U 208

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U 208
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Type : VII C
Field Post Number : 45 333
Shipyard: Germania shipyard in Kiel
Construction contract: October 10, 1939
Build number: 637
Keel laying: 5th August 1940
Launch: May 21, 1941
Commissioning: July 5, 1941
Commanders:

from September 1941
First Lieutenant Alfred Schlieper

Flotilla:
Calls: 2 patrols
Sinkings:

1 ship (3872 GRT)

Whereabouts: Sunk in the Strait of Gibraltar on December 7, 1941

U 208 was a German submarine of the type VII C - also known as "Atlantic boat " - which was used by the Navy during the submarine war in the North and Central Atlantic and sunk on its second patrol in the Strait of Gibraltar .

Technical specifications

The Kiel Germania shipyard was primarily intended for the construction of capital ships. On a small scale and partly under secrecy, however, submarines have been manufactured since 1934, also for export. The submarine building program, which was expanded after the start of the war, provided for an annual output of 42 boats for this shipyard. However, this amount could never be reached. In 1941, the Germania shipyard completed nine other type VII C boats in addition to the U 208 . A submarine of this class had a displacement of 761 cubic meters above and 865 cubic meters under water. The diesel engine ensured an overwater speed of 17 knots , submerged the boat drove up to eight knots. A VII C had a length of 67.1 meters, a width of 6.2 meters and a draft of 4.8 meters. Usually there were 44 men on board.

commander

Alfred Schlieper was born on January 15, 1915 in Cologne and joined the Reichsmarine in 1934 . He was thus a member of "Crew 34", the officers' class of that year. In 1939 he was an officer on watch on the torpedo boat Albatros , after which he worked as an instructor at the torpedo school of the Mürwik Naval Academy . Alfred Schlieper completed his submarine training in January 1941. He then went on the U 96 as first watch officer (I WO) under the command of Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock . On May 7, 1941, Alfred Schlieper took command of U 208 . After his death he was promoted to lieutenant captain.

Commitment and history

In October 1941, U 208 belonged to an outpost strip that was supposed to keep an eye out for convoy trains southeast of Cape Farvel . This Vp patrol tracked down the convoy SC 48 on October 14 and brought further submarines - including the submarine group "shredder" - to it. In the course of the three-day convoy battle, the German U-boats sank nine merchant ships and one destroyer. At this battle took 208 U not until the end part, because the boat was allotted on 16 October, the submarine group "incendiary," the first before the road Belle-Isle , and then - to the south of - in late October Newfoundland operated . At the beginning of November, U 208 sank a cargo ship, this was the only success in the sinking of the boat.

  • 2nd November 1941 British steamer Larpool (3872 BRT) sunk with torpedo

On December 3, U 208 set out from Brest on its second and last patrol.

Sinking

HMS harvester

On December 6th, Commander Schlieper received the order to cross the Strait of Gibraltar with U 208 . The order for this so-called "Mediterranean breakthrough" was initially given to six other submarines that were operating west of Gibraltar at the time. Seven more were added later, so that in the first days of December 1941 15 German submarines tried to get into the Mediterranean. By the end of December there were a total of 37, of which 26 boats made the breakthrough. Operation Crusader began in November in the North African theater of war . The massive German submarine deployment in the Mediterranean was intended to attack supplies from British troops. Originally it was assumed that U 208 had been sunk by the British corvette HMS Bluebell following the successful breakthrough on December 11th . However, current research has shown that U 208 was sunk as early as December 7, 1941 by depth charges of the destroyers HMS Harvester and HMS Hesperus . U 208 was a total loss with 45 dead.

Remarks

  1. ↑ U 96 gained particular fame through the novel "Das Boot" by Lothar-Günther Buchheim
  2. ↑ U 573, U 374 and U 109 also belonged to this U group
  3. ^ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. 1981, p. 197.
  4. ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. 1998, p. 76.
  5. ↑ sinking

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 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 .
  • Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes-Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .
  • Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Manfred Pawlak Verlagsges., Herrsching 1981, ISBN 3-88199-0097 .