U 1021
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U 1021 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C / 41 |
| Field Post Number : | M 23 789 |
| Shipyard: | Blohm & Voss in Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | June 13, 1942 |
| Build number: | 221 |
| Keel laying: | May 6, 1943 |
| Launch: | April 13, 1944 |
| Commissioning: | May 25, 1944 |
| Commanders: | |
| Calls: | 1 company |
| Sinkings: |
no |
| Whereabouts: | ran into a sea mine in the British minefield HY A1 or ZME 25 in March 1945 and sank. |
U 1021 was a German submarine of the type VII C / 41 that was used by the German Navy during World War II in the Arctic Ocean and in the Celtic Sea .
Construction and commissioning
U 1021 was commissioned on August 25, 1941 and laid down on May 6, 1943 at Blohm & Voss , Hamburg . On April 13, 1944, took place launching . Oberleutnant zur See William Holpert put the boat into service on May 25, 1944 in Hamburg and took test drives on the Elbe until May 30 . then U 1021 moved to Kiel
Commitment and history
Until November 30, 1944, U 1021 served as a training boat in the 31st U-Flotilla , a training flotilla stationed in Hamburg. During this period, Commander Holpert undertook training trips in the Baltic Sea to train the crew and to retract the boat. As part of the various training and testing measures, the boat called at Danzig , Pillau , and Hela, among others . On December 1, 1944, U 1021 was assigned to the 11th U-Flotilla as a front boat, to which it belonged until it was sunk.
Ventures
For its first voyage, U 1021 left Kiel on February 4, 1945 and reached Horten (Norway) on February 8 . From here the boat drove to Bergen , where U 1021 arrived on February 13th. The boat left Bergen on February 16 and returned three days later. Commander Holpert had decided to cancel the planned operation because of the defective snorkel .
The subsequent operation began on February 20, 1945 and took the boat into the North Atlantic and the Celtic Sea. The planned patrol before Land's End was U 1021 , no longer perform.
Loss of the boat
The last contact with U 1021 was shortly after sailing. On March 14, 1945, the British freighter Rolsborg heard a severe explosion in the southern part of the Bristol Canal at position 50 ° 34 ′ N , 5 ° 7 ′ W , and several oil stains were also seen.
discovery
After the war ended, the Allies assumed that U 1021 had been sunk in the Minch Canal by the frigates HMS Rupert and HMS Conn . It later emerged that U 965 had been sunk in this attack at 58 ° 19 ′ N , 5 ° 31 ′ W , but the fate of U 1021 remained unclear. It was not until 2006 that the wreck was found in the Bristol Channel by divers at position 50 ° 34 ′ N , 5 ° 7 ′ W near U 325 and U 400 . It ran into an English submarine mine and sank. None of the 43-strong crew survived the sinking.
Web links
literature
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .
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