U 563
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U 563 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Shipyard: | Blohm & Voss , Hamburg |
| Keel laying: | March 30, 1940 |
| Commissioning: | March 27, 1941 |
| Commanders: |
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| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | 6 patrols |
| Sinkings: |
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| Whereabouts: | Sunk near Brest on May 31, 1943 |
U 563 was a German type VII C submarine of the Kriegsmarine in World War II .
Mission history
After commissioning on March 27, 1941 under Oberleutnant zur See Klaus Bargsten , U 563 undertook training trips until July 1941 and was then used as a front boat. Until its sinking on May 31, 1943, the boat belonged to the 1st submarine flotilla . U 563 sank a destroyer of 1870 t and three merchant ships with a total of 16,559 GRT and damaged two merchant ships with a total of 16,266 GRT.
On July 10, the boat first moved from Kiel to Helsingör and then on July 27/28 to Bergen on the west coast of Norway . On July 31st, the boat set out from Bergen for its first large undertaking, in which it was involved in a total of three successive pack attacks on Allied convoys , but without achieving a sinking success: “Greenland” (10-23 August) in North Atlantic , “Elector” (23 August - 2 September) in the North Atlantic, and “Sea Wolf” (2 - 7 September 1941) west of Ireland . After 42 days at sea, the boat entered Brest on September 10th .
Convoy HG 75
On his second expedition, from October 4 to November 1, 1941, U 563 patrolled the North Atlantic, west of Gibraltar and near Cape Trafalgar. At the beginning of the operation it was assigned to the submarine group “Breslau” (October 4th - 29th, 1941), whose five boats fought a hard convoy battle with the security forces of convoy HG 75 . When the convoy left Gibraltar on October 22nd, the German U-boats were waiting for him. On the night of October 24th, Bargsten fired two torpedoes at a hitherto unidentified convoy destroyer , shortly afterwards heard two detonations, but assumed that he had hit one of the convoy's freighters. In fact, he had torpedoed the British destroyer HMS Cossack (1870 t), which detonated the entire foredeck ( Lage ). The British destroyer sank three days later after having to cut the towing ropes in heavy weather while trying to tow it to Gibraltar ; 159 men of his crew were killed. In a renewed attack on the convoy on 25 October, U 563 by the British corvette HMS Heliotrope (K03) with water bombs attacked and forced to take damage without however. U 563 returned to Brest on November 1, 1941.
Relocation back to Germany
After departing from Brest on November 29, its third patrol was U 563 on November 30 in the Bay of Biscay by a British bomber of the type Armstrong Whitworth Whitley of RAF surprised Squadron 502 and so badly damaged by the shedding of six depth charges that it was forced to surface. The aircraft then fired at the boat with its on-board machine gun , seriously wounding two crew members and bargsten (two shots in the shoulder). Although Bargsten managed to reach the port of Lorient on December 3rd, the damage to the boat was so severe that it was ordered to Germany for repairs. The drive home was made very difficult by the boat's inability to dive. The boat left Lorient on January 21, 1942 and reached Bergen, Norway 14 days later on February 3. U 563 left Bergen on February 7th and arrived in Hamburg on February 11th.
Panther and Puma
After the repair, Kapitänleutnant Götz von Hartmann took over the boat on April 1, 1942. U 563 left Kiel on October 1, 1942, operated with the two submarine packs “Panther” (October 11 - 16, 1942) and “Puma” (October 16 - 29, 1942) in the North Atlantic November entered Brest without sinking or damaging a ship.
Autumn '42 and Spring '43 in the North Atlantic
On the following expedition (December 9, 1942 - January 14, 1943) Hartmann sank the British freighter Bretwalda (4906 GRT, 1 dead, 55 survivors), a straggler from the convoy MKS- about 330 nautical miles northwest of Cape Finisterre on December 18. 3Y. The subsequent participation in the submarine group “Falke” (December 28, 1942 - January 5, 1943) in the North Atlantic was unsuccessful. The next venture began on March 20th and ended on April 18th, 1943. The attack by a Bristol Beaufighter on March 22nd caused little damage. The boat then operated from April 1 to 10 as part of the submarine group “Löwenherz”, which attacked the convoy HX 231 . On April 5, U 563 damaged the US tanker Sunoil (9005 GRT), which could no longer follow the convoy due to machine problems . On April 7, the boat lost two crew members: When a B-24 Liberator bomber from RAF Squadron 86 attacked the boat, the boat had to go into alarm so quickly that two men were torn off board. The three depth charges dropped caused only minor damage.
After that the boat was part of the submarine group “Lerche” (April 10-16, 1943), which attacked the following convoy HX-232. On April 12, U 563 damaged the British motor ship Fresno City (7261 GRT) southeast of Cape Farvel ( Greenland ) and sank the British freighter Pacific Grove (7117 GRT) ( location ) and the Dutch freighter Ulysses (2666 GRT) ( location ); the three ships belonged to convoy HX-232.
Sinking
On May 16, 1943, Kapitänleutnant Götz von Hartmann left the boat, and on May 21st, the new commander was first lieutenant Gustav Borchardt.
On May 29, U 563 left Brest for its next venture. On May 31, it was sunk in the Bay of Biscay southwest of Brest at position 46 ° 35 ' N , 10 ° 40' W by depth charges from two British and one Australian aircraft. The entire boat crew was killed.
literature
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .
- 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 .
Remarks
- ↑ 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. 371.
- ↑ HG = Home Gibraltar.
- ↑ After his recovery, Bargsten became commander of U 521 on June 3, 1942 , which was sunk off the east coast of the USA on June 2, 1943. Bargsten, now a lieutenant captain and holder of the Knight's Cross , was the only one who survived and was taken prisoner.
- ↑ a b c Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. 2001, p. 241.
- ↑ The freighter was sunk by U 706 soon afterwards .
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