U 371
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U 371 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 40 472 |
| Shipyard: | Howaldtswerke , Kiel |
| Construction contract: | September 23, 1939 |
| Build number: | 002 |
| Keel laying: | November 17, 1939 |
| Launch: | January 27, 1941 |
| Commissioning: | March 15, 1941 |
| Commanders: |
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| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | 20 activities |
| Sinkings: |
11 sinkings (8 merchant ships, 2 warships, 1 auxiliary warship) |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk in the Mediterranean Sea on May 4, 1944 off the Algerian coast (3 dead, 50 prisoners of war) |
U 371 was a German submarine from the Type VII C , which in World War II by the German Navy in the North Atlantic and in the Mediterranean was used. In its 20 operations under four different commanders, it sank eight merchant ships, two warships and an auxiliary warship with numerous dead. On May 4, 1944, it was badly damaged by several American, British and French destroyers off the coast of Algeria and then sunk , killing three crew members. The remaining 50 men of his crew were taken prisoner by the Allies .
Construction and technical data
The production of the Howaldtswerke shipyard in Kiel - just like that of the Hamburg branch - was completely converted to submarine construction at the start of the war. Until the increase in the number of orders in 1943, the Deutsche Werft was intended to complete twelve submarines annually. This number could not be reached in any year. A type VII C submarine was 67 m long and displaced 865 m³ under water. It was propelled by two diesel engines, which enabled a speed of 17 knots (kn) over water . During the underwater journey, two electric motors propelled the boat to a speed of 7 knots. Until 1944, the armament of a VII C-boat 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 with it. In March 1941 a total of nine type VII C boats were put into service by the Navy. At the tower led U 371 the arms of his godfather city Moenchengladbach as well as his membership in the 29th U-boat Flotilla whose Flottillenzeichen: a auskeilenden donkey. An additional maling represented a mosquito riding a torpedo.
Commitment and history
After two ventures in the central and western North Atlantic, U 371 passed the heavily secured Strait of Gibraltar in a so-called "Gibraltar breakthrough" on September 21, 1941 . U 371 patrolled the Mediterranean until the boat was sunk .
Attack on CIS 38
On April 23, U 371 ran from Toulon on patrol off the North African coast. The sea area in front of Algiers was planned as the operational area . Commander Fenski and most of the crew had previously driven together on U 410 . Commander Fenski let U 371 go to the surface to recharge the batteries on May 3rd when he discovered a large convoy, consisting of more than 100 merchant ships in ballast , on their way to the Atlantic. The convoy GUS 38 was protected by 14 escort ships. U 371 torpedoed the destroyer escort USS Menges with a shot from the stern torpedo tube. 31 men were killed and another 25 injured. The stern of the Menges was so badly damaged that it had to be brought to New York for repairs . When other escort ships became aware of the submarine, Commander Fenski tried to escape towards the African coast. The coordinated depth charges by the escort from GUS 38 severely damaged the boat and caused water ingress, and the battery performance was low due to the interrupted charging process. Commander Fenski let U 371 submerge slowly until the boat hit the ground and lay aground at a depth of 230 meters. Here U 371 waited for the water bombardment to end. In the early morning of the next day, Commander Fenski, in whose boat the penetrating water was now knee-deep, reappeared. On the surface, U 371 was already expected by six warships, which immediately took up the chase. With another shot from the stern torpedo tube, Commander Fenski managed to hit the French destroyer Sénégalais , killing 49 crew members while the ship remained buoyant.
Sinking
Since, in his opinion, the badly damaged U 371 had no chance of escaping its pursuers - six destroyers and a minesweeper - Commander Fenski decided to abandon the boat and ordered the crew to disembark. The chief engineer Ferdinand Ritschel and the two central mates Kurt Kühne and Richard Ritter, who initiated the self- sinking by opening the flood valves, could not get out of the extremely fast sinking boat in time. 46 men of the crew of U 371 , including Commander Horst-Arno Fenski, were rescued by US warships and brought to Algiers as prisoners of war , while four men from the heavily damaged Free French Sénégalais were taken on board as prisoners and brought to Bejaia (Bougie) were.
See also
literature
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. Preface by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rohwer, Member of the Presidium of the International Commission on Military History. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1996, pp. 53, 63, 158, 169, 249. ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: Submarine construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1997, pp. 41, 233. ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 3: The German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2008, pp. 178–180. ISBN 978-3-8132-0513-8 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 4: The German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2008, pp. 159, 205, 227–230. ISBN 978-3-8132-0514-5 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 5: The knight's cross bearers of the submarine weapon from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2003, p. 405. ISBN 3-8132-0515-0 .
- Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maas: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 3: Submarines, auxiliary cruisers, mine ships, net layers. Bernhard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7637-4802-4 .
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War - The Hunters 1939–1942 . Heyne Verlag, 1998. pp. 373, 386, 394, 461, 468f. ISBN 3-4531-2345-X .
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War - The Hunted 1942–1945 . Heyne Verlag, 1999. pp. 266f., 452, 491, 610, 613f., 794. ISBN 3-4531-6059-2 .
Web links
- German U-Boats 1935–1945, U 371, Ubootarchiv.de
- U-371, Uboat.net
- U-371, Uboatarchive.net: Navy Department Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Washington, ONI 250 - G / Serial 40, Report on the Interrogation of Survivors From U-371 Sunk on May 4, 1944
References and comments
- ↑ 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. 233 f.
- ^ Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Malings German submarines 1939-1945. 5th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , p. 96.
- ↑ 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. 479.
- ^ The destination of the CIS convoys was Hampton Roads in Virginia .
- ↑ The US Navy technicians succeeded in replacing the destroyed stern of the Menges with the intact stern of the USS Holder . The Holder was also an Edsall-class destroyer ; her bow was destroyed by an aircraft attack in the summer of 1944. The Menges was able to resume service in November 1944.
- ↑ Destroyer d'escorte "Senegalese" (F702) , U-boote.fr
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