U 503
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U 503 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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 City arms of Braunschweig , the godfather city of U 503 |
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| Type : | IX C |
| Field Post Number : | M-43 854 |
| Shipyard: | Deutsche Werft AG , Hamburg-Finkenwerder |
| Construction contract: | September 25, 1939 |
| Build number: | 293 |
| Keel laying: | April 29, 1940 |
| Launch: | April 5, 1941 |
| Commissioning: | July 10, 1941 |
| Commanders: | |
| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | 1 company |
| Sinkings: |
No |
| Whereabouts: | Destroyed on March 15, 1942 in the North Atlantic southeast of Newfoundland . |
U 503 was a German submarine of class IX C , which in the Second World War in the North Atlantic was used.
Technical specifications
U 503 was a two-hull deep-sea submersible and had a total displacement of 1120 t above and 1232 t under water. The boat was 76.76 m long, 6.76 m wide and had a draft of 4.70 m. Two 2200 HP strong MAN nine-cylinder four-stroke diesel engines M 9 V 40/46, with supercharging, enabled a top speed of 18.3 kn over water. At a speed of 10 kn, the boat had a range of approx. 12,000 nautical miles . The two 500 hp strong SSM -double E-Machines GU 345/34 had 62 × 62 Battery cells AFA Type 44 MAL 740 W. This could be achieved kn underwater maximum of 7.3. A range of 64 nautical miles could be achieved at a speed of 4 kn. From the 4 bow and 2 stern torpedo tubes around 22 torpedoes or 44 TMA or 66 TMB mines could be ejected. The diving depth was 100–200 m while the destruction diving depth was 250 m and the rapid diving time was 35 seconds. The boat had a 10.5 cm Utof L / 45 deck gun with 180 rounds, a 3.7 cm single anti-aircraft gun with 2625 rounds and a 2 cm anti-aircraft gun with 4250 rounds.
The boat
The construction contract for U 503 was awarded to Deutsche Werft AG in Hamburg-Finkenwerder on September 25, 1939 as the 33rd unit of Class IX C. The keel-laying under the name "Neubau 293" began on April 29, 1940, the launch took place on April 5, 1941 and the commissioning under the command of Lieutenant Otto Gericke took place on July 10, 1941. The coat of arms of the city of Braunschweig was used as the tower emblem on the port side of the tower, as the city assumed part of the construction costs of U 503 .
Front use
After completing training at the Agru Front, the submarine acceptance command, torpedo robbery command, the 25th and 26th U-Flotilla , the boat left the port of Kiel on February 15, 1942 for the first venture and initially relocated to the Helgoland U base , where it arrived on February 16 and the radio loading took place there. But to repair the transmitter, the boat had to be moved to Bergen . After the repair, the U 503 finally left for the first company and was at sea for 19 days. The areas of operation were the North Atlantic and the area southeast of Newfoundland , where the boat met convoy ON-72 on March 15 . But no sinking or damage could be achieved.
loss
After the casting of the convoy ON-72 drove U 503 at the water surface behind the convoy from, where it American US of a PBO-1 Hudson U.S. Navy squadron VP-82, flown by Donald F. Maison spotted, and with water bombs was attacked. The bombs detonated close to U 503 and destroyed it. The wreck sank at the position 45 °, 50 'N - 48 °, 50' W in the former naval plan square BC 4971. It was a total loss with 51 dead sailors.
Web links
literature
- 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 .
Notes and individual references
- ↑ U 501 , U 502 , U 504 , U 505 and U 506 from Deutsche Werft in Hamburg, U 153 , U 154 , U 155 , U 156 and U 157 from AG Weser in Bremen and U 161 , also came from the same construction contract . U 162 , U 163 , U 164 , U 165 and U 166 from the Seebeck shipyard in Wesermünde
- ^ Based on the book by Georg Högel: Emblems, Coat of Arms, Malings German U-Boats 1939–1945. 5th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , U 503 is said not to have had a tower emblem. But a photo from the brochure by Axel Urbanke U-Boats in Focus Edition No. 11, 2015, p. 9, from summer 1941 shows U 503's sponsor coat of arms on the port side of the tower.