U 3505
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U 3505 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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|---|---|
| Type : | XXI |
| Field Post Number : | 46 656 |
| Shipyard: | Schichau-Werke , Danzig |
| Construction contract: | November 6, 1943 |
| Build number: | 1650 |
| Keel laying: | July 9, 1944 |
| Launch: | August 25, 1944 |
| Commissioning: | October 7, 1944 |
| Commanders: |
October 7, 1944 - April 3, 1945 |
| Flotilla: |
October 7, 1944 - February 15, 1945 |
| Calls: | no ventures |
| Sinkings: |
no |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk on April 3, 1945 in the port of Kiel after being hit by a bomb, then lifted again and blown up on April 3 |
U 3505 was a German submarine of submarine class XXI that was usedby the German navy during World War II . It was intended for use in the Atlantic . However, after its commissioning on October 7, 1944, U 3505 was not used for combat missions except for torpedo exercises.
Construction and technical data
From 1943 the Danzig Schichau shipyard manufactured boats of the larger type XXI. Such a boat was 71.5 m long and 6.6 m wide. Two 2,000 hp strong diesel engines guaranteed at surface running at a speed of 15, 6 knots , which is 29 km / h. Under water, two electric motors with 2500 HP each propelled the boat at a speed of up to 17.2 knots, which corresponds to 32 km / h. A XXI boat had 6 torpedo tubes and carried 23 torpedoes. The Schichau shipyard had delivered a total of 30 such boats to the Navy by the end of the war
Commitment and history
The boat was assigned to the 8th U-Flotilla on October 7, 1944 , a training flotilla stationed in Danzig . Although it was purely a training flotilla, individual boats of the 8th U-Flotilla were involved in combat operations in the Baltic Sea region during this time . The boat belonged to this flotilla until February 15, 1945. Commander Willner undertook tests and practice drives to run in the boat and to train the crew. On January 13, the boat reached the naval base on the Hela peninsula . From here it left for Travemünde on January 18 and returned to Hela a few days later. At the end of the month U 3505 then reached Swinoujscie . On February 16, 1945, the boat was assigned to the 5th U-Flotilla in Kiel . It was originally also a training flotilla, but in the course of the disappearance of other naval bases, the flotilla had taken over the tasks of a front flotilla. U 3505 remained with the 5th U-Flotilla until it was sunk.
Refugee boat
Became known U 3505 as a refugee boat. His commandant Oberleutnant zur See Horst Willner had, contrary to the regulations for submarines , brought on board his wife Ursula disguised as a sailor and his three-week-old daughter Barbara, who was hidden in a duffel bag , on March 28, 1945 and hidden them in his cabin. This preference for relatives was the death penalty in military law . Willner's family should have escaped on the Wilhelm Gustloff , but Horst Willner decided to give back the reserved seats and thus saved his family's life, as the Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk by a Soviet submarine shortly after it left port.
After leaving the Danzig harbor, the boat headed west towards Gotenhafen , where Commander Willner took 110 children and young people, mainly members of the Hitler Youth, on board. The journey continued via Bornholm , where supplies were replenished on board, to Lübeck-Travemünde . The refugees disembarked there in early April, including Horst Willner's family.
Average off Kiel
The boat left Travemünde on April 1st. U 3505 had a type XI C submarine in tow. Commander Willner had pointed out to the commander of the 5th U-Flotilla, Karl-Heinz Moehle , that he believed that there was a considerable risk of towing a boat of almost the same size. Two days later the small association reached Kiel . Shortly before entering the Kiel Fjord , U 3505 had to avoid a buoy with a locking balloon , with the tow rope getting caught in the screws of the submarine. It was only a few hours later that the boat could be maneuvered into the port of Kiel by called tugs.
End of the boat
U 3505 was supposed to take part in torpedo exercises there. But that didn't happen. On April 3, 1945 around 5:50 p.m., the boat was seriously damaged by a hit on the port side of the stern in an Allied air raid by the 8th Air Force of the USAAF on Kiel . U 237 , U 749 , U 1221 , U 2542 and U 3003 were also destroyed in the course of this air attack . When it hit U 3505 , the boat's radio operator, who stayed behind as a guard, was fatally wounded. All other crew members survived as the boat was manned by only four guards at the time of the attack. The boat could be salvaged but could not be repaired. The wreck was blown up on May 3, 1945 on Kiel's Hindenburgufer .
Commander Willner and his crew took over the identical U 3034 , which was commissioned in March .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ 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 . Page 402
- ↑ a b Eckard Wetzel: U 2540. The submarine at the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1996, ISBN 3-86070-556-3 , pages 110–111
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat 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 , page 361