U 515

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U 515
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Survivors of the German submarine U-515 climb aboard USS Chatelain (DE-149) on 9 April 1944 (80-G-228417) .jpg
Survivors of U 515 are rescued by the Chatelain
Type : IX C
Field Post Number : M 27988
Shipyard: German shipyard , Hamburg
Construction contract: February 14, 1940
Build number: 311
Keel laying: May 8, 1941
Launch: December 2, 1941
Commissioning: February 21, 1942
Commanders:

February 21, 1942 - April 9, 1944
Oblt. S./Kptlt. Werner Henke

Calls: 6 activities
Sinkings:

25 ships (157,064 GRT)

Whereabouts: Sunk north of Madeira Island on April 9, 1944 (16 dead, 44 prisoners of war)

U 515 was a German submarine of the Kriegsmarine of the Type IX C , which was used in the Atlantic during World War II . During its six operations it sank 23 ships and damaged four ships, two of them seriously, killing 1,145 people. Only 655 people died in the sinking of the British passenger liner Ceramic on the night of December 7, 1942. The sinking of U 515 on April 9, 1944 near Madeira killed 16 men of the crew, while 44 men in American prisoner of war came. The commander Werner Henke , which it was suggested that the British wanted him because of Ceramic -Versenkung and subsequent murder castaway make the process, tried from the US interrogation center in Fort Hunt to flee and was shot on the run.

history

The construction contract for this boat was awarded to the Deutsche Werft in Hamburg on February 14, 1940. Construction began on May 8, 1941. U 515 was launched on December 2, 1941 . The commissioning took place on February 21, 1942, under Oberleutnant zur See Werner Henke .

Until August 1942, U 515 was under the 4th U-Flotilla in Stettin as a training boat for training the crew. After that it was assigned as a front boat to the 10th U-Flotilla in Lorient until its sinking . As a cap badge, the crew wore the flotilla emblem of the 10th U-Flotilla, a submarine in front of a bar cross. A hammer was attached to the tower as a maling .

Calls

U 515 made six enemy voyages on which it was able to sink a total of 25 ships with 157,064 GRT. Another 6,034 GRT ship and a destroyer were damaged.

First venture

U 515 ran on 12 August 1942 with U 514 and U 516 from Kiel to the first war patrol from. Via Kristiansand ( Norway ) it set course for its operational area, which was east of the island of Trinidad . Nine ships with 46,782 GRT were sunk there and one with 6,034 GRT was damaged. U 515 entered Lorient on October 14, 1942 .

Second venture

On November 7, 1942, U 515 left Lorient. On November 12, it sank the British destroyer depot ship Hecla off Gibraltar and torpedoed the destroyer Marne . On the night of December 7, 1942, the British passenger ship Ceramic was sunk west of the Azores (655 dead). This sinking was later to be the undoing of the commander, Werner Henke . U 515 entered Lorient again on January 6, 1943 . On this voyage, two ships with 29,563 GRT were sunk and a warship with 1,920 t was damaged.

Third company

U 515 left Lorient on February 21, 1943. This time the area of ​​operation was the west coast of Africa. There the boat was able to sink eight ships of 49,186 GRT from the TS 37 convoy on the night of May 1, 1943. This was the greatest success of a single boat on a convoy during the war. After 124 days, U 515 reached Lorient again on June 24, 1943. It had sunk a total of eleven ships with 67,043 GRT on this voyage.

Fourth venture

Kptlt. Henke with members of the Air Force on the tower of the boat

U 515 left Lorient on August 29th. It attacked a convoy east of the Azores, but was pushed aside by the destroyers accompanying them. The boat reached Lorient again on September 12, 1943 with severe damage. No ships were sunk or damaged.

Fifth venture

U 515 left Lorient on November 9, 1943 . The area of ​​operation was off West Africa. The boat was able to sink three ships there and damage one permanently, so that it had to be abandoned. A total of 22,263 sunk BRT were credited to the commander, Henke. On January 14, 1944, it entered Lorient again.

Sixth venture

On March 29, 1944, U 515 left Lorient on its last voyage. On April 9, 1944, it was sunk north of the Portuguese island of Madeira by the submarine group of Captain Daniel V. Gallery. No ships were sunk or damaged on this voyage.

Downfall

U 515 sinks over the bow

On the night of April 9, 1944, U 515 was sighted and attacked by aircraft belonging to the escort aircraft carrier Guadalcanal . But the boat could dive away. The following morning it was tracked down by the four companion destroyers ( Pillsbury , Chatelain , Flaherty and Pope ) and attacked with depth charges. In the afternoon, U 515 had to appear badly damaged. It was shot at immediately. Henke ordered the boat to be abandoned. 16 men were killed while leaving the boat. 44 crew members, including the commander Werner Henke, were taken on board by the US destroyers as prisoners of war and transferred to the USS Guadalcanal . U 515 dropped to the position of 34 ° 21 '0 "  N , 19 ° 10' 48"  W . The aircraft carrier brought the prisoners ashore on April 26, 1944 at Naval Station Norfolk .

After the commander of the escort had told the German submarine commander that the British commanders wanted to hold him accountable for the sinking of the Ceramic and the murder of castaways from this ship, and threatened to be transferred there, Henke agreed with the US -Cooperate intelligence service. Werner Henke was shot on June 15, 1944 while attempting to escape from the Fort Hunt interrogation center.

See also

literature

  • 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 und Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1996, p. 96f. ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: Submarine construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1997, pp. 69, 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 und Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2008, p. 221f. 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, pp. 215-218. 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, pp. 70, 222. 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. 797f., 800, 806. ISBN 3-4531-2345-X .
  • Clay Blair : The Submarine War - The Hunted 1942–1945 . Heyne Verlag, 1999. pp. 154, 159, 180, 257f., 260, 262, 485f., 529, 531f., 549f., 643, 645, 654, 778, 798, 819. ISBN 3-4531-6059- 2 .
  • 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 .
  • Timothy P. Mulligan: Lone Wolf. Life and Death of U-boat Ace Werner Henke. Praeger, Westport CT et al. 1993, ISBN 0-275-93677-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , p. 69.
  2. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , p. 368.
  3. ^ 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. 116.
  4. ↑ a b c d Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat 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 , p. 221.
  5. ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. 1998, p. 191.