U 4711

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U 4711
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Type : Type XXIII
Field Post Number : 52 893
Shipyard: Germania shipyard , Kiel
Construction contract: July 7, 1944
Build number: 953
Keel laying: December 1944
Launch: February 21, 1945
Commissioning: March 21, 1945
Commanders:

Siegfried Endler

Flotilla:

March 21 to May 3, 1945
training boat 5th U-Flotilla

Calls: no
Sinkings:

no

Whereabouts: Blown up by the crew in the dock of the shipyard on May 3, 1945

U 4711 was a submarine of the German Navy during World War II . It was a so-called “coastal submarine” of the Type XXIII , which was destroyed by its own crew during the training phase and was no longer used.

construction

As early as the early 1930s , the Germania shipyard in Kiel was commissioned by the Reichsmarine to build submarines. Between 1933 and 1935, submarines were assembled in secrecy at the Friedrich Krupp AG shipyard in order to circumvent the agreements of the Versailles Treaty . From the beginning of the war, the Germania shipyard was mainly commissioned with the construction of the most built Type VII . In addition, less extensive construction contracts were also placed with the Kiel shipyard for custom-made products. The first new developments based on the Walter drive were also manufactured here . This was developed by Hellmuth Walter at the Germania shipyard. In 1945 the shipyard completed a total of 11 "Walter boats" of the type XXIII . These boats were designed as "coastal submarines" and should not penetrate far into the open sea. Therefore, armament with only two torpedoes was considered sufficient. The 34.7 m long and 3 m wide XXIII boats had a crew of 14 to 18 men. These submarines were intended for short-term use in the immediate coastal area and were therefore also referred to as "coastal submarines".

Commitment and history

On March 21, 1945 U 4711 came to the 5th U-Flotilla as a training boat , which was stationed in Kiel. Like most German submarines of its time, the U 4711 also had a boat-specific coat of arms on the tower . It was a comic-like depiction of a submarine commander who peered down from the tower of a moving submarine with a telescope. Until the boat self-detonated, Commander Oberleutnant zur See Siegfried Endler undertook training trips in the Baltic Sea to test the boat and train the crew.

End of the boat

U 4711 was blown up by its own crew on May 3rd in the floating dock of the Germania shipyard in Kiel. Commander Endler ordered the demolition based on his interpretation of the so-called rainbow order . This order concerned the self-destruction or sinking of the German submarines and prohibited their handover to allied forces. The “Rainbow Order” was withdrawn by Karl Dönitz on May 4th in preparation for the partial surrender of the North German Wehrmacht troops.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: Submarine construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , page 193 - page 209
  2. ^ 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. 184.
  3. Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 4: The German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2000, ISBN 978-3-8132-0514-5 , page 358 u. Page 361