U 271

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U 271
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Type : VII C
Field Post Number : 49 368
Shipyard: Vegesacker shipyard
Bremen-Vegesack
Construction contract: January 20, 1941
Build number: 036
Keel laying: October 21, 1941
Launch: July 29, 1942
Commissioning: September 23, 1942
Commanders:

September 23, 1942 to January 28, 1944
Kptlt. Curt Barleben

Calls: 4 activities, including 1 relocation trip
Sinkings:

no

Whereabouts: Sunk by air raid on January 28, 1944 west of Limerick

U 271 was a submarine from the Type VII C , that of the German Navy during the U-boat campaign in World War II was used in the North and Central Atlantic and off the North American east coast.

Technical specifications

The Vegesacker Werft , founded in 1938 as a subsidiary of Bremer Vulkan , built u. a. a total of 74 submarines for the Navy. Even before the war began at the beginning of September 1939, the shipyard received an order to build 15 Type VII C boats.

The two diesel engines enabled a speed of 17 knots (31.6 km / h) when sailing above water  . A Type VII C boat had a maximum range of 6500 nm . Usually the two 375 HP electric motors were used on diving trips ,  guaranteeing a speed of up to 7.6 knots. As a so-called “flak boat”, U 271 - like some VII C-boats of its time - was briefly equipped with reinforced artillery armament in order to be able to take up combat with enemy air forces. The coat of arms of U 271 was the silver leaf of a halberd on a blue-gray background.

commander

Curt Barleben was born on March 28, 1909 in Oldenburg and joined the Navy in 1935. Until 1941 he commanded the 12th and 11th outpost boat flotilla. After completing his submarine training, he was the first officer on watch on U 553 in the summer of 1942 . In September of the same year he took command of U 271 , which he held until the boat was sunk.

Commitment and history

Until May 31, 1943, U 271 was stationed with the 8th U-Flotilla - a training flotilla - in Danzig . Commander Barleben undertook training trips in the Baltic Sea to retract the boat and train the crew . At the end of May, U 271 set out on its first venture from Kiel . On June 1, 1943, the boat was assigned to the 1st submarine flotilla and reached the port of Lorient on July 16, on the northern French Atlantic coast. From here the boat moved on September 15 to Brest , the base of the 1st U-Flotilla, from where Commander Barleben and U 271 undertook two further patrols in autumn 1943 and in spring 1944. The first voyage had to be canceled at the end of October because U 271 was badly damaged in combat with several aircraft of the USS Core .

Downfall

On January 12, 1944, Commander Barleben set out on his last venture with U 271 . The intended area of ​​operation for the boat was the North Atlantic, particularly the sea area west of Ireland . The boat was spotted on January 28 by a US Navy Liberator bomber and sunk with depth charges. There were no survivors.

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ a b c d Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. 1997, p. 467.
  2. ↑ The use of such anti-aircraft boats quickly turned out to be costly and inefficient and was abandoned again. The reinforced anti-aircraft armament was removed accordingly.
  3. ^ Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Malings German submarines 1939-1945. 5th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , p. 85.
  4. ↑ Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. 1998, p. 516.
  5. ↑ Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. 1998, p. 574.

literature

  • Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .
  • 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 .