U 309

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U 309
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Type : VII C
Field Post Number : 49 703
Shipyard: Flender-Werke , Lübeck
Construction contract: June 5, 1941
Build number: 309
Keel laying: January 24, 1942
Launch: December 5, 1942
Commissioning: January 27, 1943
Commanders:
  • January 27, 1943 - August 1944
    Hans-Gert Mahrholz
  • August 1944 - February 16, 1945
    Herbert Löder
Calls: 11 activities
Sinkings:

1 ship (7219 GRT , no dead)

Whereabouts: Sunk on February 16, 1945 east of the Moray Firth (47 dead, no survivors)

U 309 was a German type VII C submarine of the German Navy .

Construction and commissioning

A Type VII C submarine had a length of 67 m and a displacement of 865 m³ under water. It was propelled over water by two diesel engines up to a speed of 17 knots . Two electric motors enabled a speed of 7 knots when underwater. Until 1944, the armament consisted of an 8.8 cm cannon and a 2 cm Flak C / 30 on deck as well as four bow torpedo tubes and a stern torpedo tube. A VII C-boat usually carried 14 torpedoes. U 309 was put into service on January 27, 1943 by Leutnant zur See Hans-Gert Mahrholz. Like most German submarines of its time, the U 309 also had a boat-specific logo on the tower that was jointly selected by the crew. It was a chirping sparrow perched on a flagpole sticking out of the water. With reference to this tower symbol, the boat was nicknamed "U-Spatz".

Commitment and history

Until July 31, 1943, the boat belonged to the 8th U-Flotilla , a training flotilla that was stationed in Danzig . At the beginning of August, the boat was assigned to the 11th U-Flotilla . On November 1, the 9th U-Flotilla came into being , where it remained until October 1944. In the summer of 1944, the boat ran out to several missions in the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel, where it should take action against Allied naval forces and supply lines that supported the landing of the Allied troops in Normandy as part of Operation Overlord . Commander Mahrholz reported several sinkings, including a destroyer on July 3, a steamer on July 20 and two more on July 24. Only one sinking was confirmed:

  • July 24, 1944 British steamer Samneva with 7,219 GRT torpedoed

The heavily damaged Samneva was able to reach Southampton with all 70 men on board , but was no longer repaired and scrapped. Towards the end of the summer of 1944, the boat moved from Brest to La Pallice . War correspondent and later writer Lothar-Günther Buchheim escaped from besieged Brest with U 309 in August 1944 . In his diary-like report " The Fortress " (1995) he gives the escape boat the number U 730, the construction of which was canceled in 1944. In October the boat reached the naval base in Stavanger . U 309 entered the Flensburg Fjord towards the end of the month and was later transferred to Kiel .

Downfall

U 309 was sunk on February 16, 1945 east of the Moray Firth by depth charges from the Canadian frigate HMCS St. John ( Lage ). None of the 47 crew members, who this time did not include Buchheim, were able to leave the boat alive , which at that time was being led by Lieutenant Herbert Löder.

See also

Individual evidence

  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 , page 89.
  2. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. German submarine successes , Verlag ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 , page 169