U 488

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U 488
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Type : XIV
Field Post Number : M-49 793
Shipyard: German works , Kiel
Construction contract: July 17, 1941
Build number: 313
Keel laying: January 3, 1942
Launch: October 17, 1942
Commissioning: February 1, 1943
Commanders:
Calls: 3 patrols
Sinkings:

no

Whereabouts: sunk in the mid-Atlantic on April 16, 1944

U 488 was a German submarine from Type XIV , which in World War II by the German navy was used. The boats of this type were designed to supply other submarines and were therefore called "dairy cows". With the sinking of U 488 , the Navy ended the concept of sea-based submarine supply.

Construction and commissioning

The order for the boat was awarded to Deutsche Werke in Kiel on July 17, 1941 . The keel was laid on January 3, 1942 and the launch on October 17, 1942. The commandant, Lieutenant to the Sea of the Reserve Erwin Bartke, put the boat into service on February 1, 1943.

Flotilla affiliation, stationing and commanders

After commissioning on February 1, 1943, the U 488 completed its training trips with the 4th U-Flotilla in Stettin , before it was assigned as a front boat to the 12th U-Flotilla in Bordeaux on May 1, 1943 . There it was used as a supply boat until it was sunk on April 26, 1944.

Commitment and history

The boat was a so-called "milk cow" and was used exclusively as a supply boat. It carried out three utilities.

First venture

The boat left Kiel on May 18, 1943 and entered Bordeaux on July 10, 1943. The following boats were supplied on this 53-day supply company in the Central Atlantic : U 558 , U 666 , U 232 , U 435 , U 951 , U 642 , U 641 , U 211 , U 336 , U 228 , U 953 , U 603 , U 221 , U 608 , U 618 , U 590 , U 571 , U 306 , U 84 , U 634 , U 653 and U 358 . The following boats were only equipped with spare parts: U 732 , U 615 , U 415 , U 535 and U 257 .

Second venture

The boat left Bordeaux on September 7, 1943 and returned there on December 12, 1943. The following boats were supplied on this 96-day supply company in the Central Atlantic west of the Azores : U 68 , U 155 , U 103 , U 402 , U 584 , U 731 , U 378 , U 758 , U 378, U 641 , U 731, U 193 , U 103, U 530 and U 129 .

Third company

USS Croatan

The boat left Bordeaux on February 22, 1944 under the new commander Bruno Studt. The following boats were supplied on this 63-day supply company in the Central Atlantic, southwest of the Azores: U 537 , U 129 , U 843 and U 123 . The latter, a battle-tested boat with an experienced crew, most of which had participated in the Paukenschlag operation under the command of Reinhard Hardegen, set sail on January 9 under the command of the new commander Horst von Schroeter . Together with nine other Type IX boats, the U 123 was supposed to hunt down Allied ships off Freetown and in the Gulf of Guinea and, in particular, disrupt the convoy formation there. U 488 was positioned off the West African coast to supply this group of submarines. On March 23, the boat supplied U 123 and reported commander von Schroeters sinking to the submarine command because the U 123 radio was defective. A meeting with U 66 was ordered for April 26th , which had been on patrol since January 16 and now needed fuel. The Allies succeeded in intercepting the radio traffic that went back and forth between the two boats and the submarine command in preparation for this rendezvous, and deciphered the Enigma code . Then the United States Navy ordered the escort carrier Croatan to the sea area that had been agreed for the meeting of the two German submarines.

Whereabouts

The boat was located on April 26, 1944 in the mid-Atlantic, northwest of the Azores at the designated supply point for U 66 , by a combat group around the USS Croatan based on radio communications with U 66 , and tracked down by the escort's aircraft in the moonlight. The American destroyers USS Frost , USS Inch , USS Huse , USS Barber and USS Snowdon located the submarine and attacked it with depth charges . After the sea, churned by the detonations and making sonar observations difficult, had calmed down, the pursuers found that the submarine was still at a depth of 170 m without moving. After another massive depth charge, they declared the boat sunk, although no debris was found. The position was 17 ° 54 '  N , 38 ° 5'  W in marine grid square EG 3192. When the suspicion that U 488 had been lost, the German submarine command explained the concept of supplying submarines “Dairy cows”, of which only one, U 490 , was left, as a failure.

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. 1997, p. 102
  2. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. 1997, p. 367.
  3. ↑ a b c Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. 1997, p. 494.
  4. ^ A b Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. 1998, pp. 640-641.
  5. ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 , pp. 191–192.

literature

  • Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X .
  • Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 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 und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 4: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1999, ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 5: The knight's cross bearers of the submarine weapon from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg et al. 2003, ISBN 3-8132-0515-0 .
  • Erich Gröner : Die Handelsflotten der Welt 1942 and supplement 1944. JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-469-00552-4 (reprint of the 1942–1943 edition).
  • Erich Gröner: Search list for ship names (= The merchant fleets of the world. Supplementary volume). JF Lehmanns Verlag Munich 1976, ISBN 3-469-00553-2 (reprint of the 1943 edition).
  • John F. White: Submarine Tanker. 1941-1945. Underwater supplier for the wolf pack in the Atlantic. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-7822-0790-4 .

See also