U 198
|
U 198 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
|
|---|---|
| Type : | IX D2 |
| Field Post Number : | M-49 158 |
| Shipyard: | Deschimag AG Weser , Bremen |
| Construction contract: | November 4th 1940 |
| Build number: | 1044 |
| Keel laying: | August 1, 1941 |
| Launch: | June 15, 1942 |
| Commissioning: | November 3, 1942 |
| Commanders: |
|
| Flotilla: |
|
| Calls: | 2 activities |
| Sinkings: |
11 ships (59,690 GRT) |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk on August 12, 1944 in the Indian Ocean near the Seychelles by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Findhorn and the Indian sloop HMIS Godavari |
U 198 was a large German submarine of class IX D2 , which was used by the Navy in the Second World War in the South Atlantic and in the Indic during the U-Boat War . From the commissioning, through the training, until the end of the first operation, it was commanded by the experienced commander Werner Hartmann , who had previously commanded the Type IA boat U 26 and very successfully the Type IX A boat U 37 . With the latter, Hartmann had sunk 19 ships with a total tonnage of 78,559 GRT.
history
After AG Weser received a construction contract for six IX D boats on November 4, 1940 ( U 195 to U 200 ), the keel of U 198 was laid on August 1, 1941 with the yard's construction number after the construction material had been acquired. The completed boat was launched on June 15, 1942 and was put into service on November 3, 1942 by Captain Werner Hartmann. He then undertook training trips in the Baltic Sea for four months to train the crew and to retract the boat, and left the port of Kiel on March 9, 1943 for his first patrol since 1940. This trip was later to be the third longest operation of a submarine in the Second World War - U 198 stayed at sea for 200 days. When Hartmann reached Bordeaux in northern France , the new base of U 198 , on September 24, 1943 , seven so-called "sinking pennants" signaled on the periscope, and on the front of the tower was Commander Hartmann's "Westward-Ho!" Tower emblem with the trident of the Poseidon behind. The mark came about when the boat crossed the equator and the crew performed the traditional equator baptism . After the end of the first patrol with U 198 , Captain Hartmann was replaced by Oberleutnant zur See Burkhard Heusinger von Waldegg, the former watch officer of U 177 , as commandant of the IX D2 boat.
Loss of the boat
U 198 left La Pallice on April 20, 1944 . The Indian Ocean was planned as the operational area, where the boat was intended to support the Monsun group stationed there . U 198 also had the task of meeting the monsoon boat U 188 in order to hand over new Enigma keys to its commander Siegfried Lüdden . However, this meeting did not take place. After circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope , U 198 was discovered and attacked by British naval and air forces on May 20 and June 6, but escaped with only minor damage. In the Strait of Mozambique, Commander Waldegg sank three British freighters, the Empire Day , the Empire City and the Director . The British frigate HMS Findhorn and the Indian sloop HMIS Godavari received a radio message from some Catalina flying boats on August 12, 1944 , which Commander Waldeggs U 198 had discovered on the surface of the water. Both ships set out to chase the boat, throwing several volleys of hedgehogs , which hit and destroyed U 198 . All 66 men of the crew did not survive the sinking of their boat. Among the dead was the British captain of Empire Day , which Waldegg had taken on board. When the task force left the sinking site the next day, an oil stain had spread over the water.
Notes and individual references
- ↑ The longest operation in the Second World War was carried out by U 196 under the command of Corvette Captain Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat with 225 days, the second longest by U 181 under Corvette Captain Wolfgang Lüth with 206 days, and the third longest by U 198 under Captain Werner Hartmann Performed at sea for 200 days.
- ↑ On the occasion of the arrival, submarine crews produced e.g. Sometimes colored (e.g. red for war and white for merchant ships) pennants that indicated the enemy ships sunk during the operation.
- ^ Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Maling's German U-Boats 1939-1945. 5th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , p. 72.
- ↑ Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. 1998, pp. 633-634.
literature
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .