U 415

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U 415
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DEU Bad Harzburg COA.svg
Coat of arms of Bad Harzburg, godfather town of the boat
Type : VII C
Field Post Number : 50 314
Shipyard: Danzig Werft AG in Danzig
Construction contract: August 15, 1940
Build number: 116
Keel laying: July 12, 1941
Launch: May 9, 1942
Commissioning: August 5, 1942
Commanders:
  • August 5, 1942 - April 16, 1944 Kurt Neide
  • April 17, 1944 - July 14, 1944 Herbert A. Werner
Flotilla:
Calls: 7 activities
Sinkings:

1 ship with 4,917 GRT sunk
1 ship with 5,486 damaged
1 warship with 1,340 t sunk

Whereabouts: ran into a mine in the port of Brest on July 14, 1944, later lifted and demolished

U 415 was a German type VII C submarine . This class of submarines was also called "Atlantic boat". It was used by the Kriegsmarine during the submarine war .

Technical specifications

After the incorporation of the Free City of Danzig into the German Reich by the German Navy, Danziger Werft AG was commissioned to build a dozen VII C-boats per year. Until the city was taken by the Red Army , the shipyard produced a total of 42 submarines of this type. U 415 was part of the fourth construction contract for this shipyard, which included a total of four Type VII C boats. Such a boat had a length of 67 m and a displacement of 865 m³ under water. It was powered by two diesel engines, which ensured a speed of 17  kn (31.6 km / h). A VII C-boat had a maximum range of 6500 nm . Under water, the two electric motors, each with 375 hp , were usually used, which achieved a speed of 7 kn (12.6 km / h). Until 1944, the armament consisted of an 8.8 cm cannon and a 2.0 cm flak on deck as well as four bow torpedo tubes and a stern torpedo tube. U 415 carried various coats of arms and symbols during its career. Under the command of Kurt Neide, on the side of the tower it bore the sign of the naval officer year of 1936 and on the front the coat of arms of Bad Harzburg , the godfather town of the boat. Under Commander Herbert A. Werner, a coat of arms with the head of a Roman warrior was attached to the tower.

Commitment and history

From the beginning of August, U 415 was initially subordinate to the 8th U-Flotilla , a training flotilla , and stationed in Gdansk . During this time, the boat undertook training trips in the Baltic Sea to train the crew. On March 1, 1943, it was assigned to the 1st U-Flotilla stationed in northern France as a front boat. For the first venture, the boat left Kiel at the end of February 1943 . On this first voyage, U 415 patrolled south of Iceland and off the North American coast.

Attack on ON 178

Convoy ON 178 drove 58 ships from Liverpool to North America in April 1943 . Eight British warships accompanied the convoy. The commander of the escort group coordinated the defense measures on board the British destroyer HMS Hurricane , the lead ship of the escort security of ON 178 . Alexander von Zitzewitz , commander of U 706 , discovered ON 178 on April 21, but lost contact. In the meantime, U 415 had also tracked down the convoy. Commander Neide reported the position of the Allied ships in order to bring further submarines to the convoy in accordance with the pack tactics developed by Karl Dönitz , and then decided to attack.

  • 21 April 1943 British steamer Ashantian sunk with torpedo

On the evening of April 21, further German submarines had made contact with ON 178 and Kurt Neide broke off his patrol because U 415 no longer had sufficient fuel. Before returning to the Bay of Biscay , the boat therefore took fuel from the supply submarine U 487 on April 26 . Shortly thereafter, U 415 was discovered by a British Vickers Wellington and captured by the beam of light from a Leigh light . U 415 defended itself with artillery and the German flak crew managed to shoot a Wellington tire. When the British pilot attacked the German submarine with six depth charges, Commander Neide decided to allow himself to dive and then try to escape the aircraft under water - which he succeeded. When U 415 reappeared some time later, it was discovered again by an aircraft, this time an Australian Short Sunderland . Kurt Neide managed to escape again after a firefight, but the depth charges from the flying boat severely damaged his submarine. On May 5th, U 415 reached Brest , the base of the 1st U-Flotilla, from where it left for five other operations by the summer of 1944.

Borkum submarine group

HMS Hurricane - sunk by U 415

Towards the end of 1943, the Allied command posts determined that two German blockade breakers - the Osorno and the Alsterufer - were trying to reach the north coast of France. The Allies had also learned of the Borkum submarine group , which was looking for convoy trains west of the Bay of Biscay under the protection of the Air Force. They managed to divert several convoys around the Germans' line-up, while a combat group around the escort carrier USS Card tried to destroy the submarines and the two blockade breakers. Commander Bahr of U 305 reported the card on December 24th, but had to break off the pursuit because his submarine was sighted when the contact message was given and was then attacked by a destroyer. On Bahr's report, Kurt Neide found the card in the middle of the night and had three torpedoes fired at the escort carrier. From a detonation and subsequent sinking noises, Kurt Neide concluded that he had hit one of the destroyers that secured the card , which he also reported. However, this success could not be confirmed and the HMS Decatur in question was not damaged either. On Christmas Eve, Commander Neide discovered the HMS Hurricane , which was part of the escort of convoys OS 62 and KMS 36 , but had been called in to support the combat group for the card . At around 9 p.m. U 415 fired an acoustically controlled torpedo - a so-called wren - at the British destroyer.

  • December 24, 1943 British destroyer Hurricane sunk with T-5 torpedo

The banks of the Alster , as well as two torpedo boats and a destroyer, which had left France to protect them, were sunk. The second German blockade breaker did not reach the port of destination either - the Orsono stranded in the Gironde estuary after it hit a wreck.

Ramming order

In order to repel Operation Neptune , the Navy let some submarines run out. From the operational order channel number 1 , which Karl Dönitz had issued for this on April 11, it could be seen how the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy envisioned the use of the submarines: “Every enemy vehicle that serves the landing, even if only it Bringing half a hundred soldiers or a tank ashore is a goal that requires the full use of the submarine. It is to be attacked, even if you risk losing your own boat. ” The new commander of U 415 , Herbert A. Werner, interpreted the order as a“ ramming order ”and found this view through the reading out flotilla commander of the 1st U-Flotilla, Hans- Rudolf Rösing also confirmed.

Loss of the boat

At the beginning of June and mid-June, Commander Werner made two trips in the Biscay with U 415 . The boat was sustainably damaged in the course of several battles with allied air forces. On June 14, when returning to Brest, the boat ran into an acoustic mine in the port and capsized. U 415 was lifted and canceled on July 21.

Notes and individual references

  1. ^ The construction contract of August 15, 1940 also included the U 413 (commissioning June 1942), U 414 (commissioning July 1942) and U 416 (commissioning November 1942).
  2. ↑ 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. 247 ff.
  3. ↑ 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. 265.
  4. ^ 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. 103.
  5. ↑ The crew wore the emblem of the 1st U-Flotilla as a cap badge.
  6. ↑ This destroyer was sunk by Commander Neide a few months later.
  7. ↑ a b c 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 , p. 194.
  8. ↑ When the Wellington returned to its base, it crash-landed due to the blown tire, but nobody was injured.
  9. ↑ 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. 485.
  10. ^ Dieter Hartwig: Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz. Legend and reality. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-77027-1 , p. 408.
  11. ↑ Herbert A. Werner: The iron coffins (= Heyne books. No. 5177). Foreword by Hans Hellmut Kirst . Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1970, ISBN 3-455-08150-9 , p. 257.
  12. ↑ 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 .

literature

  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine 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 .
  • Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .
  • Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Manfred Pawlak Verlagsges., Herrsching 1981, ISBN 3-88199-0097 .