U 481
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U 481 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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|---|---|
| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 54 0658 |
| Shipyard: | German works , Kiel |
| Construction contract: | July 5, 1941 |
| Build number: | 316 |
| Keel laying: | February 6, 1943 |
| Launch: | September 25, 1943 |
| Commissioning: | November 10, 1943 |
| Commanders: |
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| Calls: | three ventures |
| Sinkings: |
3 sailing ships, 1 light |
| Whereabouts: | capitulated at the end of the war |
U 481 was a German submarine from the Type VII C , a so-called "Atlantic Boat". It was used by the German Navy in the submarine warfare of World War II in the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic .
Technical specifications
The Deutsche Werke in Kiel , bypassing international contracts, had been manufacturing submarines for the Reichsmarine since 1935 in secret in camouflaged assembly halls. Immediately after the start of the war, the shipyard was included in the submarine building program by the Navy . The annual delivery of twelve type VII C boats was planned. A submarine of this class was 67.1 m long and 6.2 m wide. Two diesel engines enabled a top speed of 17 knots to travel over water, which corresponds to 31.5 km / h. Two electric motors with 375 hp each ensured a speed of 7.6 knots under water, which corresponds to 14 km / h.
At the tower wore U 481 , the number of German U-boats of his time, boat-specific symbols. On the one hand it was a depiction of Josef Stalin who was hit on the head by a naval officer with a hammer, and on the other hand a hammer in front of an anvil.
Commitment and history
The boat was sold on November 10, 1943 by Oberleutnant zur See d.R. Ewald Pick put into service. He commanded the boat until the end of February 1944. On February 29, Oberleutnant zur See Klaus Andersen took command. During this time, U 481 was part of the 5th U-Flotilla as a training boat and was stationed in Kiel. On August 1, the boat was assigned to the 8th U-Flotilla as a front boat. On June 19, Commander Andersen ran out on his first patrol with this boat.
In the Baltic Sea
During the course of almost three months, U 481 called at several Baltic ports on this venture, including Reval , Königsberg and finally Danzig , where the boat entered on October 26, 1944. Commander Andersen initially attacked several small military vehicles on this patrol.
- July 30, 1944 two Soviet mine clearance boats (52 t) sunk
In October Andersen attacked a number of sailing ships, which he had sunk by artillery fire and ramming.
- October 15, 1944 three Finnish sailors Endla , Dan and Maria sunk by artillery
The boat arrived in Danzig on October 16, 1944, the base of the 8th submarine flotilla. From here, Andersen ran out with U 481 on November 2 for another operation, where the boat patrolled the Gulf of Finland, among other things . Andersen attacked other small Soviet warships on this patrol.
- November 19, 1944 Soviet lighter sunk with torpedo and artillery fire
- November 27, 1944 Soviet deminers (108 t) sunk with torpedo
A day later he also reported that he had sunk a Finnish mine-layer.
- November 28, 1944 Finnish mine-layer sunk with torpedo
U 481 returned to Gdansk on December 22nd.
In the Arctic Ocean
Towards the end of the year, the boat moved from Danzig to Königsberg, then to Kiel and finally to Horten . From here, U 481 left for its last venture on April 7th. Andersen sank a small Soviet warship again.
- April 19, 1945 Soviet submarine fighter sunk with torpedo
He also unsuccessfully attacked two Soviet destroyers . At the end of September 1945 the heavily secured Allied convoy RA 66 left the Kola Bay on a route to Scotland . Several German submarines, including U 481 , had positioned themselves here in a search strip in order to track down and attack the expected northern sea convoy . On September 29, the submerged submarine heard screw noises which, in the opinion of Commander Andersen, came from a destroyer. He decided to let the enemy ship pass at the shortest possible distance and to attack with a stern torpedo in order to save the torpedoes in the bow torpedo tubes for the attack on the convoy. While Andersen was watching the enemy destroyer through the periscope, he noticed that its crew was manning the depth charge launcher at the stern, from which he concluded that U 481 had been discovered. U 481 dived and was able to escape the depth charge that followed. While diving, the boat was damaged by water bomb hits and sank rapidly until it was stopped at a depth of 220 meters by touching the ground. Further depth charges that detonated well above U 481 did no additional damage and a quarter of an hour later the escort ships from RA 66 broke off the attack. The assessment of the damage showed that the diving cells and the motors were inoperable - the latter could, however, be made operational again after several hours, so that the U 481 was "dynamic", i.e. H. purely through propulsion in connection with weight reduction, could emerge. During the assessment of the damage to the upper deck, it was noticed that the U 481 left a clear trace of oil - the pursuers had probably interpreted the escaping oil as a sure sign of sinking.
Whereabouts
During the attack on the heavily secured arctic convoy RA 66 , U 427 , which was on its first venture, was so badly damaged that it was also no longer submersible. Together with U 968 , U 481 therefore guided the damaged boat to Harstad in Norway. The boats arrived there on May 3rd. Commander Andersen had cast off again after three hours. One day later, U 481 entered the port of Narvik .
After the end of the war, the boat was first brought to Loch Eriboll , then to the port of Londonderry and finally interned on the west coast of Scotland. On November 28, 1945, U 481 was sunk by artillery fire as part of Operation Deadlight .
literature
- 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 .
Individual evidence
- ^ 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. 112.
- ↑ a b Eckard Wetzel: "U-Boats before Murmansk" , 4th edition, Ullstein Edition maritim, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-548-26810-1 , page 288
- ↑ Clay Blair : "The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2. The Hunted" , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1998, page 790