U 378

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
U 378
( previous / next - all submarines )
Type : VII C
Field Post Number : 34 668
Shipyard: Howaldtswerke , Kiel
Construction contract: October 16, 1939
Build number: 009
Keel laying: May 3, 1940
Launch: September 13, 1941
Commissioning: October 30, 1941
Commanders:
Flotilla:
Calls: 6 activities
Sinkings:

1 warship with 1,920 t sunk

Whereabouts: Sunk by planes near the Azores on October 20th

U 378 was a German submarine from the Type VII C , which in World War II by the German Navy in the North Atlantic and the North Sea - including in convoy with the North Sea convoys of the Allies was used -.

Technical specifications

At the beginning of the war, the Howaldtswerke shipyard in Kiel switched production to the construction of submarines for the German Navy. Until 1943, the German shipyard was intended to build twelve submarines every year - this requirement could not be met in any year. 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 with it. In March 1941 a total of nine boats of this type were put into service by the Navy. A maling on the tower of U 378 depicts a chimney sweep whose cylinder is adorned with the number “13”.

Commanders

  • Alfred Hoschatt was born in Görlitz on February 10, 1909 and joined the Reichsmarine in 1927 . He commanded the 1st minesweeping flotilla until spring 1941. Following his submarine training and building instruction, Hoschatt took over command of U 378 on November 30, 1941 , which he led on three operations. On June 18, 1942, he handed over command to his first watch officer, Peter Schrewe.
  • Peter Schrewe was born on December 3, 1913 in Grosshof near Tapiau and joined the Reichsmarine in 1934. Until 1940 he served temporarily in the air force , then he completed the submarine training. He completed a patrol as 1st watch officer ( 1st watch officer ) on U 48 and then became 1st watch officer on U 378 , whose command he was in deputy from June 1942 and handed over to Hans-Jürgen Zetzsche on September 9.
  • Hans-Jürgen Zetzsche was born on October 5, 1915 in Annaberg in the Ore Mountains and joined the Reichsmarine in 1934. He was the 1st WO on U 28 and U 10 before he took over his first command - on U 20 - in April 1940 . By the time he became a commander on September 10, 1942, on behalf of U 378 , with which he undertook a patrol from September 12 to 29, he had commanded various German submarines.
  • Erich Mäder was born on October 3, 1915 in Beuchlitz near Halle and joined the Navy in 1936. After completing his submarine training (until spring 1941), he was the 1st WO on U 80 and U 508 until September 1942 . Erich Mäder completed his U-boat commanders course in September 1942 and took command of U 378 on October 12 .

Commitment and history

U 378 was stationed in Kirkenes until the summer of 1942 , when it moved to Drontheim . From here the boat completed four operations and was used against convoy QP 8 , convoy PQ 18 and convoy QP 14 , among others . In the summer of 1943 U 378 moved to the northern French Atlantic coast and was stationed in La Pallice .

Convoy battle in the North Sea

HMS Avenger

The Royal Navy presented in 1942 a number of ships in service, which had been converted on the basis of merchant ships by US shipyards to makeshift aircraft carriers. The first of the ships in this Charger class , the HMS `` Avenger '' , escorted the Northern Sea Convoy PQ 18 to Arkhangelsk . The U-boat group that attacked the convoy in September 1942 - in conjunction with surface forces and units of the air force - also included U 378 . The commander fired four torpedoes at the Avenger , but scored no hit.

Convoy battle in the Atlantic

Polish destroyer Hurricane , sunk by U 378

During an aircraft attack in early October 1943, some crew members and the commander were wounded and decided to break off the operation. U 378 was already on its way back to the base when the convoy SC 143 was discovered. The German submarine succeeded in tracking the convoy and relaying its position via radio in order to bring further boats to attack the convoy in accordance with the pack tactics developed by Karl Dönitz . After one day, seven German submarines caught up with U 378 . During the day, the escort of SC 143 managed to protect the convoy's ships efficiently, but the submarines attacked on the night of October 8th to 9th. U 378 torpedoed the destroyer Hurricane , which was sailing under the Polish flag as escort. The rear magazine of the hurricane exploded through the T5 torpedo and the destroyer detonated.

Sinking

On October 13, U 378 had been attacked by an Avenger torpedo bomber from the USS Card . However, Commander Mäder had managed to escape the Avenger's target-seeking torpedo. A week later, the boat was attacked and sunk again by aircraft stationed on another Bogue-class aircraft carrier , the USS Core , at position 47 ° 40 ′  N , 28 ° 27 ′  W. Only one crew member of the U 378 survived the attack by the Avenger bomber and the Wildcat fighter . The chief helmsman Karl-Heinz Brunkhorst was rescued, but probably drowned later when the ship that had taken him sank.

See also

literature

  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
  • Peter Padfield: The Submarine War. 1939-1945. License issue. Bechtermünz-Verlag, Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-8289-0313-4 .

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ R. Busch, H.-J. Röll: The Submarine War 1939–1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. 1997, pp. 233-234.
  2. ^ 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. 97.
  3. ↑ A chimney sweep present when the boat was put into service presented the crew with his hat as a good luck charm. This was painted with the number 13 , as it was - in addition to the twelve cylinders of the diesel engines - the thirteenth cylinder on board.
  4. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 , p. 287.
  5. ↑ Zetzsche was in command of U 8 , U 4 , U 560 and U 591 between 1940 and 1942 .
  6. ↑ Lt. Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 , was still Hoschatt at this time, according to Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: Der U-Boot-Krieg 1939–1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 , already Zetzsche commander of the boat.
  7. ^ Bernard Ireland: Battle of the Atlantic. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD 2003, ISBN 1-59114-032-3 , p. 160.
  8. ↑ The Hurricane had been put into service by the British Navy under the name Myrmidon a year earlier .
  9. ↑ Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X , p. 512.
  10. ↑ [1] Entry on uboat.net
  11. ↑ James E. Wise: Sole survivors of the sea. Nautical & Aviation, Baltimore MD 1994, ISBN 1-877853-29-1 , p. 165.