U 30 (Navy)

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U 30 (Kriegsmarine)
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Bundesarchiv Bild 101II-MW-0235-05A, U-Boot, Badge.jpg
Fox terrier Schnurzl, badge of the boat
Type : VII A
Field Post Number : M-05 559
Shipyard: AG Weser , Bremen
Construction contract: April 1, 1935
Build number: 911
Keel laying: January 24, 1936
Launch: 4th August 1936
Commissioning: October 8, 1936
Commanders:
  • October 8, 1936 - October 31, 1938
    Lieutenant Captain Hans Cohausz
  • February 15, 1938 - August 17, 1938
    Lieutenant Captain Hans Pauckstadt
  • November 1938 - September 1940
    Lieutenant Captain Fritz-Julius Lemp
  • September 1940 - March 31, 1941
    Lieutenant Robert Prützmann
  • April 1, 1941 - April 1941
    First Lieutenant Paul-Karl Loeser
  • April 1941 - April 22, 1941
    First Lieutenant Hubertus Purkhold
  • April 23, 1941 - March 9, 1942
    First Lieutenant Kurt Baberg
  • March 10, 1942 - October 4, 1942
    Oberleutnant zur See Hermann Bauer
  • October 5, 1942 - December 16, 1942
    First Lieutenant Franz Saar
  • December 1942 - May 1943
    vacant
  • May 1943 - December 1, 1943
    First Lieutenant Ernst Fischer
  • December 2, 1943 - December 14, 1944
    First Lieutenant Ludwig Fabricius
  • January 17, 1945 - January 23, 1945
    First Lieutenant Günther Schimmel (i. V.)
Calls: 8 activities
Sinkings:

16 ships (86,102 GRT) + 1 warship + 1 ship damaged (36,742 GRT)

Whereabouts: self-sunk on May 4, 1945 ( rainbow order )

U 30 was a German submarine of type VII A , which in the Second World War by the Navy was used.

history

The order for the boat was awarded to AG Weser in Bremen on April 1, 1935 . The keel was laid on January 24, 1936, the launch on August 4, 1936, and commissioning under Lieutenant Hans Cohausz on October 8, 1936.

After commissioning, the boat belonged to the “Saltzwedel” submarine flotilla until December 31, 1939. When the U-Flotilla was reorganized, the 2nd U-Flotilla was established in Wilhelmshaven by November 20, 1940 . After his active service, U 30 was a training boat from December 1, 1940 to November 30, 1943, part of the 24th U-Flotilla in Memel . After being decommissioned from December 1942 to May 1943, the boat was assigned to the 22nd U-Flotilla in Gotenhafen as a school boat from December 1, 1943 to January 12, 1945 . Shortly before the end of the war, it was transferred to Kiel, where it was decommissioned and self-sunk in May 1945 .

U 30 took eight patrols , where 16 ships with a total tonnage of 86,102 GRT and a warship t sunk with 325 and a vessel with 5,642 GRT and a warship with 31,100 t were damaged.

Like most German submarines of its time, the U 30 also had a boat-specific symbol that was painted on the tower and worn by the crew on caps and boats . It was a stylized drawing of a fox terrier , designed by crew member Georg Högel and attached to the tower. The symbol went back to "Schnurzl", the commandant's dog, with whom the team had established a special connection. When he switched to his next command, Lemp took the symbol with him - so the dog also became the symbol of U 110 .

First venture

The boat left Wilhelmshaven on August 22, 1939 at 4 a.m. and returned there on September 27, 1939. On this 37-day venture into the North Atlantic Northwest of Ireland , three ships with a total of 23,206 GRT were sunk.

  • September 4, 1939: Sinking of the British passenger liner Athenia (13,581 GRT) ( location ) by a torpedo . The ship, which was en route from Glasgow via Liverpool to Montreal , had 315 crew members and 1102 passengers, many of them refugees from Europe, on board. During and after the torpedoing, 19 crew members and 93 passengers died. The Athenia was the first ship to be sunk in World War II. The event is also known as the Athenia Incident .
  • September 11, 1939: Sinking of the British steamer Blairlogie (4,425 GRT) ( Lage ) by artillery and torpedo. He had loaded iron and steel scrap and was on his way from Portland to Land's End . There were no deaths, 32 survivors.
  • September 14, 1939: Sinking of the British steamer Fanad Head (5,200 GRT) by a G7a torpedo. He had cargo (including wheat ) and eight passengers on board and was en route from Montreal to Belfast . There were no dead, 50 survivors.

