U 190
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U 190 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | IX C / 40 |
| Field Post Number : | 49 098 |
| Shipyard: | AG Weser ( Deschimag ), Bremen |
| Construction contract: | November 4th 1940 |
| Build number: | 1036 |
| Keel laying: | October 7, 1941 |
| Launch: | June 8, 1942 |
| Commissioning: | September 24, 1942 |
| Commanders: |
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| Calls: | 6 patrols |
| Sinkings: |
2 ships (7,605 GRT ) |
| Whereabouts: | Canada surrenders on May 11, 1945 |
U 190 was a German type IX C / 40 submarine that was usedby the Kriegsmarine during the Second World War . The boat served in the Royal Canadian Navy for almost two years after the war.
history
The boat was laid down on October 7, 1941 by Deschimag -Werft AG Weser in Bremen- Gröpelingen and launched on June 8, 1942. The commissioning under Kapitänleutnant Max Wintermeyer took place on September 24, 1942. On July 6, 1944 Wintermeyer was replaced by Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Erwin Reith, who commanded the boat until the end of the war.
Calls
U 190 sailed from August 1942 to February 1943 as a training boat with the 4th U-Flotilla in Stettin . Until August 30, 1943 it was subordinate to the 2nd U-Flotilla , then it came to the 33rd U-Flotilla . U 190 completed six patrols on which two ships with a tonnage of 7605 GRT were sunk.
In March 1943 U 190 of the submarine group "Westmark" assigned to the south of Greenland chased the eastward current Convoy SC 121st From this convoy, Commander Wintermeyer sank the British cargo ship Empire Lakeland ( Lage ) with 7,015 GRT on March 8 , one week after the U 190 had started the patrol . The next four patrols were unsuccessful.
U 190 off Canada
The last voyage in the service of the Navy began on February 22, 1945. The boat, equipped with 14 torpedoes (six G7 with impact fuses and eight acoustic G 7es ), left Norway with the mission to meet allied ships around Sable Island (approx. 180 km ahead the mainland) from calling at the port of Halifax . On April 16, they were lying in wait near the ship Sambro when impulses from the British Asdic sonar were suddenly heard.
The mine sweeper HMCS Esquimalt was on a routine patrol to protect the port. However, the crew disregarded every prescribed protective measure against submarines: they did not drive in a zigzag , they had not deployed their tow decoys , which emitted interference signals to deceive acoustic torpedoes, and did not activate the radar . The crew of U 190 were sure of their exposure and when the Esquimalt turned in their direction, the commander decided to turn around and shoot an acoustic torpedo from the tail boom. The Esquimalt received a hit on the starboard side and sank within four minutes ( Lage ). It was the last Canadian ship to be lost to enemy action in World War II . Eight crew members went down with her, the remaining seafarers initially survived the sinking. However, the ship sank so quickly that no call for help could be sent out and no one knew about the accident. It was only about eight hours later that HMCS Sarnia discovered the survivors. In the meantime, 18 of the 44 sailors who were still alive had fallen victim to the cold water or exhaustion. This left 26 sailors who could be saved.
U 190 disappeared from the area of the sinking and remained on patrol off the Canadian coast until Karl Dönitz 's surrender order was received on May 8th. On May 11, the boat met Canadian corvettes almost 800 km from Cape Race (Newfoundland) and Oblt.zS Reith signed a document of the unconditional surrender of the boat with his crew and was taken prisoner. With the parliamentary flag flying over the boat, they sailed to Bay Bulls, Newfoundland, on May 14th under the command of Lieutenant FS Burbridge. The prisoners of war were taken to Halifax .
U 190 was formally adopted into the Royal Canadian Navy. Her first assignment in the summer of 1945 was a ceremonial tour of cities along the St. Lawrence River and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with stops in Montréal , Trois-Rivières , Québec City , Gaspé , Pictou and Sydney . Back in Halifax, it began its year and a half service as an anti-submarine training ship.
The last run of U 190
U 190 was retired on July 24, 1947, but had one last task to perform: The official aim of "Operation Scuttled" (German: ruined or scrapped) was to train recruits who no longer took part in the war in the art of combined arms combat in the naval field. Painted in bright red and yellow stripes, the U 190 was pulled to the point where the Esquimalt had sunk and put under fire on October 21, 1947 at 11:00 a.m. The exercise was intended as a demonstration of firepower that began with the firing of rockets and massive attack by 4.7- inch cannons and a water bomb culminated. Under the observation of numerous reporters and photographers and the warships HMCS New Liskeard , HMCS Nootka and HMCS Haida , the naval aviators began their attack with eight Seafires , eight Fireflies , two Avro Ansons and two Swordfish . U 190 sank barely 20 minutes after starting the exercise.
Others
Before the company was periscope of U 190 have been removed. In 1963, it was installed in the officers' club 's crow's nest in St. John's , Newfoundland. After being exposed to the weather for many years and becoming almost useless, it was dismantled and repaired. In a solemn ceremony, it was put back into service on October 22, 1998 and now faces again on Water Street in St. John's.
On January 18, 2006, the Edmonton Journal reported that a team of divers from Alberta was about to begin a search for the U 190 and another boat, the U 520 .
Literature and Sources
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .
- 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 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 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ During this time, the commander and crew familiarize themselves with the vehicle
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. 1996, p. 348.
- ↑ Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. 1998, p. 315.
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. 2001, p. 140.
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 4: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. 1999, p. 399.
- ↑ (Engl.) Product to the dive plans ( Memento of 13 May 2011 at the Internet Archive ), Edmonton Journal , 18 January 2006
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