U 117 (Navy)
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U 117 (Kriegsmarine) ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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 Air raid on U 66 and U 117 (right) |
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| Type : | XB |
| Field Post Number : | M 45 207 |
| Shipyard: | Germania shipyard , Kiel |
| Construction contract: | January 31, 1939 |
| Build number: | 616 |
| Keel laying: | July 1, 1939 |
| Launch: | July 26, 1941 |
| Commissioning: | October 25, 1941 |
| Commanders: |
October 25, 1941 - August 7, 1943 |
| Flotilla: |
2nd U-Flotilla training boat |
| Calls: | 5 activities |
| Sinkings: |
none (2 ships with 14,269 GRT damaged, 46 dead) |
| Whereabouts: | sunk in the North Atlantic on August 7, 1943 (all 62 dead on board) |
U 117 was a German submarine of the type XB , a class of submarine miners that was usedby the German navy during World War II . On its five patrols it damaged two ships with 14,269 GRT, with 46 people killed on a British ship with armaments. When it was sunk on August 7, 1943 in the North Atlantic, all 62 men on board died; two men of the crew were on U 66 .
history
The order for the boat was placed on January 31, 1939 at the Germania shipyard in Kiel . The keel was laid on July 1, 1939, the launch on July 26, 1941, and commissioning under Corvette Captain Hans-Werner Neumann finally took place on October 25, 1941. Like most German submarines of its time, the U 117 also had a boat-specific emblem that was selected by the crew to represent the boat and crew. It was the comic-style stylized depiction of a shark with a sea mine in its mouth.
After its commissioning on October 25, 1941 to January 31, 1942 as a training boat for the 2nd U-Flotilla in Wilhelmshaven and from February 1, 1942 to September 30, 1942 as a training boat for the 1st U-Flotilla in Kiel . After training, U 117 was a front boat in the 1st U-Flotilla in Brest from October 1, 1942 to October 14, 1942 , and from October 15, 1942 to November 30, 1942 as a front boat in the 11th U-Flotilla in Bergen , and finally from December 1, 1942 until its sinking on August 7, 1943 as a front boat for the 12th U-Flotilla in Bordeaux .
Use statistics
Corvette captain Hans-Werner Neumann completed five operations during his command of U 117 , on which he damaged two ships with 14,269 GRT.
First venture
The boat left Kiel on September 19, 1942 at 7:00 a.m. and returned there on October 5, 1942 at 5:05 p.m. No ships could be sunk or damaged on this 16-day, 2,124 nm above and 277 nm underwater undertaking, on which 66 mines were laid off the east coast of Iceland .
Second venture
The boat left Kiel on October 10, 1942 at 6:30 a.m. and entered Königsberg on October 10, 1942 to take over the mine . It left again on October 12, 1942, and entered Kristiansand on October 15, 1942 to supplement it with fuel and provisions . It was on October 17, 1942 at 7:00 Kristiansand, and ran November 22, 1942 at 10:15 am in Lorient one. No ships were sunk or damaged on this 43-day expedition into the North Atlantic , off Iceland (66 mines were laid off the Isafjardhadjup ), and the central North Atlantic. Eight submarines were supplied.
- November 4, 1942: U 753 is supplied with 50 m³ of fuel.
- November 9, 1942: U 454 is supplied with 55 m³ of fuel.
- November 11, 1942: U 402 is supplied with 20 m³ of fuel.
- November 11, 1942: U 381 is supplied with 27 m³ of fuel.
- November 12, 1942: U 438 is supplied with 20 m³ of fuel.
- November 12, 1942: U 89 is supplied with 22 m³ of fuel.
- November 12, 1942: U 624 is supplied with 20 m³ of fuel.
- November 13, 1942: U 606 is supplied with 10 m³ of fuel.
Third company
The boat left Lorient on December 23, 1942 at 4:30 p.m. and returned there on February 7, 1943. No ships were sunk or damaged on this 46-day, approximately 3,920 nm above and 394.1 nm underwater expedition in the central North Atlantic, southwest of Ireland . Ten submarines were supplied.
- January 1, 1943: U 628 is supplied with 20 m³ of fuel.
- January 1, 1943: U 336 is supplied with 15 m³ of fuel.
- January 4, 1943: U 524 is supplied with 25 m³ of fuel.
- January 4, 1943: U 435 is supplied with 18 m³ of fuel.
- January 5, 1943: U 591 is supplied with 20 m³ of fuel.
- January 10, 1943: U 662 is supplied with 50 m³ of fuel.
- January 12, 1943: U 123 is supplied with 22 m³ of fuel.
- January 13, 1943: U 706 is supplied with 55 m³ of fuel.
- January 13, 1943: U 455 is supplied with 20 m³ of fuel.
