U 435
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U 435 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 03 593 |
| Shipyard: | F. Schichau shipyard in Danzig |
| Construction contract: | October 16, 1939 |
| Build number: | 1477 |
| Keel laying: | April 11, 1940 |
| Launch: | May 31, 1941 |
| Commissioning: | August 30, 1941 |
| Commanders: |
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| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | 8 patrols |
| Sinkings: |
9 ships (47,972 GRT) |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk by an airplane on July 9, 1943, no survivors |
U 435 was a German type VII C submarine. This class of submarines was also known as "Atlantic boat". It was used by the Kriegsmarine during the submarine war in the north and middle Atlantic and in the North Sea .
Technical specifications
The Schichau shipyard in Gdansk built a total of 64 type VII C submarines from 1941 to 1944. U 435 was part of the second construction contract that was placed with this shipyard and also included U 436 , U 437 , U 438 and U 439 . A submarine of this type, powered by two diesel engines , reached a speed of 17 knots when traveling above water and was able to make a speed of 7.6 knots under water with the help of the two electric motors. However, the power of the batteries only allowed this top speed for underwater travel for an hour. At a slower speed, the boat could theoretically travel underwater for up to three days. A dive of this length could of course not be expected of the crew, because the air in the Type VII C boats was already very exhausted after 24 hours. On the tower U 435 bore the coat of arms of its godfather city Marienburg .
commander
Siegfried Strelow was born on April 15, 1911 in Kiel and joined the Reichsmarine in 1931 . He served on the Schleswig-Holstein , the ironclad Admiral Graf Spee and the destroyer Richard Beitzen . In December 1939 he was given command of the torpedo boat Albatros , which he lost during the invasion of Norway . He then commanded two Norwegian looters, the mine- layer Brummer and the torpedo boat Löwe . In the summer of 1941, Kapitänleutnant Strelow reported to the U-Bootwaffe and in August received command of the newly built U 435 , which he held until it was sunk.
history
U 435 was involved in attacks on northern sea convoys and in the summer of 1942 picked up a weather team from Svalbard , which had carried out the Knospe operation there. In 1943 U 435 moved to Brest and, operating from there, took part in convoy battles in the Atlantic.
Northern sea
In the spring of 1942, Adolf Hitler ordered the increased use of submarines in the North Sea, as he feared a British invasion of Norway. The armed force of the German submarines, which were subordinate to Rear Admiral Hubert Schmundt , increased to 25, but initially did not lead to success, because the patrolling submarines did not find the British convoys, those under the cover of the arctic night of Scotland drove to Murmansk and back. Only when a heavy storm tore the convoy PQ 13 apart in the last days of March and the ships scattered over an area of several thousand square kilometers did some submarines find their targets.
- 30 March 1942 American steamer Effingham with 5,421 GRT sunk ( Lage )
A short time later, the convoy QP 10 , running in the opposite direction, was discovered and attacked by the Air Force . The fact that Siegfried Strelow sank two ships from this convoy made him the most successful German submarine commander in the North Sea.
- April 14, 1942 Panamanian freighter El Occidente with 6,008 GRT sunk ( Lage )
- April 14, 1942 British steamer Harpalion with 5,486 GRT sunk ( Lage )
Ice palace
The attack on the convoy PQ 18 was one of the largest operations of the Navy in the North Sea. U 435 was assigned to the “Eispalast” submarine group, which was supposed to attack it and the oncoming convoy QP 14 . Commander Strelow reported sunk five ships and damaged two more. In fact, his yield was lower, but still so impressive that he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for this attack .
- September 20, 1942 British minesweeper Leda sunk with 835 t
- September 22, 1942 American freighter Bellingham with 5,345 GRT sunk ( Lage )
- September 22, 1942 British freighter Ocean Voice with 7,174 GRT sunk ( Lage )
- September 22, 1942 British fleet tanker Gray Ranger with 3,313 GRT sunk ( Lage )
Pointed
Towards the end of 1942, U 435 , which had been under the 1st U-Flotilla in Brest since the summer , drove from Norway to France. During this undertaking, the boat belonged for some time to the submarine group "Spitz", which attacked the convoy ONS 154 west of the French Atlantic coast in the last days of December. In addition to two freighters, Kapitänleutnant Strelow also sank a catapult ship , which in turn had two landing craft on board, which the commander also counted as successes.
- 29 December 1942 British steamer Empire Shackelton with 7,068 GRT sunk ( Lage )
- 29 December 1942 Norwegian steamer Norse King with 5,701 GRT sunk ( Lage )
- 30 December 1942 British catapult ship Fidelity with 2,456 t sunk ( location )
- December 30, 1942 two British landing craft LCV-752 and LCV-754 with a total of. Sunk 20 t
U 435 entered Brest on January 10 and carried out two more operations in the North and Central Atlantic from its new base.
Robber Count
In March 1943, U 435 belonged to the “Raubgraf” submarine group, which was in search of Allied convoys off Newfoundland . In anticipation of a convoy, the submarine group had formed a search strip. The ON 170 convoy coming from Great Britain ran into this on March 13 and was reported by U 603 . The submarine in turn was discovered by the escort, had to dive and lost contact with the convoy. Two hours later, U 435 found the convoy again, set bearing signals, was thereupon discovered by the Whimbrel , attacked and lost contact with ON 170 because Commander Strelow had to let go. On March 14, the attack on this convoy was canceled and the submarine group "Raubgraf" was placed on the convoy SC 122 , which was traveling from New York to Great Britain and was able to bypass the position of the submarine group in the upcoming storm. When U 653 accidentally discovered the convoy HX 229 , it was erroneously identified as SC 122 by the submarine command, which immediately ordered the submarine group “Raubgraf” to the reported position. On the night of March 17, a torpedo from U 435 damaged the US steamer Wiliam Eustris , which was later sunk by U 91 but was counted towards Strelow. The commander believed that he sank three more steamers and damaged two more that night. These successes - misjudgments that were probably due to the confusion of this large convoy battle (43 submarines) - remained unconfirmed.
loss
A Vickers Wellington discovered U 435 while driving on the water surface on July 9, 1943 and initially attacked it with machine gun fire. The submarine did not return fire and did not appear to attempt to dive. On the next approach, the aircraft dropped four depth charges, which detonated close to the submarine, which then sank ( Lage ).
literature
- Jochen Brennecke : The turning point in the submarine war. Causes and consequences 1939–1940. Koehler, Herford 1984, ISBN 3-7822-0281-3 .
- 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 .
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X .
- Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .
Footnotes
- ^ 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. 106.
- ↑ The literature gives contradicting information about the sunk ships: Jürgen Rohwer attributes the sinking of the Russian freighter Kiev to Strelow (Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Seekrieges. 1939–1945. Stalling, Oldenburg et al. 1968.), Clay Blair agrees (Clay Blair: Der U-Boot-Krieg. Volume 1: Die Jäger. 1939–1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X .). Busch and Röll note the Harpalion as sunk by U 435 and assign the Kiev to the boat U 436 (Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: Der U-Boot-Krieg 1939–1945. Volume 3: German U-boat successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 .).
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