U 561
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U 561 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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 Wuppertal coat of arms, emblem of the boat |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 40 727 |
| Shipyard: | Blohm and Voss in Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | October 16, 1939 |
| Build number: | 537 |
| Keel laying: | February 28, 1940 |
| Launch: | January 23, 1941 |
| Commissioning: | March 13, 1941 |
| Commanders: |
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| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | 15 activities |
| Sinkings: |
9 |
| Whereabouts: | sunk on July 12, 1943 by a torpedo from a motor torpedo boat |
U 561 was a German type VII C submarinethat was used by the German Navy during the submarine war in World War II in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean . This class of submarines was also called "Atlantic boat".
Calls
His first two ventures took the boat into the North Atlantic and on patrol off Ireland . During a third, shorter voyage in November 1941, U 561 gave escort to the returning auxiliary cruiser Comet . The aim of the following venture was to pass the Strait of Gibraltar , which was achieved on January 15, 1942. From the spring of 1942, U 561 was in use in the Mediterranean and mainly commissioned with mining operations. In mid-April, Commander Bartels carried out a mine operation with U 561 in the eastern Mediterranean. The boat established a mine barrier north of Port Said by positioning 20 mines . On May 14, 1942, the Greek steamers Mount Olympos and Fred , as well as the Norwegian steamer Hav with a total of 15,797 GRT sank by colliding with the mines of this lock. Commander Bartels handed over command to Heinz Schomburg in the autumn. The latter took the boat on another six outings. In the late summer of 1943, Fritz Henning took over command.
Sign of the boat
Like most German submarines of its time, U 561 also had a boat-specific mark. These symbols were selected by the crew - often during their training period -, attached to the tower and worn as embroidery or as sheet metal badges on uniform caps and boats . U 561 had a V on the tower, the flotilla symbol of the 24th U-Flotilla . In addition, the coat of arms of the city of Wuppertal was attached to the tower. This was the sponsored city of the boat.
Sinking
The boat sank in the Strait of Messina ( Lage ) after a torpedo attack by MTB 81 . Commander Fritz Henning - on his first patrol with this boat - survived and was rescued.
U 561 was the only German submarine that was sunk by a British coastal defense ship during World War II.
Literature and Sources
- 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 .
- 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
- ^ Georg Högel: Embleme Wappen Maling's German U-Boats 1939–1945 5th edition, Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , page 122
- ↑ This abbreviation stands for Motor Torpedo Boat .
- ^ Fritz Henning later commanded U 565 and U 668 .
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