- January 24, 1943: U 260 is supplied with 8 m³ of fuel.
- January 30, 1943: Second supply of U 662 with 8 m³ of fuel.
The boat left Lorient on March 7, 1943 at 5:00 p.m. and entered Brest on March 8, 1943 . There the boat came into the dock and was in the shipyard. Then it was equipped with mines.
Fourth venture
The boat left Brest on March 31, 1943 at 5.15 p.m. and entered Bordeaux on May 14, 1943 at 3.30 p.m. On this 44 day long and approx. 4,530 nm above and 689 nm underwater long undertaking in the Central Atlantic, on which 66 mines were laid off Casablanca . Nine submarines were supplied.
- April 11, 1943: Damage to the US steamer Matt W. Ransom with 7,177 GRT. The steamer was damaged by a mine hit. The ship belonged to convoy UGS-6a. The steamer had 8,000 t of general cargo loaded and was on the New York - Casablanca route. There were no losses.
- April 25, 1943: Damage to the British steamer Empire Morn with 7,092 GRT. The steamer was damaged by a mine hit. The ship had naval, military and RAF equipment loaded. Newport - Casablanca - Gibraltar route. There were 46 dead and 25 survivors. The steamer was brought to Gibraltar but not repaired and sold to Spain in 1947.
- April 16, 1943: U 518 is supplied with 35 m³ of fuel and provisions.
- April 23, 1943: U 516 is supplied with 20 m³ of fuel. On April 23, 1943, provisions for two weeks.
- April 23, 1943: Supply of U 185 with 35 m³ of fuel and one week of provisions.
- April 24, 1943: U 506 is supplied with 25 m³ of fuel and two weeks of provisions.
- April 24, 1943: U 68 is supplied with 25 m³ of fuel and one week of provisions.
- April 28, 1943: U 509 is supplied with 21 m³ of fuel and one week of provisions.
- April 28, 1943: Supply of U 160 with 16 m³ of fuel and one week of provisions.
- May 1, 1943: U 183 is supplied with 26 m³ of fuel.
- May 5, 1943: Supply of U 460 with 56 m³ of fuel, 150 kg of tinned meat.
Fifth venture
The boat left Bordeaux on July 22, 1943 at 12 noon and was sunk on August 7, 1943. No ships were sunk or damaged on this 17-day venture in the central North Atlantic, south of the Azores ( U 117 was supposed to lay 66 mines off Gibraltar ). A submarine was supplied.
- August 6, 1943 - August 7, 1943: Supply of U 66 with fuel and provisions.
Whereabouts
The boat was on August 7, 1943 in the central North Atlantic, while the supply of U 66 , two Wildcat and three Avenger aircraft intended the Squadron VC-1 of the US escort aircraft carrier USS Card by strafing attack, depth charges and an acoustic Mk.24 torpedo sunk at position 39 ° 42 ′ N , 38 ° 21 ′ W in marine grid square CD 6156. All 62 crew members on board were killed. Two men of the crew were just on the submarine U 66 , which escaped the attackers, and survived.
One of the main reasons for the discovery of the boat is the successful American deciphering of the "Triton" key network used by the submarines , which was used to encrypt radio communications with the BdU . From April 1943 onwards, more than 120 specially developed Desch bombes were manufactured in the US Naval Computing Machine Laboratory , which were directed against the Enigma-M4 used by the Navy .
literature
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X .
- Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .
- Robert M. Browning Jr .: US Merchant Vessel War casualties of World War II. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD 1996, ISBN 1-55750-087-8 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .
- 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 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 4: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1999, ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 5: The knight's cross bearers of the submarine weapon from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg et al. 2003, ISBN 3-8132-0515-0 .
- Erich Gröner : Die Handelsflotten der Welt 1942 and supplement 1944. JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-469-00552-4 (reprint of the 1942–1943 edition).
- Erich Gröner: Search list for ship names (= The merchant fleets of the world. Supplementary volume). JF Lehmanns Verlag Munich 1976, ISBN 3-469-00553-2 (reprint of the 1943 edition).
- Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .
See also
Web links
- u-bootarchiv.de , a detailed site about German submarines (German)
Individual evidence
- ^ Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Malings German submarines 1939-1945. 5th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , page 58
- ↑ Jennifer Wilcox : Solving the Enigma - History of the Cryptanalytic Bombe . Center for Cryptologic History, NSA, Fort Meade (USA) 2001, p. 52. PDF; 0.6 MB ( memento from January 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ John AN Lee, Colin Burke, Deborah Anderson: The US Bombes, NCR, Joseph Desch, and 600 WAVES - The first Reunion of the US Naval Computing Machine Laboratory . IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 2000. p. 35. PDF; 0.5 MB , accessed May 22, 2018.
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