Submarine class XXVII
| XXVII class | |
|---|---|
 XXVII B-boat in the Naval Museum Wilhelmshaven |
|
| Overview | |
| Type | Small submarines |
| units | A total of 338 User: Kriegsmarine (all boats)
|
| Shipyard |
Krupp Germaniawerft , Kiel |
| Order | March 1944 |
| delivery | 1944-1945 |
| period of service |
1944-1945 |
| Commissioning | May 1944 |
| Technical specifications | |
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The submarine class XXVII was a series of miniature submarines of the German Navy , which comprised a total of five variants. All were intended for use by the small combat units of the Kriegsmarine .
development
As long as the boats of the submarine types used fulfilled their main task, the attack on Allied convoys , in accordance with the pack tactics developed by Karl Dönitz , ideas for the development of miniature submarines were rejected by the Navy. The successful attack by the Royal Navy submarines on the Tirpitz , in which the German battleship was severely damaged by detention mines, led to a change in the assessment of the usefulness of such submarines. In the autumn of 1943, a small submarine was designed in the main office for warship construction (K-Amt) to transport detention mines and to be controlled by a crew of two. In contrast to the somewhat larger midgets of the British X-Class, the Type XXVII boats should be able to reach their place of use - anchoring enemy ships - in a continuous dive.
Type XXVII A - pike
The type XXVII A called Hecht was designed for diving and had no diving cells , only control cells . The drive was provided by a 12 HP electric motor from AEG , which was actually designed for driving torpedoes. After completion of the construction phase , the naval war command decided that the Type XXVII A should be equipped with torpedoes in addition to detention mines in order to be able to attack not only anchored, but also moving enemy ships. The first order to build a Type XXVII A boat was issued on March 9, 1944. The boat was put into service on May 23, 1944 as U 2111 .
Technical specifications
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| Length: | 10.4 m |
| Width: | 1.7 m |
| Displacement: | 11.8 m³ |
| E-machines: | AEG E-motor, 12 HP |
| Battery: | 5 troughs of the type: 8 MAL 210 |
| Range: | 38 nm at 4 kn |
| Top speed: | 6 kn |
| Armament: | 1 torpedo |
| Crew: | 2 men |
On March 28, the Germania shipyard received a building contract for further XXVII boats , which had completed 53 pikes by the end of August 1944 and handed them over to the Navy. In the meantime, the K-Office developed the concept further.
Type XXVII B
This type designation comprises a number of drafts (B1 to B4), none of which has been approved for production. The design was reminiscent of the pike . However, the models had one more torpedo and had a bow attached to the front of the hull, which should enable surface travel. Accordingly, the drive was supplemented by a diesel engine.
Technical specifications
| Length: | 10.6 m |
| Width: | 1.7 m |
| Displacement: | 14.9 m³ |
| Diesel drive: | D-engine, 22 HP |
| E-machines: | E-motor, 12 HP |
| Top speed over water: | 5.5 kn |
| Maximum speed under water: | 6.9 kn |
| Armament: | 2 torpedoes |
| Crew: | 2 men |
However, the fifth version of the type came into production under the designation seal . The Germania shipyard in Kiel also built 146 models of the successor model Type XXVII B5 . The first order for the construction of 3 boats of the type XXVII B5 took place on April 28, 1944. As U 5013 , the first seal of the Germania shipyard was put into service on October 20, 1944. The Schichau shipyard in Elbing was also commissioned to build XXVII B5 boats in July 1944 . This construction contract included 500 boats. The shipyard was intended for the construction of 50% of the entire German seal production and delivered a total of 151 XXVII B5 boats to the Navy by February 13, 1945 .
Technical data type XXVII B5 - seal
| Length: | 11.9 m |
| Width: | 1.7 m |
| Displacement: | 14.9 m³ |
| Diesel engine: | 60 hp |
| E-machines: | 25 hp |
| Fuel oil (fuel): | 0.5 t |
| Range e-machine: | 63 nm at 3 kn |
| Range diesel: | 300 nm at 7 kn |
| Armament: | 2 torpedoes |
| Crew: | 2 |
Based on the properties of the seal , which promised more success in offensive use than the Biber and Molch models, some of which were developed and produced in parallel , further developments of the Type XXVII were designed, but none of them were produced anymore.
Type XXVII F
Under the type designation XXVII F , a miniature submarine was designed in the K office in the summer of 1944, which was to be equipped with a Walter turbine system. The boats of this submarine class were supposed to transport a torpedo in a bulge below the hull.
Technical specifications
| Length : | 11.2 m |
| Width : | 1.0 m |
| Drive : | 1 × 200 PS Walter turbine |
| Speed : | 22.6 kn (submerged) |
| Armament : | 1 torpedo |
| Crew : | 1 |
Since the Walter turbine with seawater injection planned for this submarine class was still a long way from being ready for series production at this point in time, the project was initially postponed and finally ended. Instead, considerations were resumed for a slightly larger model with a Walterturbine and fresh water injection. In the late summer of 1944, the Hamburgische Schiffbau-Versuchsanstalt carried out towing tests for the somewhat larger version of this submarine class, the Type XXVII F2 . It emerged that despite the torpedo being embedded in a trough-shaped indentation below the hull, the interaction of the flow characteristics of the torpedo and the boat resulted in considerable water resistance. These findings, the limited sailing range associated with these properties or the resulting limited range, as well as the tense situation in industrial production meant that this draft was not pursued by the Office for Warship Building either.
Type XXVII G
The development of Class XXVII G did not go beyond a project study - due to the decision of the High Command of the Navy (OKM) , work was stopped in favor of the seal . Individual development components then flowed into the final version of the seal .
Type XXVII K
On April 28, 1944, the Kriegsmarine commissioned three XXVII K type submarines from Kiel's Germania shipyard . The boats had the construction numbers 938 to 940 and were given the boat numbers U 5188, U 5189 and U 5190 . The three XXVII K -small submarines were not completed by the end of the war.
Technical specifications
| Length : | 13.9 m |
| Width : | 1.7 m |
| Propulsion over water : | 1 × 100 HP diesel engine, 80 HP in circuit |
| Propulsion under water : | 1 × 8 HP slow-speed electric motor |
| Speed : | 9.5 kn (10 kn submerged) |
| Armament : | 2 torpedoes |
| Crew : | 2 |
See also
Notes and individual references
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945 . Volume 1: The construction of submarines in German shipyards . Publishing house ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg u. a. 1997, page 197 and page 207
- ↑ a b c d e Eberhard Rössler : History of the German submarine building . Volume 2: Development, construction and characteristics of the German submarines from 1943 until today . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1996, p. 540
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945 . Volume 1: The construction of submarines in German shipyards . Publishing house ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg u. a. 1997, p. 201 and p. 207
- ↑ Elbing was captured by the Red Army on February 13, 1945 .
- ↑ Eberhard Rössler: History of the German submarine building . Volume 2: Development, construction and characteristics of the German submarines from 1943 until today . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1996, p. 478
- ↑ Harald Fock: Naval small weapons. Manned torpedoes, small submarines, small speedboats, explosives yesterday - today - tomorrow. Nikol, Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-930656-34-5 , pp. 75/76.
- ↑ Harald Busch, Hans Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945 . Volume 2: The submarine construction at German shipyards , AS Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg u. a. 1997, p. 205