U 591
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U 591 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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 Graphic of a class VII C submarine |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | M - 37 230 |
| Shipyard: | Blohm & Voss , Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | January 16, 1940 |
| Build number: | 091 |
| Keel laying: | November 30, 1940 |
| Launch: | August 20, 1941 |
| Commissioning: | October 9, 1941 |
| Commanders: |
9 October 1941 to 8 September 1942 |
| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | 8 patrols |
| Sinkings: |
4 merchant ships with 19,932 GRT (1 merchant ship with 5701 GRT damaged) |
| Whereabouts: | sunk in the South Atlantic on July 30, 1943 (19 dead, 28 prisoners of war) |
U 591 was one of the Navy in World War II employed submarine of type VIIC . In its eight patrols it sank in the Atlantic four merchant ships with 19,932 BRT, with 138 sailors died. On July 30, 1943, the submarine was sunk in the Atlantic off Recife by a US Lockheed Ventura . Of the 47 crew members died 19 while 28 to US prisoner of war came.
Construction and equipment
U 591 had a water displacement of 769 t on the surface and 871 t under water. She was a total of 67.1 m long, 6.2 m wide, 9.6 m high with a 50.5 m long pressure hull and had a draft of 4.74 m. The submarine, built in the Hamburg shipyard Blohm & Voss , was powered by two four-stroke F46 diesel engines with 6 cylinders each and a charging fan from the Kiel Germania shipyard with an output of 2060 to 2350 kW, with two electric motors GU 460 / 8-27 from AEG for underwater operation driven with an output of 550 kW. It had two drive shafts with two 1.23 m tall propellers. The boat was suitable for diving to a depth of 230 m.
The submarine reached speeds of up to 17.7 knots on the surface and up to 7.6 knots under water. When surfaced, the ship could travel up to 8,500 nautical miles at 10 knots, and up to 80 nautical miles submerged at 4 knots. U 591 had five 533 mm torpedo tubes - four at the bow and one at the stern - and fourteen torpedoes , an 88 mm SK C / 35 cannon with 220 rounds of ammunition, a 37 mm FlaK M42 18/36/37 / 43 and two 20 mm FlaK C / 30.
team
The crew strength of the submarine was 44 to 60 men. On his last trip there were 47 men.
Calls
After its commissioning, U 591 was tested under the command of Kapitänleutnants Hans-Jürgen Zetzsche (1915-1991) from October 10, 1941 in Hamburg , Kiel and other Baltic ports and then served until December 31, 1941 with the 6th U-Flotilla in Danzig as a training boat. From January 10th to 14th, 1942, it was equipped for the first patrol in Kiel. On January 15, 1942, the submarine left the port of Kiel and, after a short stay in Kristiansand, Norway , went to the North Atlantic on January 16, where it was part of the submarine group "Schlei" in the Hebrides , the Faroe Islands and Rockall operated, but remained without success in sinking. U 591 entered Bergen (Norway) on February 20, 1942 .
On April 1, 1942, U 591 left the port of Bergen and went on patrol into the North Sea, where it was part of the submarine groups “Wakeful” and “Bums”. Again no ships could be sunk. After the submarine collided with U 657 on April 10, the patrol had to be broken off. Trondheim was reached on April 11, 1942 .
On May 10, 1942, U 591 was repaired and ran out of Trondheim for its next patrol in the North Sea, where it was sent as part of the submarine group "Greif" against the convoys QP 12 and QP 16 . Again the submarine was unsuccessful. On June 2, 1942, it entered Narvik , which was left on June 4. The port of Bergen was reached on June 7, where the submarine was repaired between June 8 and July 26, 1942.
