U 301

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U 301
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Type : VII C
Field Post Number : 44 381
Shipyard: Flender Werke AG , Lübeck
Construction contract: August 6, 1940
Build number: 301
Keel laying: February 12, 1941
Launch: March 25, 1942
Commissioning: May 9, 1942
Commanders:

Captain Willy-Roderich Körner

Flotilla:
Calls: 3 patrols
Sinkings:

no depressions

Whereabouts: Sunk by a British submarine on January 21, 1943, one survivor

U 301 was a German submarine of the type VII C , also called "Atlantic boat ". It was used by the Navy in the Atlantic and Mediterranean during the Submarine War of World War II .

Construction and technology

Flender Werke AG from Lübeck was already commissioned to build submarines as part of the Z-Plan before the outbreak of war . From the start of the war, the shipyard was scheduled to produce 10 Type VII C boats a year. This margin was first met in 1942, the year in which the U 301 was launched. The boat had a length of 66.5 m and displaced 760 tons of water. The 3,000 hp diesel engine enabled a speed of up to 17 knots over water. The maximum range was about 9,500 nautical miles . As a tower coat of arms, U 301 had a dark gray eagle that was enthroned on a "U" above a submarine. As usual, the team also wore this symbol on their caps.

commander

Willy-Roderich Körner was born on December 26, 1914 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf and joined the Navy in 1935 . At first he served as a radio and staff officer, among other things for the leader of the torpedo boats , until he completed his submarine and commanding training in the summer of 1941. Up until February 1942, Oberleutnant zur See Körner was in command of the school boat U 120 . On May 9, he took command of U 301 .

Commitment and history

U 301 left for its first venture on October 1, 1942. The area of ​​operation of the boat was the North Atlantic. No ships were sunk on this voyage. On November 7th, U 301 entered Brest , the base of the 1st U-Flotilla.

On December 3, U 301 left for its second venture. The goal was to break through the heavily guarded Strait of Gibraltar . The threat to the Allied naval forces against the sea-bound supply lines of the German Africa Corps had increased as part of Operation Torch , so that the naval war command ordered the commander of the submarines, Karl Dönitz, to reinforce the German submarines in the Mediterranean. In the new moon phase between December 4th and 9th, 1942, in addition to U 301 , U 443 and U 602 also entered the Mediterranean. On December 14th U 301 reached La Spezia , the base of the 29th U-Flotilla .

Sinking

U 301 left for its first venture in the western Mediterranean on January 20th. The British submarine Sahib was also in this sea area. It was returning from a mission in the Ligurian Sea , heading for Algiers , where it was stationed. On January 21, 1943, Kapitänleutnant Körner appeared west of Bonifacio in order to be able to determine his position. On this occasion U 301 was discovered by the Sahib . The British commander sighted the German submarine at 8:34 a.m., brought his boat into a favorable firing position and then fired a volley of six torpedoes, three of which hit and sank U 301 ( location ). According to the surviving crew member Wilhelm Rahn, Commander Körner was convinced that there could be no enemy submarines in this area of ​​the sea.

Eighteen-year-old Ensign for the Sea Wilhelm Rahn sank his jaw when U 301 was sunk, but survived. He was taken on board by the Sahib , billeted in the helmsman's bunk and, after he had overcome his shock, was impartial with the British submarine men. After the sahib was sunk by an Italian corvette, the British crew was taken to a prison camp near Rome . The helmsman and the chief engineer were briefly brought to Bremen for questioning , where they were thanked on behalf of the Navy for the good treatment that Wilhelm Rahn had received on board the Sahib .

Notes and individual references

  1. ^ P. Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. 1998, p. 103.
  2. ^ G. Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Malings German submarines 1939-1945. 5th edition. 2009, p. 88.

literature

  • 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 .
  • Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Maling's German submarines 1939–1945. 5th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 .
  • Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .