U 234

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U 234
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Type : XB
Shipyard: Germania shipyard , Kiel
Build number: G 664
Keel laying: October 1, 1941
Launch: December 23, 1943
Commissioning: March 2, 1944
Commanders:
Calls: 1 company
Sinkings:

no

Whereabouts: capitulated at Portsmouth , New Hampshire on May 16, 1945 ; Sunk during torpedo tests in 1947

U 234 was a submarine of the German Navy that was used in World War II . It belonged to the Type X B , a class of mine-laying submarines, which were no longer used for this purpose, however, as new mines had been developed that could also be laid by boats of other types.

During the Second World War, these large submarines were increasingly used as supply boats, as the actual supply submarines ("dairy cows") of type XIV fell victim to air raids after a short period of use. Type X boats were also used to ship goods.

construction

Although the keel was laid in 1941, U 234 was not completed until 1944. The delay was caused by an Allied bombing raid in which the front 9 meters of the pressure hull were hit and had to be completely replaced.

U 234 , which was originally designed as a mine-layer, was converted in 1944/45 to carry out a special mission. The side mine shafts were expanded and converted into cargo holds. Large tubes were built into the front mine shafts. The submarine also received a snorkel for long underwater trips.

In addition, U 234 received a radio measuring station of the Hohentwiel type in early 1945 . For this purpose, a radio measuring antenna (a so-called "mattress") that can be extended out of the tower cladding with compressed air was installed. With the help of this device, every flight target could be detected before the submarine itself could be located from the air.

commitment

When the German defeat loomed, Hitler agreed to the Japanese request for fissile material and technical assistance. The Japanese nuclear weapons program needed material to make nuclear weapons a reality. After the three Japanese submarines I-52 , I-30 and I-29 (two of them on the way back, i.e. already with uranium ore on board) had already been sunk, it was decided to send a German submarine with cargo essential for the war effort to Japan to post. The destination and type of cargo was determined by the Special Marine Service Abroad (MSD), chaired by Corvette Captain Franz Becker.

U 234 left Kiel in March 1945. A collision with another German submarine in the Kattegat made repairs necessary, which were carried out in Norway . U 234 left Kristiansand on April 15, heading for the Atlantic .

As early as February 1945, U 864 with essential war goods for Japan (including two German engineers, 65 tons of mercury , aircraft parts and plans as well as engine components for jet aircraft) was sunk west of the Norwegian island of Fedje .

Crew and passengers

  • Members of the regular crew
    • Commander - KptLt Johann Heinrich Fehler
    • 1. Officer on watch - KptLt Richard von Bulla (passenger; see below)
    • 2nd watch officer - LtzS Karl Ernst Pfaff
    • Chief Engineer - KptLt (Ing.) Horst Ernst
    • Engineer on duty - OLtzS (Ing.) Günter Pagenstecher
    • Ship's doctor - medical officer Franz Valentin Walter
    • Head radio operator Wolfgang Hirschfeld
  • 4 Air Force officers as passengers
    • General der Flieger Ulrich Kessler , who was to become the new Air Force attaché in Tokyo,
    • his adjutant lieutenant Erich Menzel, a radar specialist
    • Lieutenant Colonel Fritz von Sandrart, an expert on air defense
  • 4 naval officers as passengers
    • Heinrich Hellendorn, expert in anti-aircraft systems for warships
    • the squadron judge and convinced National Socialist Kay Nieschling, who was in Tokyo responsible for the 2000 Navy soldiers stationed in Japan and was supposed to conduct proceedings against members of the armed forces suspected of espionage
    • Gerhard Falcke, a naval designer with diplomatic experience
    • KptLt Richard von Bulla, a navigator who was to serve as an observer in the Japanese Navy. He acted for this trip instead of OLtzS d. R. Alfred Klingenberg of the regular crew as 1st watch officer in order to have one less person on board.
  • 3 civil engineers as passengers
    • Heinz Schlicke, an electronics expert, on helping Japan with radar technology and countermeasure systems
    • August Bringewald from Messerschmitt, an expert in the production of the Me 262 fighter aircraft.
    • Franz Ruf, an industrial mechanic who was supposed to help Japan build a new aircraft factory
  • 2 Japanese specialists for aircraft construction, rocket technology and submarine construction as passengers

The Japanese had been briefed by German scientists and were supposed to transfer the relevant equipment, materials and secret information to Japan.

Freight and surrender

The submarine transported 240 tons of cargo, including a dismantled Me 262 jet aircraft with construction plans, components of the Me 163 rocket aircraft , components of a V2 , research documents and blueprints of the most important weapons developments in Germany, mercury and 560 kilograms of uranium oxide .

U 234 from the USS Sutton from
The end as a target when testing new torpedoes

On May 10, 1945, Fehler received news of the German surrender . The passengers on board initially urged them to travel to Argentina or Uruguay . The commanding officer decided against canceling the operation and going into captivity. The two Japanese then committed suicide by taking Luminal and were buried on the high seas. Their secret documents were also sunk. Actually, U 234 should have called at the Canadian port of Halifax , but the American coast was headed for. The USA had been informed about the cargo on the submarine and disrupted radio communications between the British and U 234 . On May 14, 1945, U 234 surrendered east of Flemish Cap to the American destroyer escort USS Sutton . U 234 was brought to the naval base in Portsmouth, New Hampshire .

The uranium oxide was shipped to Washington for inspection and then to the armory in Oak Ridge , Tennessee , where it could be converted into approximately 0.5 kg of weapons-grade uranium. Whether this material was part of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima cannot be proven beyond doubt.

U 234 was sunk on November 20, 1947 near Cape Cod by the American submarine USS Greenfish during torpedo tests. The wreck is believed to be 40 nm northeast of Cape Cod.

Movie

The story of U 234 was the model for the German film The Last U-Boot (1993).

literature

  • Wolfgang Hirschfeld : The last boat. Atlantic farewell. Universitas-Verlag, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-8004-1192-X .
  • Jak P. Mallman Showell: German submarines on enemy coasts. 1939-1945. Command companies - espionage and sabotage - supply trips . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-613-02244-3 .
  • Joseph M. Scalia: Germany's last Mission to Japan. The failured Voyage of U-234. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD 2000, ISBN 1-55750-811-9 .
    • German: On a secret mission to Japan: U 234 (= Ullstein. 26292). Ullstein, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-548-26292-9 .

Web links

Commons : U 234  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ corresponds to the German rank of senior naval construction officer