U 506

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U 506
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Type : IX C
Field Post Number : M 18 799
Shipyard: German shipyard , Hamburg
Construction contract: September 25, 1939
Build number: 296
Keel laying: July 11, 1940
Launch: June 20, 1941
Commissioning: September 15, 1941
Commanders:

September 15, 1941 - July 12, 1943
Lieutenant Captain Erich Würdemann

Calls: 5 activities
Sinkings:

14 ships (69,893 GRT, 188 dead)

Whereabouts: Sunk in the Atlantic west of Vigo on July 12, 1943 (48 dead, 6 prisoners of war)

U 506 was a German type IX C submarine that was used by the Navy during World War II . On its five ventures it sank 14 ships with 69,893 GRT, whereby 188 people died. U 506 participated in the rescue of shipwrecked people after the sinking of the Laconia on September 12, 1942 by U 156 , which resulted in Karl Dönitz's “ Laconia command ” due to a subsequent US air attack , and handed over 142 Italians and nine English women and children to the French ship Annamite on September 17, 1942. When it sank near the Spanish city of Vigo on July 12, 1943, 48 crew members, including the commander Erich Würdemann , died, while six men were rescued on a life raft after a 48-hour odyssey and so fell into Allied captivity .

technology

The Type IX was a two-hull ocean going boat , the design of which was derived from the U 81 – U 86 series from 1916 and in many ways resembled the Type I A from 1936. Between March 1939 and July 1942, 54 Type IX C boats were put into service. A further increase in the amount of fuel compared to variants IX A and IX B increased the overwater route by around 1500–1800 nautical miles . The space between the shells was better used to accommodate the fuel cells. Deschimag AG Weser was originally commissioned to build these boats. In 1941, the Bremen shipyard delivered 24 Type IX C. The German shipyard then took over the production as a replica shipyard and was earmarked for an annual output of 24 boats of this type - a number that could never be reached.

history

U 506 undertook five patrols during its service time, on which it sank 15 ships with 76,714  GRT and damaged three ships with 23,358 GRT.

Construction and commissioning

The building contract for the boat was awarded to Deutsche Werft AG , Hamburg , on September 25, 1939 . The keel was laid on July 11, 1940 and launched on June 20, 1941. The commissioning under Lieutenant Erich Würdemann finally took place on September 15, 1941. This remained in command until the day of the sinking on July 12, 1943.

Flotilla affiliation and stationing

U 506 belonged to the 4th submarine flotilla in Stettin until January 31, 1942 as a training boat for training the crew . Then it was subordinated to the 10th submarine flotilla in Lorient as a front boat. As a boat coat of arms, U 506 had a drawing on both sides of the tower that represented a water carrier.

Calls

  • The first trip from March 2 to March 25, 1942 was essentially a transfer trip from Germany to the new French base in Lorient. No ships were sunk or damaged.
  • The second operation began on April 6, 1942. The area of ​​operation was the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico , in particular the mouth of the Mississippi River . On this voyage, eight ships with 39,906 GRT were sunk and three ships with 23,358 GRT were damaged. On June 15, 1942, U 506 entered Lorient again.
  • The third mission lasted from July 28, 1942 to November 7, 1942. The area of ​​operation was the sea area of ​​the Middle Atlantic northeast of Ascension and the coast of West Africa. U 506 was able to sink five ships with 26,828 GRT. During this trip the so-called Laconia incident occurred .

Spectacular incident

On September 12, 1942 at 10:07 p.m. U 156 torpedoed the Laconia (19,695 GRT) at position 4 ° 34 ′  S , 11 ° 25 ′  W in naval square FF 7721 with two torpedoes . There were 2,732 people on board, including around 1,800 Italian prisoners of war. The commander of U 156 - Kapitänleutnant Werner Hartenstein  - realized that allies had got into distress due to the torpedoing and initiated a rescue operation that was unprecedented in naval warfare. The BdU then ordered the submarines of the “Polar Bear” group to go to the sinking site to support U 156 in the rescue work. In addition, at Dönitz's request, three French ships - the cruiser Gloire and the two sloops Annamite and Dumont d'Urville - ran from Dakar to take over the castaways after the rescue measures were completed. One of the first German submarines on site was U 506 , which arrived at the sinking site on September 15 and took over 132 Italian survivors from U 156 around noon . A few hours later, Captain Würdemann took over other survivors from a lifeboat, mainly women and children. During the rescue operation, the commander discovered an aircraft in the sky and ordered everyone on board to board the boat. U 506 submerged with 198 people on board. A few minutes later, two explosions in the water shook the boat. At around 6 p.m. on September 17, U 506 handed over 142 Italians and nine English women and children to the French ship Annamite .

