U 550
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U 550 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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|---|---|
| Type : | IX C / 40 |
| Field Post Number : | 53 473 |
| Shipyard: | German shipyard , Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | June 5, 1941 |
| Build number: | 371 |
| Keel laying: | October 2, 1942 |
| Launch: | May 12, 1943 |
| Commissioning: | July 28, 1943 |
| Commanders: |
July 28, 1943 - April 16, 1944 |
| Calls: | 1 patrol |
| Sinkings: |
1 ship (11,017 GRT ) |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk on April 16, 1944 in the Atlantic east of New York |
U 550 was a submarine of the German Navy during World War II . The wreck was discovered in July 2012.
history
The type IX C / 40 boat was built in 1942 by the Deutsche Werft AG in Hamburg- Finkenwerder with the construction number 371. In the course of its entire service life, it was commanded by Lieutenant Captain Klaus Hänert.
commander
Klaus Hänert was born on February 1, 1918 in Hirschberg , Silesia , and joined the Navy in 1936. Until the summer of 1940 he served as an officer on watch on the destroyer Z 6 Theodor Riedel and then became the personal adjutant of the commanding admiral of the North Sea naval station. He completed his submarine training in the spring of 1942. He then went on as 2nd officer on watch, then as 1st officer on watch on U 68 . In the spring of 1943 he was a teacher in the 2nd submarine training division and then completed his U-Commanders course. Klaus Hänert was promoted to captainleutnant on February 1, 1943 , and his mission with U 550 was his first and only patrol as a commander. He and parts of his crew were taken prisoner of war, from which he was released in 1947.
Sinking
The service history of the boat was short. It left Kiel on February 6, 1944 on its only patrol . It was attacked south of Iceland on February 22, 1944 by a Canadian PBY 4 Catalina , who threw four depth charges at the submarine and fired at it with on-board weapons. U 550 lost two crew members in this attack, but continued the patrol. On April 16, 1944, the boat attacked convoy CU-21 and sank the US tanker Pan-Pennsylvania ( Lage ), which was measured with 11,017 gross register tons . The escorts of the convoy, the destroyer escort USS Gandy , USS Joyce and USS Petersen , orteten the submarine, it brought with depth charges to surface and sank it with depth charges and gunfire ( location ). 44 crew members of U 550 died, 12 survived the sinking. Of the crew of Pan-Pennsylvania , 56 survived the sinking of their ship and 25 died.
The rescued crossed the Atlantic as prisoners of war on board the USS Joyce in twelve days in escort.
According to American sources, the boat was sunk by a ram blow from the USS Gandy .
Find the wreck
On July 28, 2012, it was announced that American rescue divers had found U 550 , the wreck of which is considered a war grave , using an echo sounder .
See also
Web links
- U-550 at Diver-Log.de (German)
Individual evidence
- ↑ 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. 120.
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 , p. 86.
- ^ Theodore Roscoe: Destroyer Operations in World War II. United States Naval Institute, Annapolis MD 1953.
- ↑ Sunk German submarine discovered off the US coast. news.orf.at , July 28, 2012
- ↑ North America: Researchers discover German World War II submarine. In: Hamburger Abendblatt , July 28, 2012.
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