U 551

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U 551
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Type : VII C
Field Post Number : 26 026
Shipyard: Blohm & Voss , Hamburg
Construction contract: August 25, 1939
Build number: 527
Keel laying: November 21, 1939
Launch: September 14, 1940
Commissioning: November 7, 1940
Commanders:

Kptlt. Karl Schrott

Flotilla:

7th U-Flotilla training boat
November 1940 - March 1941
ibid. Front boat
March 1941

Calls: 2 patrols
Sinkings:

no

Whereabouts: Sunk on March 23, 1941 in the North Atlantic, southeast of Greenland

U 551 was a submarine from the Type VII C , that of the German Navy was used in World War II.

history

Construction and commissioning

U 551 was the eighth type VII C boat that was put into service after the start of the war and the first boat of this type that was delivered to the Navy by the Hamburg shipyard Blohm & Voss . The construction contract was issued on September 25, 1939 and comprised a total of eight boats - U 551 to U 558 . U 551 was given hull number 527.

The launch was on September 14, 1940. After the commissioning on November 7, 1940, U 551 initially drove as a training boat . The boat belonged to the 7th U-Flotilla of the German Navy . From March 3, 1941, it became the front boat of the 7th U-Flotilla.

Calls

The first voyage took the boat from Kiel to Bergen, from where it left on March 18 for its second and last patrol. Southeast of Iceland, Kapitänleutnant Schrott discovered the Belgian freighter Ville de Liége and decided to launch a surface attack . The steamer had noticed U 551, however, and issued an alarm that called a British submarine hunter who was escorting a nearby convoy.

Sinking

On March 23, 1941, U 551 Hunter submarine HMS south east of Iceland by British Visenda , an armed trawler found with water bombs attacked. The boat sank and all 45 crew members including Kapitänleutnant Karl Schrott were killed ( location ).

commander

Karl Schrott was born on March 25, 1911 in Viersen and joined the Reichsmarine in 1932 , so he was a member of Crew 32. After completing the U-Commanders course, in November 1939 he was in command of the U 7 school boat , which he held until autumn 1940 commanded. During this command, Karl Schrott was promoted to lieutenant captain on January 1, 1940 . In November of the same year he was given command of U 551 , which he held until the boat was sunk.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , p. 223.
  2. ↑ In the Reich and Kriegsmarine the recruiting year of the officer candidates was called crew .
  3. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 , p. 218.