Lemp had the British ship stopped early in the morning near Rockall with a warning shot from the deck cannon. The freighter sent an emergency signal including position information and the crew disembarked. The SSS signal - the letter combination stood for a submarine attack - was received by the Royal Navy's most modern aircraft carrier, the Royal Ark , which at that time was about 180 nm northeast of Fanad Head's position . Three of the six destroyers accompanying the Ark Royal left the formation and approached the specified position at top speed. Lemp decided to have the British ship sunk by a demolition squad to save torpedoes. Two U 30 crew members crossed over in a rubber dinghy and boarded the Fanad Head . There they began to prepare for the demolition. In the meantime three fighter jets, dispatched by the Ark Royal , arrived . Lemp had his boat submerged, forgetting to cut the safety line that was used to connect the demolition squad's inflatable boat to U 30 . Two of the Skuas discovered the inflatable boat and attacked the fleeing submarine with bombs. In doing so, however, they flew so low that the planes were damaged by bomb fragments thrown up by the explosions. While U 30 submerged with damaged torpedo tubes, both fighter planes were unable to fly and had to go into the water.

The pilots were rescued by the two crew members of the submarine, who had observed the attack from the Fanad Head , and brought on board the British steamer. After the submarine surfaced again, it was first fired at by the third Skua with on-board guns. A man from the demolition squad was wounded while trying to bring the captured British pilots on board the U 30 . The pilot of the third Skua soon had to turn off due to lack of fuel. The captured British pilots received medical care on board U 30 . In addition, Lemp finally fired four torpedoes to bring the steamer to sink. Immediately after the sinking of the Fanad Head of met around 18:30 more aircraft Ark Royal one. there were six Swordfish biplanes that dropped several bombs on the descending submarine. Lemp initially managed to escape, then U 30 was found by the arriving destroyers of the association around the Ark Royal by sonar. Several well-aimed depth charges severely damaged the submarine. The engine room was partially flooded and had to be drained with a chain of buckets. The water was first brought to the control center and pumped from there into the boat. In the process, the U 30 sank to 143 meters - the greatest depth from which a submarine had ever managed to emerge up to this point. Lemp was only able to evade the destroyers after six hours of depth charges. He dropped the British pilots on Iceland and returned to Germany. In a one-sided distortion of the facts, the German propaganda then reported a "victory over the Ark Royal". To commemorate the sinking of Fanad Head, Lemp had a red hand with three drops of blood painted on the tower of U 30 . Below that was the date the ship was sunk. The Fanad Head drove for the Ulster Steam Shipping Company, whose symbol was the "Red Hand of Ulster ".

Second venture

The boat left Wilhelmshaven on December 9, 1939 at 4 a.m. and returned there on December 14, 1939 at 2 a.m. No ships were sunk or damaged on this five-day venture into the North Atlantic. The journey had to be canceled due to machine damage.

Third company

The boat left Wilhelmshaven on December 23, 1939 at 12 p.m. and returned there on January 17, 1940 at 5 p.m. On this 25-day operation in the North Atlantic, where a minefield of twelve mines was laid off Liverpool, five ships with a total of 27,549 GRT and an auxiliary submarine with 325 tons and a ship with 5,642 GRT and a battleship with 31,100 were sunk t damaged.

  • December 28, 1939: Sinking of the British auxiliary submarine fighter Barbara Robertson (325 t) by artillery. He was from Hull and was supposed to oversee the fishing .
  • December 28, 1939: Damage to the British battleship HMS Barham (31,100 t) by a torpedo.
  • January 15, 1940: The British steamer Garcia (5,642 GRT) is damaged by a mine hit. He had loaded 844 tons of general cargo and was on the way from the Clyde to Saint John . The ship belonged to convoy OB-71. It was sunk by German aircraft on February 19, 1941.
  • January 17, 1940: The British steamer Cairnross (5,494 GRT) ( Lage ) is sunk by a mine hit. He had loaded cargo, coal and 50 tons of pottery and was on his way from Tyne , Leith and Liverpool to Saint John. The steamer drove in convoy OB-74 with 19 ships. There were no dead, 48 survivors.
  • February 7, 1940: The British motor ship Munster (4,305 GRT) ( Lage ) is sunk by a mine hit. It had eggs , poultry , yarn , textiles loaded and was on its way from Belfast to Liverpool. There were two dead.
  • February 9, 1940: The British steamer Chagres (5,406 GRT) is sunk by a mine hit. He had loaded 1,500 tons of bananas and was on the way from Victoria (now Limbe) to Garston. There were two dead and 62 survivors.
  • March 8, 1940: The British steamer Counselor (5,068 GRT) ( Lage ) is sunk by a mine hit. He had loaded cargo and cotton and was on his way from New Orleans to Liverpool via Halifax. The steamer belonged to the HX-22 convoy with 35 ships. There were no dead, 78 survivors.

