U 305

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U 305
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Type : VII C
Field Post Number : 49 638
Shipyard: Flender-Werke , Lübeck
Construction contract: January 20, 1941
Build number: 305
Keel laying: August 30, 1941
Launch: July 25, 1942
Commissioning: September 17, 1942
Commanders:

September 17, 1942 - January 17, 1944
Lieutenant Rudolf Bahr

Calls: 4 activities
Sinkings:

2 ships (13,045 GRT )
2 warships (2,560 t)

Whereabouts: Sunk on January 17, 1944

U 305 was a German submarine of type VII C . It was used by the Kriegsmarine in the North Atlantic during the Submarine War in World War II .

Rudolf Bahr (born April 1, 1916 in Landsberg an der Warte; † January 11, 1944 in the Atlantic south-west of Ireland) Lieutenant captain, in command of U 305
U-305 during commissioning on September 17, 1942

U-305 was located on January 17, 1944 southwest of Ireland at the combined convoy ON 65 / KMS 39 by the British destroyer Wanderer and the frigate Glenarm and after hours of depth charge pursuit at 20:56 h by a Hedgehog depth charge volley 49º39'N 20º10 'W sunk. The entire crew of 51 men fell.

Flotilla affiliation

From September 1942 U 305 belonged to the 8th U-Flotilla , a training flotilla stationed in Danzig . Commandant Bahr undertook training trips in the Baltic Sea from here until February 1943 to train the crew. From April 1, 1943, the boat was subordinate to the 1st submarine flotilla , which was stationed in the northern French Atlantic port of Brest , where the boat arrived on March 12. From here Commander Bahr ran out on three more patrols .

Commitment and history

U 305 left Kiel for its first venture on February 27th . As part of the Stürmer submarine group , the submarine met convoy SC 122 on March 17, 1943 , from which Commander Bahr sank the British merchant ships Zouave ( Lage ) and Port Auckland ( Lage ) on the evening of March 17th . U 305 then stayed in contact with the escort until the evening of March 18, but was repeatedly forced to dive by Allied aircraft and could not undertake any further attacks.

Moselle submarine group

The first venture from Brest began on May 12, 1943 and led to the North Atlantic. U 305 was assigned to the Moselle submarine group , which hunted Allied convoy trains according to the pack tactics developed by Karl Dönitz . After evaluating information from the German B-Dienst that announced an HX convoy , the Moselle submarine group was brought into position south of Greenland. While the German boats were still gathering, some were discovered and attacked by Allied forces. On May 22, 1943, the submarine survived a two-hour attack by aircraft belonging to the American escort aircraft carrier USS Bogue , which was part of the escort of another convoy. The boat was so badly damaged that Commander Bahr had to return to Brest, where U 305 arrived on June 1st.

Leuthen submarine group

On August 8th, Commander Bahr set out on his third patrol in this boat. The planned area of ​​operation was again the North Atlantic. From September 18 to 23, 1943, U 305 was part of the "Leuthen" group, which consisted of 20 submarines and was used to hunt down the ON 202 and ONS 18 convoys . On September 20, Commander Bahr sank the Canadian destroyer St Croix . U 305 entered Brest again on October 22nd .

Borkum submarine group

The boat left Brest on December 8, 1943 for its last expedition. U 305 was assigned to the Borkum submarine group and was already involved in combat when approaching the designated position. On December 24th, Commander Bahr attacked the security group of the escort aircraft carrier USS Card and on January 2nd another unidentified destroyer. On January 3, the boat survived an air raid. Late one night on January 6, Commander Bahr discovered several escort ships belonging to the escort of the convoys OS 64 and KMS 38 and attacked them. He sank the British frigate HMS Tweed ( Lage ). The Allied warships were only able to save 44 crew members of the Tweed in the course of the rescue operations . U 305 lost one of its officers. On January 15, Commander Bahr reported to the submarine command that he would not join the Rügen submarine group as ordered, but that he wanted to end the operation and return to the base. Bahr gave no reasons for his decision. The British historian Clay Blair sees fuel and torpedo shortages as Bahr's reasons.

Sinking

HMS Glenarm

On January 17, 1944 the submarine was discovered by a British " Hunter-Killer-Group ", which consisted of five warships and was led by the British frigate HMS Glenarm . The British destroyer HMS Wanderer received sonar contact and attacked the submarine with water bomb volleys from a Hedgehog grenade launcher . After the hikers reported the sinking of the submarine on the basis of sonar data, the Glenarm repeated the attack again, also with Hedgehog volleys, confirmed the sinking and ordered the entire group to expire. Reginald Whinney, commander of the walkers , was not convinced of the success of the attacks. Accordingly, the hikers carried out a conventional depth charge attack, as a result of which sinking noises were heard. The British Admiralty recorded a sinking they attributed equally to the Glenarm and the Wanderer . ( 49 ° 39 ′  N , 20 ° 10 ′  W )

Crew (51 men)

commander

Lieutenant Rudolf Bahr.

Officers on watch

Leutnant zur See Gernoth Thiel (November 1942 to February 1943)

Lieutenant for the Sea Helmut Bogatsch

Lieutenant to the Sea Gerhard Dohrmann

Lieutenant to the sea Hermann Sander

Awake officer-pupil

Ensign to the Sea Wolfgang Jacobsen (February to June 1943).

Ensign to the sea Horst Jäger (1st company).

Chief engineer

First Lieutenant Ing. Ernst Brenner

Head machinist Karl Brummer

Head of Machinist Heinz Randt

Ship doctor

Marine Staff Doctor Dr. Günter Loytved.

Chief helmsmen

Chief helmsman Friedrich Migge.

literature

  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 4: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1999, ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 .
  • Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .
  • "Deadly Seas" by David J. Bercuson and Holger H. Herwig (Random House 1997, ISBN 978-0-679-30854-6 ) describes the dramatic story of the duel between the Canadian frigate HMCS St. Croix and U-305.

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , p. 471.
  2. ↑ a b c Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 , p. 168.
  3. ↑ Martin Middleton: Convoy - German submarines chase allied convoys. Moewig Taschenbuchverlag. Rastatt. ISBN 3-8118-4342-7 . Page 215 f.
  4. ↑ Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted. 1998, pp. 405-406.
  5. ↑ Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted. 1998, pp. 576-577.
  6. ↑ Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted. 1998, p. 579.
  7. ↑ Groups of warships were designated as "Hunter-Killer-Groups", which were specially put together and trained for submarine hunting, and whose premise was not the protection of convoys, but the tracking (Hunter) and destruction (killer) of submarines were
  8. ↑ In contrast to the depth charges of a hedgehog, which exploded with impact detonators, the explosive devices detonated in a conventional attack using deep pressure