  • The fourth patrol lasted from December 14, 1942 to May 8, 1943. The area of ​​operations was off the coast of South Africa. U 506 was able to sink two ships with 9,980 GRT.
  • The fifth and final patrol began on July 6, 1943 in Lorient and ended on July 12, 1943 west of Vigo when it was sunk. No ships were sunk or damaged.

Sinking

On the march to the Far East, U 506 was hit by a B-24 Liberator aircraft (Lt. Ernest Salm) of the 480th USAAF Group on July 12, 1943 at the position 42 ° 30 ′  N , 16 ° 30 ′  W Coordinates: 42 ° 30 ′ 0 ″  N , 16 ° 30 ′ 0 ″  W west of Vigo detected with the SC 317-10 cm radar, which the Germans could not see, and sunk. Lt. Salm used the protection of the clouds to launch a surprise attack from about 2,000 meters from the starboard-ahead quadrant. The plane dropped seven Mk-XI depth charges from a height of 60 meters , which exploded close to the boat. When the pilot, Ernest Salm, launched a second attack, he saw the boat break apart and sink. Six men from the bridge watch and the commanding officer were floating in the water.

The aircraft dropped a life raft over the sinking point and marked the point with a smoke buoy. Of these seven survivors, six reached the dinghy that had been dropped from the plane after an hour. The commandant drowned during this time. Three days later, the six survivors were rescued by the British destroyer Hurricane , who handed them over to the Canadian destroyer Iroquis the following day as prisoners of war . The prisoners were on July 18, 1943 in Plymouth ( England brought) on land.

See also

literature

  • Erminio Bagnasco: U-Boats in World War II. (Technology - Classes - Types. A Comprehensive Encyclopedia). 5th edition. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-613-01252-9 .
  • Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Maling's German submarines 1939–1945. 4th edition. Koehler, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-7822-0826-9 .
  • Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .
  • Léonce Peillard : Affair Laconia (= Bastei Lübbe 63022 non-fiction book ). License issue. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1978, ISBN 3-404-00709-3 .
  • Eberhard Rössler : History of the German submarine building. Volume 1: Development, construction and characteristics of the German submarines from the beginnings to 1943. Licensed edition of the 2nd edition. Bechtermünzverlag, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-86047-153-8 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. Preface by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rohwer, Member of the Presidium of the International Commission on Military History. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1996, p. 260. ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: Submarine construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1997, pp. 55, 230. ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 3: The German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2008, pp. 214f. ISBN 978-3-8132-0513-8 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 4: The German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2008, p. 113. ISBN 978-3-8132-0514-5 .
  • 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 / Berlin / Bonn 2003, p. 100. ISBN 3-8132-0515-0 .
  • Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maas: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 3: Submarines, auxiliary cruisers, mine ships, net layers. Bernhard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7637-4802-4 .
  • Clay Blair : The Submarine War - The Hunters 1939–1942 . Heyne Verlag, 1998. pp. 673-675, 777. ISBN 3-4531-2345-X .
  • Clay Blair: The Submarine War - The Hunted 1942–1945 . Heyne Verlag, 1999. pp. 95-103, 287, 290, 475f., 333, 389, 443. ISBN 3-4531-6059-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , p. 56.
  2. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , p. 368.
  3. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , p. 495.
  4. ↑ The polar bear submarine group , to which Hartenstein's boat belonged, had been put together to attack the port of Cape Town.
  5. ↑ Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 , p. 96.
  6. ^ Report of the surviving officer of the watch, Schult