- ^ Eberhard Rössler: History of the German U-Boat Building Volume 1 , Bernard & Graefe Verlag Bonn 1996 ISBN 3 86047 153 8 , page 212
- ^ Eberhard Rössler: History of the German U-Boat Building Volume 1 , Bernard & Graefe Verlag Bonn 1996 ISBN 3 86047 153 8 , page 355
- ^ Ulrich Gabler : Unterseebootbau , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1997; ISBN 3 7637 5958 1 , page 12
- ↑ Eckard Wetzel: U 2540 The U-Boat at the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven , Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1996 ISBN 3 86070 556 3 , page 53