U 588
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U 588 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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U 588 KLt Viktor Vogel with his crew on arrival in St. Nazaire |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 19 687 |
| Shipyard: | Blohm and Voss in Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | July 23, 1941 |
| Keel laying: | October 31, 1940 |
| Launch: | June 12, 1941 |
| Commissioning: | September 18, 1941 |
| Commanders: |
Viktor Vogel |
| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | Four ventures |
| Sinkings: |
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| Whereabouts: | Lost on July 31, 1942 northeast of St. Johns (Newfoundland) by depth charges |
U 588 was a German type VII C submarine, a so-called "Atlantic boat ". It was used by the Navy during the Second World War in the North and Central Atlantic and off the North American east coast.
Construction and commissioning
Before the start of the war, the Hamburg shipyard Blohm + Voss was not involved in the submarine building program of the Reich and Kriegsmarine. From 1939 onwards, however, the Hamburg shipyard's capacities were mainly used to build submarines. The efficient series production method of the shipyard was supposed to guarantee the annual production of 52 type VII C submarines, while 48 diesel engines for installation on boats of this type were also manufactured under license from MAN . The two diesel engines of the Type VII C boats achieved a speed of 17 knots when sailing above the water . Such a boat had a maximum range of 6500 nm . Under water, the two electric motors, each 375 hp , were usually used, guaranteeing a speed of 7.6 knots.
U 588 was put into service in Hamburg on September 19, 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Viktor Vogel. The 29-year-old Vogel had joined the Reichsmarine in 1932 and had served on minesweepers after the start of the war . He had completed his submarine training in the summer of 1941 and U 588 was his first submarine command. U 588 had a coat of arms with two fighting cocks on the tower .
Mission history
U 588 undertook four enemy voyages on which 7 ships were sunk, another - the American steamer Greylock - was damaged (total tonnage of the 7 sunk ships: 31,492 GRT).
First venture
Commander Vogel left Kiel with U 588 on January 8, 1942 for his first venture. On January 22nd he discovered a single British steamship. The Caledonian Monarch was a member of the SC 63 convoy , which left Nova Scotia on January 3rd . The convoy was broken up six days later due to stormy weather, whereupon the individual ships tried to reach Great Britain on their own.
Vogel sank the ship half an hour after a successful torpedo hit with a torpedo launch shot. The Caledonian Monarch then quickly sank over the stern . U 588 reached Lorient , France , on January 30th.
Second venture
The boat left Lorient on February 12th. The North Atlantic, northeast of Cape Race, was planned as the operational area. U 588 entered St. Nazaire on March 27, 1942 . During this voyage, Commander Viktor Vogel sank two ships.
- March 1, 1942: sinking of the British Carperby (4890 GRT) ( location )
- March 10, 1942: sinking of the US Gulftrade (6776 GRT) ( location )
Third company
The third mission of U 588 lasted from April 19 to June 7, 1942. On this venture, commander Viktor Vogel sank four ships and damaged one.
- May 9, 1942: Damage to the American Greylock (7460 GRT) ( location )
- May 10, 1942: Sinking of the British Kitty's Brook (4031 GRT) ( location )
- May 17, 1942: sinking of the Norwegian Scottland (4282 GRT) ( location )
- May 22, 1942: Sinking of the American Plow City (3282 GRT) ( location )
- May 23, 1942: Sinking of the British Margot (4545 GRT) ( location )
Fourth venture
U 588 left St. Nazaire on August 19 . The boat operated in the central North Atlantic. It belonged to a submarine group which, under the code name Pirate , was supposed to seek combat with allied convoy trains in accordance with the pack tactics developed by Karl Dönitz . Ships could not be sunk or damaged. On July 31, 1942, shortly after midnight, Commander Vogel reported by short signal that U 588 had found a convoy located in naval grid square AK 7989. After that there was no more message from the boat. Orders for location and weather reports on August 1st, 2nd and 3rd were not answered. With effect from August 1, 1942, U 588 was missing on September 23, 1942 and declared missing on January 28, 1943.
Sinking
U 588 was sunk on July 31, 1942 in the North Atlantic northeast of St. Johns (Newfoundland) by depth charges from the Canadian destroyer HMCS Skeena and the Canadian corvette HMCS Wetaskiwin . The boat was operating on convoy ON-115 when it was sighted by the Canadian destroyer. Together with the corvette, warships attacked the submarine with depth charges and sank it. There were no survivors.
Commandant Viktor Vogel was posthumously promoted to corvette captain.
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 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
Notes and individual references
- ↑ a b 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 . Page 247
- ^ A b Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Malings German submarines 1939–1945. 5th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , p. 149.
- ↑ war diaries U-588 08.01.42-31.07.42
- ↑ The abbreviation SC stands for "slow convoy" and denotes slow-moving convoy trains that consisted of many ships
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945 , EE Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-81-32-0513-4 , page 253
- ↑ War Diary U-588 01.02.42-27.03.42
- ↑ War Diary U-588 23:03:42 to 07:06:42
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 4: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1999, ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 .
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