U 571
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U 571 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 42 483 |
| Shipyard: | Blohm & Voss |
| Construction contract: | October 24, 1939 |
| Build number: | 547 |
| Keel laying: | June 8, 1940 |
| Launch: | April 4, 1941 |
| Commissioning: | May 22, 1941 |
| Commanders: |
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| Calls: | 11 activities |
| Sinkings: |
13 ships (27,911 GRT) |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk on January 28, 1944 in the North Atlantic west of Ireland (52 dead, no survivors) |
U 571 was a Type VII C submarine of the Kriegsmarine in World War II . It sank on its eleven patrols 13 ships with 27,911 tons. On January 28, 1944, it was sunk west of Ireland itself, killing all 52 men of the crew.
history
Construction and commissioning
The boat was laid on June 8, 1940 at Blohm & Voss in Hamburg , the launch was on April 4, 1941. On May 22, 1941, it was put into service under the command of Lieutenant Helmut Möhlmann. Under his command, U 571 completed nine missions in arctic waters and the northern and central Atlantic .
Calls
On its first war patrol in August 1941, U 571 operated against Allied shipping in the North Sea. On August 26, the boat torpedoed the Russian passenger ship Marija Uljanova , which had been converted into a hospital ship , and was badly damaged. The counterattack by the accompanying destroyer Valerian Kujbyshev damaged the submarine, which then returned to the base.
In 1942, on its sixth voyage, the third war patrol, the boat was deployed off the east coast of the United States. There it sank the British freighter Hertford ( Lage ) on March 29, the Norwegian tanker Koll ( Lage ) off Cape Hatteras on April 6, and the American freighter Margaret on April 14 .
On its seventh mission, the fourth war patrol, the submarine was used against shipping in the Caribbean in July 1942. Four ships were torpedoed there: the British freighter Umtata ( location ) on July 7, the American tanker JA Moffet ( location ) the next day, the Honduran freighter Nicholas Cuneo ( location ) the following day and the American tanker Pennsylvania on July 15 Sun ( location ) that was later salvaged and repaired. With the exception of the captain of the JA Moffet and three crew members (one of the Nicholas Cuneo , two of the Pennsylvania Sun ), the crews of all four merchant ships survived the sinkings.
After two unsuccessful war patrols, the boat left La Pallice on March 22, 1943 for another patrol . The changes in submarine warfare , which enabled the Allies to launch precise night attacks on submarines, almost meant the end of the boat when, around 9:55 p.m. on the same day, an aircraft attacked the boat and damaged it so badly that it had to return to the base which it reached the following day. The next war patrol was also unsuccessful for the boat. Although Möhlmann complained about the sinking of three ships, these sinkings were not confirmed by Allied records. In addition, the boat was attacked twice from the air on this mission, on April 14th without consequences and on April 29th, two days before entering the home base, with slight damage. In addition, on April 22nd, in an accident on the tower, Kapitänleutnant Möhlmann, who was awarded the Knight's Cross for his success with the boat on April 16, was injured so badly that the boat had to return to base early.
After this trip, Möhlmann was replaced as commander by First Lieutenant Gustav Lüssow. Under this, the boat completed a twelve-week war patrol off the west coast of Africa, from which it returned on September 1, 1943. Until the end of December there are no notes on the boat in the BdU's war diary , presumably the boat was overtaken in a dry dock during this time.
Sinking
On January 8, 1944, the boat set out on its eleventh venture, from which it did not return. On January 28, 1944, there was at overwater drive west of Ireland by depth charges of a Short Sunderland -Flugbootes the 461th Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force hit and sank ( location ). Part of the 52-man crew who had tried to defend themselves against the Sunderland with defensive fire, managed to escape from the submarine, but drowned in the cold water. Up to this point the boat had not had any casualties.
See also
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. 45.
- ↑ 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. 503.
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 4: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1999, ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 , p. 184.
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