U 490

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U 490
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Type : XIV
Field Post Number : M-51 045
Shipyard: German works , Kiel
Construction contract: July 17, 1941
Build number: 315
Keel laying: February 21, 1942
Launch: December 24, 1942
Commissioning: March 23, 1943
Commanders:

March 27, 1943 - June 12, 1944
Oblt.zSdR Wilhelm Gerlach

Calls: 1 patrol
Sinkings:

no

Whereabouts: sunk in the Atlantic on June 12, 1944 (60 prisoners of war, no dead)

U 490 was a German submarine from Type XIV , which in the Second World War by the Navy was used. The boat was a so-called "milk cow" and was to be used exclusively as a supply boat. It was lost on the first mission without having taken care of a submarine. All 60 crew members fell into American captivity .

history

The order for the boat was awarded to the Deutsche Werke in Kiel on July 17, 1941 . The keel was laid on February 21, 1942, the launch on December 24, 1942, the commissioning under Oberleutnant zur See der Reserve Wilhelm Gerlach finally took place on March 27, 1943.

Deployment and use

After commissioning on March 27, 1943, U 490 completed its training in the 4th U-Flotilla in Stettin , after which it was relocated to Norway. From here, U 490 was ordered to the Far East. It was supposed to supply submarines at sea so that they could operate independently of their bases in the long term. On August 1, 1944, U 490 was to be subordinated to the 12th U-Flotilla in Bordeaux . But the boat never arrived there; it was sunk on its first voyage on June 12, 1944.

Use statistics

First venture

It was sunk on June 12, 1944 after a 39-day voyage in the central North Atlantic northwest of the Azores .

Whereabouts

The boat was carried on June 12, 1944 in the Atlantic Northwest of the Azores by US Task Group 22.5 with the US escort carrier USS Croatan , who had Squadron VC-95 on board, and the destroyer escorts USS Barber , USS Swansey , USS Snowden , USS Frost , USS Huse and USS Inch located. After an air raid by Squadron VC-95 and Hedgehog water bombs from Frost , Inch and Huse , U 490 was forced to surface and was sunk by the crew themselves. The entire crew of 60 survived and was taken prisoner by the US . First the men were taken on board by the destroyer USS Frost and then transferred to the escort carrier USS Croatan . The position was 42 ° 47 '  N , 40 ° 8'  W in marine grid reference CD 2315.

U 490 did not lose any crew members during its service life, even before the sinking. Thus U 490 is one of the very few German submarines of the Second World War that was sunk in the course of a battle and whose crew members nevertheless survived this without exception - albeit as prisoners of the Allies.

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 .

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. 1997, p. 108.