U 3003

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U 3003
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Type : XXI
Field Post Number : M-42 302
Shipyard: AG Weser , Bremen
Construction contract: November 6, 1943
Build number: 1162
Keel laying: May 27, 1944
Launch: July 18, 1944
Commissioning: August 22, 1944
Commanders:
  • 22 Aug 1944 to 4 Apr 1945
    Oblt. Ludo Kregelin
Flotilla:
Calls: no ventures
Sinkings:

no depressions

Whereabouts: Destroyed by bombs on April 4, 1945 in the Howaldtswerke dry dock

U 3003 was a German submarine of the type XXI , which was used at the end of the Second World War as a test boat with the 4th U-Flotilla for the latest radar and listening technologies.

history

U 3003 was commissioned from Bremer AG Weser on November 6, 1943, together with 62 other Type XXI boats . The keel-laying began after the sections had been towed up on May 27, 1944 under the temporary designation "Neubau 1162". The launch took place on July 18, just two months after the keel was laid, and the commissioning under Oberleutnant zur See Ludo Kregelin, former commander of the school boats U 60 , U 38 and the first snorkel boat U 236 , took place on August 22, 1944. U 3003 had the four aces of U 107 as the coat of arms , which were located in front of a knight's cross of the Iron Cross , which was crowned with oak leaves . This coat of arms was identical to that of Kapitänleutnant Volker Simmermacher's Type XXI boat U 3013 , because Simmermacher used to be the commander of U 107 . However, it is unclear why the coat of arms was carried by Oberleutnant Kregelin's boat, since it had no connection to U 107 .

During his service time, U 3003 tested a new listening system as well as a smooth casing made of 3 mm V2A steel. This cover was intended to cover the receiving part of the ›balcony device‹ at the bow in order to be able to continue listening. At the end of February 1945, U 3003 carried out a deep diving test with the new steel hull, which still allowed a maximum listening range of 3000 to 4000 m at 15.5 kn.

loss

During an air raid on Kiel on April 4, 1945, several submarines were lying in the shipyard or in the harbor basin. When the bombs fell, the Holwaldtswerke were particularly hard hit : severe damage to the entire shipyard area and a destroyed submarine, namely U 3003 , which was hit by a direct bomb in dry dock and exploded. A few days later it also rained bombs over the German works , where the damage was even greater: even more severe damage to the shipyard, a capsized heavy cruiser and two submarines severely damaged in the dry dock. The heavy cruiser was the reclassified armored ship Admiral Scheer , which capsized badly damaged after the bombing. The wreck was partially demolished after the war and the harbor basin was later filled in with the remains. The submarines were the Type IX C / 40 boat U 1227 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Friedrich Altmeier, which returned several months ago from a 104-day patrol, and the Type XXI boat U 2516 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Fritz Kallipke, which were so badly damaged that they had to be decommissioned. The remains of the U 3003 were lifted after the war and finally scrapped.

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ^ 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. 178.
  2. ↑ Eberhard Rössler: U-boat type XXI . 8th edition. Bernard and Graefe in Mönch Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Bonn 2013, ISBN 978-3-7637-6218-7 , p. 184.

literature