U 144
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U 144 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | II D |
| Field Post Number : | 37 886 |
| Shipyard: | Deutsche Werke Kiel AG , Kiel |
| Construction contract: | September 25, 1939 |
| Build number: | 273 |
| Keel laying: | January 10, 1940 |
| Launch: | August 24, 1940 |
| Commissioning: | October 2, 1940 |
| Commanders: |
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| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | * 1 transfer trip
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| Sinkings: |
1 submarine (161 t) |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk in the Gulf of Finland on August 10, 1941 |
U 144 was a submarine of the German Navy from type II D , which in World War II by the German navy was used.
history
The order for the boat was awarded to the shipyard Deutsche Werke , Kiel , on September 25, 1939 . The keel was laid on January 10, 1940, the launch on August 24, 1940. The commissioning under Oberleutnant zur See Friedrich von Hippel finally took place on October 2, 1940.
After its commissioning on October 2, 1940 until December 19, 1940, the boat belonged to the 1st U-Flotilla in Kiel as a training boat . From December 20, 1940 to August 10, 1941 first a school boat, then a front boat in the 22nd U-Flotilla in Gotenhafen .
U 144 undertook a patrol during its service, on which it was able to sink a submarine weighing 161 t.
Technical specifications
Deutsche Werke AG only built small type II submarines up to 1941. Although the first construction contract for submarines of the newly armed Reichsmarine - which was still under secrecy at the time - was already in 1932, the shipyard's capacities were increased mainly used during the war for the construction of surface warships. Deutsche Werke AG built a total of 16 type II D submarines. A boat of this type was 44 meters long and 4.9 meters wide. The submerged draft was 3.9 meters. It was propelled over water by two 359 hp diesel engines and could reach a speed of 13 knots. Under water, two electric motors with 205 hp each provided a top speed of 7.4 knots.
Commanders
- October 2, 1940 - November 16, 1940
Friedrich von Hippel was born on January 2, 1915 in Düsseldorf and began his career as an officer in the Navy in 1934. He initially drove as the 2nd WO on U 26 and then served as the adjutant of his previous commander Werner Hartmann , who had been appointed flotilla chief of the newly formed submarine flotilla “Hundius” . In the summer of 1940 Hippel was deployed as I.WO on U 65 and finally received his first command on U 144 in autumn of the same year . His time on this boat was only one month, then he became the commander of U 76 , with whom he was finally taken prisoner on April 5, 1941.
- November 17, 1940 - August 9, 1941
Gert von Mittelstaedt was born on January 14, 1912 in Saarland and was a member of Crew 32 . From 1938 to 1940 he drove on the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer and in April 1940 reported to the submarine weapon. In June of the same year he was promoted to lieutenant captain and in November 1940 took over U 144 in Gotenhafen as commander. He commanded the boat on a total of three patrols in the Baltic Sea until its sinking.
Use statistics
The boat was on 18 June 1941 at 19:00, Gdynia and on 30 June 1941 at 20:00 in supply Stormelö one. After a break of seven days, the boat left there again on July 7, 1941. On July 19, 1941, at 10:15 a.m., it returned to Sormelö for supply. After a further break of eight days, it left there again on July 28, 1941 at 9:00 a.m. It was on August 10, 1941 at 22:18 from the Soviet submarine ЅС-307 sunk. During this 53-day operation in the Baltic Sea off Windau and the islands of Ösel and Dagö , the small Soviet submarine M-78 (161 t) was sunk on June 23, 1941 ( Lage ). (According to KTB U 144, this monitoring task was counted as a company in grid squares AO 64/61.)
Whereabouts
The sinking of U 144 at position 58 ° 58 ′ N , 21 ° 24 ′ E in naval plan square AO 6126 is attributed to the Soviet submarine SC-307 under Commander Petrov. The sinking succeeded as a result of an untargeted fan bombardment and could not be observed because the Soviet boat initially sagged due to the weight loss of the stern torpedoes that were shot down. When the SC-307 had reached periscope depth again, an oil stain could be made out at the point where the German submarine had previously been. The entire crew of 28 men was killed. Investigations by a Russian diving club after the war revealed that U 144 was lying on the ground, shattered in three parts.
literature
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X .
- 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 .
Map with all coordinates: