U 440
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U 440 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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 The Olympic rings, marks of the crew 36 |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 25 447 |
| Shipyard: | Ferdinand Schichau shipyard , Danzig |
| Construction contract: | January 5, 1940 |
| Build number: | 1491 |
| Keel laying: | October 1, 1940 |
| Launch: | November 8, 1941 |
| Commissioning: | January 24, 1942 |
| Commanders: |
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| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | five ventures |
| Sinkings: |
no depressions |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk by air raid on May 31, 1943 near Cape Ortegal |
U 440 was a submarine that was used by the German Navy during the Second World War in the submarine war . The boat patrolled the North Atlantic during its five outings .
Technical specifications
The Danzig Schichau shipyard was immediately commissioned to build submarines after the incorporation of the Free City of Danzig into the Reich in violation of international law. It was planned that this would mainly utilize the capacity of the shipyard and thus achieve an annual production of 18 submarines - from summer 1943 even 42 boats - of the type VII C. The Type VII C of submarine class VII , also known as the “Atlantic boat ”, was the most built submarine of all and was designed for independent use in the Atlantic during the Second World War . A boat of this type had a displacement of 761 m³ above and 865 m³ under water, was 67.1 m long and 6.2 m wide and had a draft of 4.8 m. The two 1,400 hp diesel engines achieved an overwater speed of 17 knots . Under water, a VII C boat was powered by two electric motors (375 hp each), which enabled a speed of 7.6 knots. On the tower, U 440 carried the Olympic rings, the emblem of Crew 36, the class of officers to which the second in command, Werner Schwaff, belonged.
Commanders
Hans Geissler was born on October 1, 1916 in Rüdesheim and joined the Navy in 1935 . After completing his submarine training and the submarine commanding course, he completed an enemy voyage as a commanding student on U 561 and then took over command of U 440 in January 1942 .
Werner Schwaff was born in Beijing on April 3, 1915 and joined the Navy in 1936. He completed his submarine training in the summer of 1941 and then drove 1st WO on U 659 . On May 16, 1942, he took command of U 2 , a school boat of the 21st U-Flotilla. On November 22, 1942, Oberleutnant Schwaff became the commander of U 333 , with whom he made two patrols until April 1943. On May 20, 1943 he took command of U 440 , with which he was sunk 11 days later northwest of Cape Ortegal .
Commitment and history
U 440 did not sink any ships during its five operations, even though it belonged to several submarine groups that carried out attacks on convoys according to pack tactics .
Submarine group arrow
Just a few days after the start of its first operation , the U 440 became involved in combat operations. The boat was assigned to the submarine group "Pfeil", which attacked the convoy HX 206 according to the pack tactics . During the attack attempt, Commander Geissler was forced to dive by the convoy's escort and the submarine was so severely damaged that the U 440 was forced to abandon the operation just two weeks after leaving Kiel and had to call at a base in France.
Jaguar submarine group
The basic requirement for the hunt for convoys - a sufficient number of operational submarines in the respective sea area - no longer existed for the Navy at the turn of the year 42/43 in the North Atlantic. The main reasons for this were the wintry battle with the convoy ONS 154 and the bad weather. In the spring of 1943, the submarine command only put together a small submarine group under the code name “Jaguar”, which was supposed to track down convoys in Newfoundland that were heading for Europe. In an effort to pull as many boats as possible together into a group, the submarine command decided to refuel some boats that should have returned due to lack of fuel by other boats. U 440 was chosen to take fuel from U 117 . However, this project was canceled due to its low fuel supply. In the late evening of March 11th, Commander Geissler sighted a single steamship, which he attacked with three torpedoes fired at the same time, a so-called fan shot. This and other attacks - U 440 chased the ship until the early hours of the following day - were unsuccessful.
Sinking
U 440 was leaving the Bay of Biscay by a flying boat of the RAF spotted and attacked with aircraft weapons, some men were on the bridge of the boat, which returned the gunfire killed. The Sunderland dropped a few depth charges that weren't really well aimed. Since the U 440 changed course at that moment and drove straight into the detonations, it was badly damaged and immediately sank. There were no survivors.
Notes and individual references
- ↑ C. Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. 1998, p. 222.
- ^ P. Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. 1998, p. 125.
literature
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 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 .