U 222
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U 222 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | M-00 832 |
| Shipyard: | F. Krupp Germania shipyard , Kiel |
| Construction contract: | August 15, 1940 |
| Build number: | 652 |
| Keel laying: | June 16, 1941 |
| Launch: | March 28, 1942 |
| Commissioning: | May 23, 1942 |
| Commanders: | |
| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | no ventures |
| Sinkings: |
no |
| Whereabouts: | Sank in the Baltic Sea on September 2, 1942 in a collision with U 626 . |
U 222 was a German “Atlantic” submarine of the type VII C , which was usedas a trainingboatin the Baltic Seaduring World War II .
history
The boat was commissioned on August 15, 1940, together with the boats U 221 , U 223 , U 224 and U 225 , from the Germania shipyard in Kiel. The keel-laying of the boat, now known for a time as "Neubau 652", began on June 16, 1941, and it was launched on March 28 of the next year. The commissioning took place on May 23, 1942 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See and later Kapitänleutnant Ralf von Jessen, former watch, division and torpedo officer on the auxiliary cruiser HSK 4 Thor . Immediately after the commissioning of the 8th submarine flotilla stationed in Danzig , the boat was assigned as a training unit.
Loss in training
U 222 collided during the night of September 3, 1942 at 9:50 p.m. west of Pillau with the sister boat U 626 under the command of Leutnant zur See Hans-Botho Bade, which had been completely stopped in the dark . Shortly after the collision, the control center reported severe water ingress in the bow space. The boat sank within seconds with 42 men of the crew to 94 meters. The first officer on watch, who was part of the bridge watch, was able to close the tower hatch from the inside. The other five men on the bridge watch went overboard; three of them survived, including the commander.
The trapped crew of U 222 communicated with the submarine escort ship until 05:00 in the morning by knocking. The final knock contained the following message:
"We flood!"
Then it was quiet. A few days later U 222 was lifted and towed into the naval arsenal of Gotenhafen . There the decommissioning took place by the captainleutnant Jessen rescued by U 626 , who later took over the type VII C boat U 266 from Oberleutnant zur See Hannes Leinemann, as well as the dismantling of the damaged boat.
The sinking position was 54 ° 25 'N - 19 ° 30' E in the former naval grid square AO 9834.
literature
- 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 .