U 536
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U 536 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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|---|---|
| Type : | IX C |
| Field Post Number : | 49 397 |
| Shipyard: | German shipyard , Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | April 10, 1941 |
| Build number: | 354 |
| Keel laying: | March 13, 1942 |
| Launch: | October 21, 1942 |
| Commissioning: | January 10, 1943 |
| Commanders: |
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| Calls: | 2 activities |
| Sinkings: |
no |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk by depth charges on November 20, 1943 |
U 536 was a German submarine of the type IX C , which was used by the German navy in the submarine warfare during the Second World War in the West and Central Atlantic .
Construction and technical data
At the beginning of the war, Deutsche Werft AG in Hamburg-Finkenwerder was considered one of the most modern German shipyards and was only commissioned to build the "large" Type IX C boats. A submarine of this class was 78.9 m long and displaced 1120 m³ of water. Two 2200 hp diesel engines ensured an overwater speed of a maximum of 18.3 knots , which corresponds to 33.9 km / h . When underwater, the two electric motors enabled a speed of 7.3 knots, which is 13.5 km / h. The Type IX C had four bow and two stern torpedo tubes and carried 22 torpedoes. Deutsche Werft AG built 24 boats of this type, also with the use of forced labor. U 516 was part of the fifth construction contract that this shipyard received.
Like most German submarines of its time, U 536 also had a boat-specific sign on the tower . It was a coat of arms on which a broom could be seen that pushes a ship under water or sweeps it from the water.
history
U 536 was subordinated to the 4th U-Flotilla on January 13, 1943 and stationed in Stettin . During this time, Commander Schauenburg undertook training trips in the Baltic Sea to retract the boat and train the crew. On June 1, 1943, the boat was assigned to the 10th submarine flotilla , which was stationed in the northern French Atlantic port of Lorient .
Ventures
On June 1, 1943, Schauenburg left Kiel with his boat for the first U 536 venture . The boat was patrolling the mid-Atlantic. Through improved and expanded surveillance of the Atlantic by Allied air and naval forces, it was possible to track down and destroy the U-tankers , the so-called “dairy cows”. This made the operations of the submarine weapon difficult, especially the smaller type VII C boats, which carried the brunt of the Atlantic battle. In order to cushion the current losses, U 536 was instructed to surrender its fuel to the remaining U 488 tanker . The same instruction was issued to U 170 and U 535 . With the fuel that U 488 received from the three IX C-boats, ten VII C-boats could be supplied. The U 536, U 535 and U 170 started their return journey to Lorient together. While crossing the Bay of Biscay , the three boats were attacked by British air forces, U 535 sank and U 536 was damaged. The boat entered Lorient on July 9th . From here, U 536 set off on its next venture on August 29th.
Company Lapwing
The second venture of the boat included the prospect of a secret mission - for this U 536 had taken a motor-driven rubber dinghy on board before leaving Lorient. On the Atlantic, Schauenburg revealed the reason for this to his crew: some prisoner -of- war submarine officers - including Otto Kretschmer - who had planned an attempt to break out of the Bowmanville prisoner-of-war camp, were to be picked up from the North American east coast . Originally, U 669 had been designated to pick up the fugitives, but this boat had not reported again after leaving. So the task went to U 536 . The plan had the code name Company Kiebitz and was agreed between the prisoners and the naval management via encrypted messages that were written in the so-called "Ireland Code", which was based on Morse code and letter exchange. However, the Canadian naval secret service had succeeded in deciphering the messages, as well as securing map material between the book cover and the binding when looking through some of the books sent from Germany. Thus, the Canadian Navy was not only informed about Kretschmer's plans, but also about the time and place of the arrival of U 536 and tried to set a trap for the boat. The boat reached the St. Lawrence River on September 16 and began cruising in the agreed area in front of Maisonette Point, looking for light signals from Kretschmer's group. But the meeting failed for several reasons. On the one hand, Schauenburg was unable to patrol the sea area without restrictions, because he had discovered the Canadian warships positioned there, which had been positioned there in anticipation of the appearance of U 536 , and on the other hand, the German officers were unable to escape at the agreed time. On September 27th, Schauenburg finally realized that the Canadian naval forces - around ten in number - had effectively sealed off the Chaleur Bay . He managed to escape from the sea area within the next few days. In response to the report that "Kiebitz" had failed, Schauenburg was ordered to return to the Atlantic and attack enemy ships.
Sinking
On November 20, 1943, the boat was sunk northeast of the Azores by the British frigate HMS Nene and the Canadian escort ships HMCS Snowberry and HMCS Calgary . On November 19, 1943, the Canadian escort ships took over the protection of two convoys that were sailing from Africa to Great Britain. On the evening of the same day, German submarines were discovered setting out to attack the convoys SL 139 and MKS 30 . There were almost 30 German submarines, but due to the protective measures they were not given an opportunity for successful attacks. In the battle with the escort ships, only one sloop could be damaged, while six submarines were sunk - one of them U 536 .
U 536 was two escort vessels Snowberry and the Calgary tracked, and with water bombs attacked, but could pursuit m by immersion in a depth of 150 initially escape. Due to the attack by the two Canadian warships, however, the control of the trim cells of U 536 was damaged, so that Commander Schauenburg decided to surface. When the submarine came to the surface, it was taken under such strong and sustained artillery fire by the British frigate HMS Nene that it was almost completely destroyed and sank. However, since the attacks by the Snowberrry and the Calgary were the actual cause of the sinking of U 536 , the sinking was awarded to the Canadian ships.
Fate of the survivors
It was the first submarine in World War II that was sunk by a Canadian security group. As a result of the sinking and, in particular, the concentrated bombardment of the sinking boat, 38 crew members were killed, 17 men, including Commandant Schauenburg, were rescued and taken prisoner of war. The survivors were taken to Plymouth aboard the Snowberry . Schauenburg and von Bartenwerffer's first officer were taken into solitary confinement in London and interrogated. Then they were first transferred to the north of England, and finally - because of the poor supply situation in the United Kingdom it was difficult to adequately care for the prisoners of war - to Canada. There they were first interned in the Grand Ligne camp near Montreal and then taken to a prison camp set up between Banff and Calgary in the Rocky Mountains . This is where the surviving officers of U 536 met Otto Kretschmer and his fellow prisoners, who had since been moved from Bowmanville for security reasons.
literature
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
See also
Notes and individual references
- ↑ Georg Högel: Embleme Wappen Malings deutscher U-Boats , Koehler (5th edition), Hamburg 2009, page 118
- ↑ Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2. The Hunted 1942–1945 , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1998, page 430
- ↑ It is assumed that U 669 ran into a sea mine in the Bay of Biscay and sank.
- ↑ a b Bernard Ireland: Battle of the Atlantic , Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2003, ISBN 1 59114 032 3 , page 153
- ↑ a b c Melanie Wiggins: Getting away with the fate of German submarine drivers in World War II , ES Mittler Verlag, licensed edition Weltbild, Augsburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-8289-0907-6 , pages 125–132
- ^ Terence Robertson: The Wolf in the Atlantic The War Experiences Otto Kretschmer, ("The golden Horseshoe"), Fifth Edition, Verlag Welsermühl, Welsermühl 1969, pages 344–347
- ↑ Axel Niestlé: German U-Boat Losses during World War II Details of Destruction, Frontline Books, LondonI2014, ISBN 978 1 84832 210 3 , page 129
- ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars , Urbes Verlag. Graefeling near Munich 1997, ISBN 3 924 896 43 7 , pages 164-165