U 402

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U 402
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DEU Karlsruhe COA.svg
City arms of Karlsruhe, symbol of the boat
Type : VII C
Field Post Number : 43 571
Shipyard: Danzig Werft AG, Danzig
Construction contract: September 23, 1939
Build number: 103
Keel laying: April 22, 1940
Launch: December 28, 1940
Commissioning: April 19, 1941
Commanders:
  • Siegfried Freiherr von Forstner
Flotilla:
  • 3rd U-Flotilla training boat
    May - October 1941
  • 3rd U-Flotilla front boat
    until October 1943
Calls: 8 activities
Sinkings:

14 merchant ships and one patrol boat

Whereabouts: sunk on October 13, 1943 in the central North Atlantic

U 402 was a German submarine of the type VII C , which was used in the submarine war of the Second World War by the German navy in the west and north Atlantic .

Technical specifications

Danziger Werft AG delivered a total of 42 type VII C and VII C / 41 submarines to the navy during the Second World War. U 402 was one of eight VII -C boats that were completed at this shipyard in 1941. Due to the endurance and operational capability, this type was also called "Atlantic boat". A VII C-boat was 67 m long and displaced 865 m³ under water. Two diesel engines ensured a speed of 17 knots when sailing above water . During the underwater journey, two electric motors propelled the boat to a speed of 7 knots. The armament of the VII C-Boats until 1944 consisted of an 8.8 cm cannon and a 2 cm flak on deck, as well as four bow torpedo tubes and a stern torpedo tube. Usually a VII C-boat carried 14 torpedoes with it.

Like most German submarines of its time, the U 402 also had a boat-specific symbol on the tower , which was selected by the crew and also worn on hats and boats . The crew opted for the Karlsruhe coat of arms , which was also framed by pompons that were reminiscent of the pompoms of bobble hats . The boat was nicknamed "Bommel" and the crew decorated their headgear with corresponding pompoms.

Commitment and history

Initially, U 402 was subordinated to the 3rd U-Flotilla as a training boat and stationed in La Rochelle. From October 1941 the boat was used as a front boat. The first operation with this boat was carried out by Commander Korvettenkapitän Siegfried von Forstner in the North Atlantic, in the Denmark Strait and south of Iceland . Seven other companies followed from Saint-Nazaire and La Pallice . Commandant von Forstner sank fourteen ships and a patrol boat.

USS Cythera

Arrow against SC 118

On January 24, 1943, a large convoy left New York Harbor . SC 118 initially consisted of 44 ships, which were joined by 19 more off Newfoundland . The convoy was protected by exceptionally strong cover, consisting of four British destroyers , a United States Coast Guard cutter and one British and three French corvettes . At the beginning of February the convoy passed the search strip of the submarine group Pfeil , which was looking for Allied convoys according to the pack tactics developed by Karl Dönitz .

HMS Vanessa , lead ship of the
SC 118 escort

On February 4, Ralph Münnich, commander of U 187, became aware of the ships after a light grenade was accidentally shot down by a seaman on a Norwegian freighter . Münnich took up the chase and sent position signals to lead the other boats in the Pfeil group to the convoy. U 402 was one of the first boats to reach the target area , but Commandant von Forstner was unable to initiate a promising attack due to the bad weather. The boats of Gruppe Pfeil pursued the convoy and scored two sinks. On the evening of the following day, SC 118's escort was reinforced by additional warships that had left Iceland . This substantial cover and the persistent stormy and rainy weather made it difficult for the submarines to keep in touch with the convoy. The next morning, the escort was reinforced by aircraft, which, in cooperation with the escort ships, tracked down and successfully attacked numerous submarines. As a result, five boats from the Pfeil group abandoned their mission and returned to the bases on the Atlantic coast of northern France. In view of the lack of success reports, the submarine command over radio demanded a "ruthless" operation. As a result, six submarine commanders decided to attack despite the unfavorable starting position, and two boats were lost. On the night of February 7, Commander von Forstner sank five ships with a total of 27,821 GRT in an attack lasting several hours and damaged two more.

  • British steamer Toward sunk with torpedo on 7 February 1943 at 03:47 a.m.

The Toward was the convoy's rescue ship and also had a Huff-Duff device on board with which submarines could be aligned. These fast and agile rescue ships were therefore regarded as preferred targets. Of the 74 crew members of the Toward 58 were killed.

  • American tanker Robert E. Hopkins sunk by torpedo at 3:52 a.m. on February 7, 1943
  • British motor ship Afrika sunk by torpedo at 6:36 a.m. on February 7, 1943
  • American steamer Henry R. Malloy sunk with torpedo on February 7, 1943 at 6:59 a.m.

The Henry R. Malloy was a troop transport and sank slowly, while panic broke out among the 495 people on board. 267 survivors were rescued by a Coast Guard ship.

  • Greek steamer Kalliopi sunk with torpedoes on February 7, 1943 at 7:35 a.m.

At around half past four , von Forstner also damaged the Norwegian tanker Daghild with a torpedo. A British landing craft was on board. The Daghild was evacuated and the ship and the landing craft LCT 2335 on board were sunk by U 608 the following day . Von Forstner was also sunk the next day.

  • British steamer Newton Ash sunk by torpedo at 1:42 a.m. on February 8, 1943

Sinking

The boat was sunk with torpedoes on October 13, 1943 by two Avenger torpedo bombers of the VC-9 Squadron of the US Navy. All 50 crew members were killed.

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 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 .
  • Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X .

Notes and individual references

  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 , p. 100.
  2. The abbreviation SC stands for "slow convoy" and was used for convoy trains that consisted of a particularly large number of ships. Since the speed of a convoy was always based on the slowest ship, these SC convoys were particularly slow.
  3. a b Clay Blair : The Submarine War - The Hunted 1942-1945 . Heyne Verlag, Munich 1999. pp. 156, 340, 462, 537. ISBN 3-453-16059-2 . Pages 232–235
  4. Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 . Page 187-188
  5. Axel Niestle: German U-Boat Losses during World War II. Details of Destruction, Frontline Books, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-84832-210-3 , page 61