U 556
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U 556 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 41 992 |
| Shipyard: | Blohm & Voss , Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | October 24, 1939 |
| Build number: | 541 |
| Keel laying: | March 30, 1940 |
| Launch: | February 20, 1941 |
| Commissioning: | April 10, 1941 |
| Commanders: |
Kptlt. Herbert Wohlfarth |
| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | 2 activities |
| Sinkings: |
6 ships (29,552 GRT ) |
| Whereabouts: | self- sunk at Cape Farvel on June 27, 1941 |
U 556 was a German submarine that was used during the Second World War as part of the submarine war .
Technical specifications
The Hamburg shipyard Blohm & Voss was only commissioned to build submarines after the war began. U 556 was part of the first construction contract that this shipyard received and comprised a total of eight type VII C boats . A submarine of this type had a length of 67 m and a displacement of 865 m³ under water. It was propelled over water by two diesel engines that ensured a speed of 17 knots . Two electric motors produced a speed of 7 knots under water. The armament consisted of a 8.8 cm cannon and a 2.0 cm flak on deck, as well as four bow torpedo tubes and a stern torpedo tube until 1944 .
commander
Herbert Wohlfarth was born on June 5, 1915 in Kanazawa and joined the Imperial Navy in March 1933 as an officer candidate . After training and courses on the light cruiser Karlsruhe and the tender North Sea , he was promoted to ensign at sea in July 1934 . In 1935 and 1936 Herbert Wohlfarth drove on the Admiral Graf Spee . He was promoted to Oberfähnrich zur See in April 1936 , in October of the same year to lieutenant at sea and in July of the following year - in May he had joined the submarine weapon - promoted to first lieutenant at sea . He completed his first patrols in 1939 as an officer on watch on U 16 . In October of this year he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class. In the same month he was given command of U 14 , with which he undertook six patrols in the North Sea . He then received command on U 137 . In October 1940 Herbert Wohlfarth was promoted to lieutenant captain and at the same time received the Iron Cross 1st class. In June 1941 he became the commandant of the newly built U 556 . On the first patrol with this boat, he succeeded in sinking six ships. On May 19, 1941, he was awarded the Knight's Cross for the Iron Cross. When the crew sank U 556 themselves during the second patrol, Herbert Wohlfarth was the third bearer of the knight's cross of the submarine weapon who was captured.
history
U 556 was a type VII C boat - a so-called "Atlantic boat". It patrolled under the command of the Knight's Cross bearer Herbert Wohlfarth on two patrols in the North Atlantic and south of Iceland and witnessed the Bismarck's last battle .
Convoy battles
On May 1, 1941, U 556 set off from Kiel on its first patrol. The intended area of operation was the North Atlantic south of Iceland. On the approach to the operational area, Commander Wohlfarth sank a fisherman from the Faroe Islands with grenade fire. The schooner with 166 GRT was the first victim of U 556 . A few days later, the boat intervened in the convoy battle of OB 318, a convoy that was on its way back from the British Isles to North America and had already been attacked by U 110 , U 201 and other submarines. On May 10, Commander Wohlfarth reported two sinkings - in fact U 556 had only hit one steamer, which was only damaged and could still reach Iceland under its own power. Later that day, Commander Wohlfarth actually sank two times:
- British steamer Empire Caribou (4661 BRT) sunk with torpedo ( location )
- Belgian steamer Gand (5086 BRT) hit with torpedo and sunk with artillery ( location )
On May 19, Lieutenant Herbert Kuppisch , the commander of U 94 , who had already tracked OB 318 two weeks earlier, discovered convoy HX 126 south of Greenland. Commander Wohlfarth sank three ships from this convoy.
- british freighter Darlington Court (4974 BRT) sunk with torpedo ( location )
- British steamer cockapon set (5995 BRT) sunk with torpedo ( location )
- british tanker British Security (8470 BRT) sunk with torpedo ( location )
Doomed to inaction
On May 26, 1941, U 556 met the British combat group that was pursuing the Bismarck . Commander Wohlfarth identified a "King George class battleship", the HMS King George V , and an "aircraft carrier, probably Arc Royal", actually the HMS Ark Royal , which were directly crossing his course. At this point in time U 556 already had no more torpedoes, so that Commander Wohlfarth had no opportunity to attack. The boat sent position reports and sent bearing signals to make the submarine command aware of the discovery and, if necessary, to bring in further submarines. Until the next morning, U 556 stayed on site in heavy seas and thus witnessed the last battle of the Bismarck without being able to intervene. Around four in the morning, the commander decided to march back, as fuel was running out.
Sinking
During the hunt for the Allied convoy HX 133, Commander Wohlfarth decided to launch a surface attack. U 556 was discovered by the British corvette HMS Nasturtium before it could attack and initially dived again. After the boat was damaged by depth charges from the Nasturtium , Commander Wohlfarth decided to reappear and face the attacker on the surface of the water. There, U 556 was expected not only by one British corvette, but also by HMS Celandine and HMS Gladiolus , which opened fire on the submarine tower from a short distance and killed some crew members. With the exception of the chief engineer, who was supposed to ensure the sinking of the boat, all crew members then disembarked. A boarding party dispatched by the Gladiolus reached the tower of U 556 , but then withdrew because the control center was already flooded and the submarine sank very quickly ( location ). Commander Wohlfarth and 39 men of his crew were taken in by the Gladiolus . There were 5 dead.
literature
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine 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 .
- Karl Dönitz: Ten years and twenty days. Memoirs 1935–1945. 9th edition. Bernard and Graefe, Koblenz 1985, ISBN 3-7637-5186-6 .
- Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. 2001, p. 236.
- ↑ The construction contract was issued on September 25, 1939 and included U 551 to U 558 .
- ↑ U 110 was applied during this convoy battle, whereby the Enigma cipher machine fell into British hands.
- ↑ HX stood for Halifax, the port of departure of the convoy.
- ↑ KTB quotes and miscellaneous according to Karl Dönitz: Ten years and twenty days. 9th edition. 1985, pp. 164-165
- ↑ Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. 1998, p. 376.
- ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. 1998, p. 72.
- ↑ sinking
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