U 2344

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U 2344
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Type : XXIII
Field Post Number : 45 325
Shipyard: German shipyard , Hamburg
Construction contract: November 6, 1943
Build number: 498
Keel laying: September 4, 1944
Launch: October 24, 1944
Commissioning: November 10, 1944
Commanders:

Hermann Ellerlage

Calls: no
Sinkings:

no

Whereabouts: Sank after a collision north of Heiligendamm on February 18, 1945 , lifted in 1955 and scrapped from 1957.

U 2344 was a submarine of the German Navy from the Type XXIII . It sank after a collision with the structurally identical U 2336 before it was used. U 2344 was lifted ten years later and finallydemolishedas an irreparable wreck in 1957 at the Rostock Neptun shipyard .

Construction and technical data

Deutsche Werft AG in Hamburg-Finkenwerder delivered a total of 48 Type XXIII boats to the Navy in 1944 and 1945. These boats were not built in the shipyard's own Fink II bunker , but under the open sky. Although hostile air raids on Hamburg had been taking place since 1941 and particularly destructively in July 1943 , production could continue undisturbed. It was not until the spring of 1945 that massive air raids began in Finkenwerder. The small submarines of type XXIII were driven by a 580 hp electric motor when underwater and, with their 35 m length, offered little space for the crew. In addition to the commander and the chief engineer , this consisted of twelve men. A XXIII boat was armed with only two torpedoes , which had to be loaded from the outside due to the lack of space inside. These boats were able to travel underwater for a long time and at 12.5  knots could reach a higher speed than when they were above water (9.7 knots).

rating

In his book “ U-Boottyp XXIII ”, Eberhard Rössler passed on a comment from Emil Klusmeier , commander of U 2336 : “ This type is an extremely powerful boat, which is safe in the hands of a courageous and proven commander and when deployed on time still had some success. An ideal boat for short-term ventures near the coast, fast, agile, easy depth control, little detection and attack surface! The opponent suspected more that a boat was there than that he received clear evidence and the position. "

commitment

The boat was on November 10th under the command of First Lieutenant z. S. (Oblt.zS) of the Reserve Hermann Ellerlage put into service. It was assigned to the 32nd U-Flotilla as a training boat, a training flotilla stationed in Königsberg . From here, Commander Ellerlage undertook training trips in the Baltic Sea to retract the boat and train the crew. U 2344 left Gotenhafen on February 17, 1945 to move to Kiel .

The following day, the boat collided north of Heiligendamm with U 2336 , also a Type XXIII boat from the same construction contract, which was then under the command of Oblt.zS Jürgen Vockel. As a result of the damage, U 2344 sank . Commander Ellerlage and six other crew members were saved. The cause of the collision is unknown.

Uplift and further whereabouts

The People's Police See , the forerunner of the People's Navy in the GDR , had plans in 1952 to set up its own submarine fleet with 12 to 14 boats. These plans were abandoned in connection with the events of June 17, 1953 - but several of the upscale boats have been preserved for the time being. The wreck of U 2344 was lifted in January 1955 and brought to the Rostock Neptun shipyard . Here the boat was scrapped in 1957 due to irreparable damage.

See also

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , p. 229
  2. ↑ Eberhard Rössler: U-boat type XXIII. 2nd, expanded edition. 2002, p. 112.
  3. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , p. 398.
  4. ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars, Urbes Verlag, Gäfeling before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 , page 245
  5. ^ Fritz Minow, Die Volkspolizei-See (VP-See) 1952−1956 , in: Hartmut Klüver (ed.): Stations of German Navy History (II): Deutsche Seeverbände 1945–1956 . Düsseldorf 2001, ISBN 3-935091-08-7 . P. 109 ff.
  6. ↑ Probably to check the suitability as a target display for practicing submarine hunting, see "U-Boats of the GDR" , article on the website of the German U-Boat Museum

literature

  • Eberhard Rössler : History of the German submarine building. Volume 2: Development, construction and characteristics of the German submarines from 1943 until today. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1996