U 255
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U 255 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | M 47 763 |
| Shipyard: |
Vegesacker shipyard Bremen-Vegesack |
| Construction contract: | September 23, 1939 |
| Build number: | 020 |
| Keel laying: | December 21, 1940 |
| Launch: | October 8, 1941 |
| Commissioning: | November 29, 1941 |
| Commanders: |
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| Calls: | 14 companies, including 1 mining company and 2 supply trips 3 relocation / transfer trips 1 deep diving attempt |
| Sinkings: |
10 ships (54,042 GRT) |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk by the Allies during Operation Deadlight |
U 255 was a German submarine of type VIIC that of the Navy during the submarine war in the Second World War in the Norwegian Sea , the North Atlantic and in the Bay of Biscay was used.
Construction and technical data
The Vegesacker Werft der Bremer Vulkan was already commissioned to build submarines before the German-British fleet agreement came into force , circumventing the provisions of the Versailles Treaty . After the unilateral termination of the agreement by the German Reich, the shipyard was included in the submarine building program. By 1944, the Vegesack shipyard of Bremer Vulkan delivered a total of 74 submarines to the Navy, 52 of them of the type VII C. With its length of 67.1 m , a displacement of 761 m³ and a range of 6,500 nm , the type was VII C intended for use in the Atlantic. These submarines were therefore also called "Atlantic boats". Like most German submarines of its time, the U 255 also wore boat-specific emblems, some of which were also worn by the crew on caps and boats as badges. On the front of the submarine tower , U 255 carried the head of a fox on a white shield. The symbol goes back to the first name of the first commandant, Reinhard, who in its Low German variant Reineke denotes the fox in the fable . The coat of arms of the 11th U-Flotilla was also shown on the left and right of the tower.
Commanders
- November 1941 - June 1943 Kptlt. Reinhart Reche
- June 1943 - August 1944 Oblt. Erich Harms
- March 1945 - May 1945 Oblt. Helmuth Heinrich
history
U 255 was subordinate to the 8th U-Flotilla until June 30, 1942 and was stationed first in Königsberg , then in Danzig . During this time, Commander Reche undertook training trips in the Baltic Sea to retract the boat and train the crew. On July 1, the boat was assigned to the 11th U-Flotilla , a front flotilla that had only recently been set up in Bergen and in which the boats that were used in the Arctic Ocean were combined. U 255 remained with the 11th U-Flotilla until the summer of 1943. During this time, commander Reche undertook, in addition to some transfer trips, five patrols with this boat, on which he sank ten merchant ships.
Convoy battles in the North Sea
After the German submarines had not played a major role in the Weser Exercise operation and had clearly fallen short of the expectations of the commander of the submarines , Karl Dönitz did not plan to further reinforce the submarine weapon in arctic waters in the summer of 1942. However, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy took completely opposite views . Erich Raeder saw a powerful flotilla that could use at least eight boats each to attack the Northern Sea Convoys as an efficient way of preventing the Soviet Union from being supplied with weapons and war goods. In order to be able to use eight boats at the same time, according to Raeder's calculations, 23 boats were stationed in Norway - this also included U 255 . The boat ran after a five-day ferry trip from Kiel on June 20, 1942 in Narvik . From here the boat left for its first venture in the North Sea on July 18th. During the attack on the Northern Sea Convoy PQ 17, Commander Reche sank four freighters with 25,506 GRT .
- 6 July 1942 American steamer John Witherspoon (7,191 GRT) sunk with torpedo
- July 7, 1942 American steamer Alcona Ranger (5,118 GRT) sunk by artillery fire after being hit by a torpedo
- July 8, 1942 American steamer Olopana (6,069 GRT) sunk by artillery fire after being hit by a torpedo
German air forces were also involved in the attack on convoy PQ 17. Two Ju-88 fighter aircraft of the kampfgeschwader 30 were so badly damaged a Dutch steamer during the attacks that these abandoned by its crew and U 225 has been rudderless found several days later in Lake adrift. Commander Reche decided to send some crew members on board the freighter under the command of the Second Officer on Watch . After the troop had recovered some documents, Reche had the Dutch ship sunk with a torpedo shot.
- 13 July 1942 Dutch steamer Paulus Potter (7,168 GRT) sunk with torpedo
- September 20, 1942 American steamer Silver Sword (4,937 GRT) sunk by torpedo hit
On September 23, 1942, an attack by a " Catalina " plane of the Royal Navy took place south of Jan Mayen , in which the boat was badly damaged and had to return to its base.
- January 26, 1943 Soviet steamer Krasnyi Partizan (2,418 GRT) sunk by torpedo hit
- 29 January 1943 Soviet steamer Ufa (1,892 GRT) sunk by torpedo hit
On February 3, 1943, Commander Reche sank a freighter from convoy RA 52 .
- February 3, 1943 American Liberty freighter Greylock (7,460 GRT) sunk by torpedo hits
- March 5, 1943 American steamer Executive (4,600 GRT) sunk by torpedo hit
- March 10, 1943 American steamer Richard Bland (7,191 GRT) sunk with torpedo
In July 1943 Kapitänleutnant Reche gave up command and was assigned to the staff of the leader of the U-Boats Norway , Rudolf Peters . On July 7th, Oberleutnant zur See Erich Harms took command of U 255 .
On July 27, 1943, Commander Harms sank the Soviet research ship Akademik Shokalskiy with 300 tons .
In the North Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay
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Commander Harms left on February 26, 1944 for his second operation with the U 255 . The boat had been assigned to the 7th U-Flotilla since December 1943 , which was stationed in Saint-Nazaire and moved accordingly from the North Sea to northern France, in order to be used in the Atlantic. The boat was assigned to the Prussian submarine group , which had been put together in March to seek combat with Allied convoy groups according to the pack tactics developed by Karl Dönitz . For this purpose, the 11 boats in the group formed a search strip near the British Isles. On March 9th, Commander Harms reported a convoy that consisted of several tankers: CU 16 had been assembled in the Caribbean , was on its way from New York to Great Britain and was accompanied by six escort ships, all of them destroyers . One of the destroyers, the Leopold , located U 255 while Commander Harms tried to keep in touch with the convoy and attacked the submarine with depth charges and artillery. Harms, in turn, attacked the warship with a torpedo and then had U 255 submerged. As a result of the torpedo hit, the Leopold broke apart and sank, while her already armed depth charges rolled into the sea, detonated when the set diving depth was reached, killing large parts of the crew who were floating in the water. In another air raid on March 11, 1944, two crew members were injured. On April 11th, the boat entered its new base at St. Nazaire .
Decommissioning and sinking
After another damage, the boat was decommissioned in August 1944 and used as a mine-layer in April 1945. On May 8, U 255 ran from St. Nazaire and reached Loch Eriboll on May 17, 1945 where the boat was handed over to the Royal Navy . The boat was then transferred to the Northern Irish coast near Londonderry, where it remained for a few months. In autumn 1945 U 255 was brought to the south coast of Scotland, from where it was towed to a sinking position on December 11 by the frigate HMS Cubitt as part of Operation Deadlight . On December 13, the Bristol Beaufighters sank the boat by rocket fire. U 255 sank at 1:30 p.m. at position 55 ° 50 'N / 10 ° 05' W.
Individual evidence
- ^ Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Malings German submarines 1939-1945. 5th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , page 81
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 . Page 159 - Page 160
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 4: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1999, ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 . Page 382
literature
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X .