Fourth venture

The boat left Wilhelmshaven on March 11, 1940 at 5 p.m. and returned there on March 30, 1940 at 10 a.m. In these 19-day entrepreneurship development in the North Sea and in the Shetland and Orkney Islands no ships were sunk or damaged.

Fifth venture

The boat left on April 3, 1940 at 1 p.m. for the Weser Exercise Company in Wilhelmshaven and returned there on May 4, 1940 at 3 p.m. No ships were sunk or damaged on this 31-day expedition off Trondheim .

Sixth venture

The boat was launched on 8 June 1940 at 12 am from Wilhelmshaven, and on July 7, 1940 at 8 am in Lorient one. During this 29-day venture in the North Atlantic, the Biscay , the North Canal and off Cape Finisterre , five ships with a total of 22,300 GRT were sunk.

  • June 20, 1940: sinking of the British steamer Otterpool (4,876 GRT) ( location ) by a torpedo. He had loaded 8,180 tons of iron ore and was on the way from Bona to Middlesbrough . The steamer drove in convoy HGF-34 with 22 ships. There were 23 dead and 16 survivors.
  • June 22, 1940: The Norwegian motor ship Randsfjord (3,999 GRT) is sunk by a torpedo. It had already been damaged by U 47 on June 21, 1940 . It had 6,746 t of general cargo on board and was on its way from New York to Liverpool. The ship belonged to convoy HX-49. There were four dead and 29 survivors.
  • June 28, 1940: Sinking of the British steamer Llanarth (5,053 GRT) ( location ) by a torpedo. He had loaded 7,980 tons of flour and was on the way from Melbourne via Leith to Aberdeen . There were no deaths, 35 survivors.
  • July 1, 1940: Sinking of the British steamer Beignon (5,218 GRT) ( location ) by a torpedo. He had loaded 8,816 tons of wheat and was on the way from Fremantle via Freetown to Newcastle . The ship drove in convoy SL-36 with 41 ships. There were three dead and 30 survivors.
  • July 6, 1940: sinking of the Egyptian steamer Angele Mabro (3,154 GRT) by a torpedo. He had loaded iron ore and was on his way from Bilbao to Cardiff .

Seventh venture

The boat left Lorient on July 13, 1940 at 9 p.m. and returned there on July 24, 1940. On this eleven-day expedition off the Strait of Gibraltar , a ship with 712 GRT was sunk.

  • July 21, 1940: Sinking of the British steamer Ellaroy (712 GRT) ( location ) by a torpedo. He had loaded 800 tons of wood and was on the way from Lisbon to Newport . There were no deaths, 16 survivors.

Eighth venture

The boat left Lorient on August 5, 1940 at 9 p.m. and entered Kiel on August 30, 1940 at 10 a.m. Two ships with a total of 12,407 GRT were sunk on this 22-day venture into the North Atlantic and the North Canal.

  • August 9, 1940: sinking of the Swedish motor ship Canton (5,779 GRT) ( location ) by a torpedo. It had loaded 3,000 t of pig iron , 2,700 t of flaxseed , 1,034 t of sackcloth and 1,152 t of freight and was on its way from Calcutta to Liverpool. There were 16 dead and 16 survivors.
  • August 16, 1940: Sinking of the British steamer Clan MacPhee (6,628 GRT) ( location ) by a torpedo. He had loaded 6,700 tons of cargo and was on the way from Glasgow, Liverpool to Bombay . The ship belonged to convoy OB-197 with 54 ships. There were 67 dead and 76 survivors.

Whereabouts

U 30 was decommissioned in Kiel in January 1945. It was supposed to serve as a shooting range boat for the higher command of the torpedo schools, but that did not happen until the end of the war. The boat was on 5 May 1945 in Flensburg the long-standing, but from under Admiral Doenitz repealed on the evening of May 4, 1945 Rainbow command of his crew scuttled . The wreck was lifted and scrapped in 1948.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Georg Högel: Embleme Wappen Malings deutscher U-Boats , Koehler (5th edition), Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , page 118
  2. ^ Peter Padfield: The U-Boat War 1939-1945 , Bechtermünz for Ullstein, 1995, ISBN 3-8289-0313-4 , page 58
  3. ↑ Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-453-12345-X . Pages 120–121