U 464

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U 464
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Type : XIV
Field Post Number : M 46 289
Shipyard: Deutsche Werke AG , Kiel
Construction contract: August 15, 1940
Build number: 295
Keel laying: March 18, 1941
Launch: December 20, 1941
Commissioning: April 30, 1942
Commanders:

April 30, 1942 - August 20, 1942
Lieutenant Commander . Otto Harms

Calls: 1 company
Sinkings:

no

Whereabouts: Badly damaged by US air raid on August 20, 1942 and self- sunk west of the Faroe Islands (2 dead, 52 prisoners of war)

U 464 was a German submarine from Type XIV , which in World War II by the German navy was used in the North Sea and North Atlantic. As a " dairy cow " it was not intended for its own attacks on ships, but for supplying other submarines. However, it could not supply submarines, but was so badly damaged on its first venture by a US air raid on August 20, 1942 west of the Faroe Islands that it had to be self- scuttled. Two crew members died in the attack, while the remaining 52 men were rescued by an Icelandic fishing trawler. The latter handed them over to two British destroyers as prisoners of war on the same day .

Construction and commissioning

The order for the boat was awarded to Deutsche Werke AG in Kiel on August 15, 1940 . This shipyard was commissioned in 1932 with the construction of submarines - mainly with boats of smaller types II A to II D . Since the summer of 1940, Deutsche Werke has also built Type XIV supply boats and by 1943 produced ten boats of this submarine class. The submarines of the submarine class XIV , officially called Type XIV , were a modification of the Type VII C and received an enlarged pressure hull. The XIV boats were designed to supply other German submarines with fuel, food and ammunition during the Second World War. The nickname of the boats of this class was "dairy cow". Such a boat was 67.10 m long and could reach a speed of over 14 knots when sailing above the water  . The maximum speed when underwater was 6.2 knots. These submarines had no offensive weapons themselves, only anti-aircraft guns for defense against air attacks. In the middle of World War II, they played an important role in supporting smaller Type VII C submarines in the attack on the American coast ( Operation Paukenschlag ). The keel of the XIV boat with the hull number 295 took place on March 18, 1941 and the launch on December 20, 1941. The boat was put into service with the designation U 464 under the command of Lieutenant Otto Harms on April 30, 1942. Harms had previously commanded the smaller U 56 , with which he completed seven operations off the British coast and in the North Atlantic. He had also taken part in the Weser exercise company .

history

U 464 left Bergen on August 14, 1942 for a supply trip towards the east coast of Newfoundland . The boat was discovered in heavy seas west of the Faroe Islands by a PBY Catalina flying boat stationed on Iceland . The Catalina grabbed U 464 with five depth charges , whose detonation damaged the boat hard and diving incapable of doing. It was the first successful attack by a German submarine by air forces of the British Coastal Command without the support of surface units. Although the submarine was still able to make 8  knots of speed, Lieutenant Captain Harms decided to abandon the boat and avoid the safe sinking by enemy fire by sinking it himself ( Lage ). He and the 52-man crew of U 464 - two men had died in the air strike - were picked up by the Icelandic trawler Skaftfellingur , which was sailing nearby .

The trawler approached the sinking submarine and began rescue operations. At first, the German sailors were reluctant to enter the boat that had rushed up. However, when one man had already been hoisted on board by rope, the others followed his example, jumped into the water and swam to the rescue boat. The seven-man crew of the trawler put the 52 exhausted prisoners under threat of armed violence in the bow of the ship until they were taken over by the two British destroyers Castleton and Newark later that day and thus fell into British captivity .

U 464 was the first of the ten “milk cows” of the Navy to be lost.

In July 1999, during a visit by German submarines to Reykjavík, the German Navy honored the Icelandic seamen who were involved in the rescue operation.

See also

literature

  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. Preface by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rohwer, Member of the Presidium of the International Commission on Military History. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1996, p. 89. ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: Submarine construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1997, pp. 75, 190. ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 4: The German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2008, p. 56. ISBN 978-3-8132-0514-5 .
  • Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maas: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 3: Submarines, auxiliary cruisers, mine ships, net layers. Bernhard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7637-4802-4 .
  • Clay Blair : The Submarine War - The Hunters 1939–1942 . Heyne Verlag, 1998. pp. 719, 768-770. ISBN 3-4531-2345-X .

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ At first the submarines were built in secrecy, partly for export, due to the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty.
  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 , pp. 189–191.
  3. ↑ Bodo Herzog : German U-Boats 1906–1966 , Karl Müller Verlag, License Bernard & Graefe, Erlangen 1996, ISBN 3-86070-036-7 , page 200
  4. ↑ 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. 75.
  5. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 , p. 89.
  6. ↑ Clay Blair : The Submarine War - The Hunters 1939-1942 . Heyne Verlag, 1998. ISBN 3-4531-2345-X . Page 61
  7. ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing vor München 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 , p. 90.
  8. ↑ Lt. Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 , the submarine men boarded the trawler in the hope of capturing it and getting back to Germany by boat