U 591 ran out of Bergen on July 27, 1942 for its fourth patrol in the North Sea, this time as part of the submarine group "Nebelkönig". After a collision with ice floes , the submarine had to return without success and reached Bergen on August 14, 1942. On August 22, the submarine left Bergen again and drove via Narvik to the Skjomenfjord , which it reached on August 24 To include mineware. Shortly afterwards it hit a shoal and was badly damaged. The boat was only released from the ground on the fifth attempt to tow it. On September 8, 1942, the submarine was driven out of the Skjomenfjord and moved via Trondheim and Ålesund to Bergen, which was reached on September 12. Here it had to be repaired in the shipyard from September 15, 1942 to November 24, 1942. The command of the submarine was held here from September 9, 1942 to November 12, 1942, First Lieutenant to the Sea Peter Schrewe , until it was again taken over by Lieutenant Captain Hans-Jürgen Zetzsche.
On December 1, 1942, the restored submarine was able to leave Bergen in order to operate as part of the “Ungestüm” submarine group in the North Atlantic south of Iceland . On December 21, 1942, U 591 sank the British merchant ship Montreal City with 3,066 GRT, whereby all 40 crew members died. On December 28, 1942 it was possible to damage the Norwegian merchant ship Norse King with 5701 GRT, which was sunk one day later by U 435 , whereby all 27 died on board. On December 29, 1942, the British merchant ship Zarian with 4871 GRT was sunk by U 591 . Here four of 53 crew members died while 49 were rescued. On January 5, 1943, U 591 was supplied with fuel by U 117 . On January 12, 1943, it entered the port of Brest (Finistère) .
On February 17, 1943 U 591 left the port of Brest on its 6th patrol to operate as part of the submarine groups "Sturmbock", "Wildfang", "Westmark" and "Seewolf" in the North Atlantic between Newfoundland and Iceland . On March 7, 1943, U 591 sank the British merchant ship Empire Impala with 6116 GRT, whereby all 48 crew members died, and on March 8, 1943, the Yugoslav merchant ship Vojvoda Putnik was sunk with 5879 GRT, where also all 46 perished on board. Another ship with around 5000 GRT was torpedoed unsuccessfully. On March 19, 1943, U 591 was supplied with fuel and provisions by U 463 . It entered the port of Saint-Nazaire on April 7, 1943 .
U 591 ran out of Saint-Nazaire on May 12, 1943 on its 7th patrol, but was attacked by an aircraft shortly afterwards in the Bay of Biscay . Captain Hans-Jürgen Zetzsche and another crew member were wounded, so that on May 15, 1943, Lieutenant Joachim Sauerbier had to take command and order the return trip to Saint-Nazaire, which was reached again on May 17, 1943.
Zetzsche had to spend in a hospital until March 1944 and experienced the end of the war on May 8, 1945 as a command staff officer in the staff of the commander of the submarines Nordmeer. On June 11, 1943, command of U 591 passed to Oberleutnant zur See Reimar Ziesmer, who was born on November 23, 1917 .
Last use and end
On June 26, 1943, U 591 left the port of Saint-Nazaire on its last patrol, now to operate in the Central Atlantic west of the Azores and then in the South Atlantic off Pernambuco , but without success in scuttling. On July 10, 1943, it was supplied with fuel and provisions by U 487 .
On 30 July 1943, U 591 east of Recife from a controlled by Walter C. Young Lockheed Ventura of the US Navy discovered Squadron VB-127 and six depth charges (Mark 44 Torpex - explosives ), sunk by which at least one of the The submarine's deck fell and another one on the starboard side tore a huge hole. The attackers succeeded in a quick surprise attack, so that the submarine crew had no opportunity to open fire with their flak . The 2 cm flak was also hit and destroyed. The boat was sinking and Ziesmer now gave the order “all hands on board”. When the last survivor left the submarine via the ladder, the water in the control room was already three feet high. The submarine has now been fired once more by the Lockheed Ventura and sank quickly, although none of the people now swimming in the water were reportedly hit. The plane now let go of the castaways , who heaved their wounded into an inflatable boat that came from the Lockheed Ventura . The others took turns holding onto this lifeboat. Once a shark swam into the group and rammed one of the people swimming. Ziesmer tried to reassure the men by saying it was a porpoise .
Five hours after the sinking of U 591 , the US corvette USS Saucy encountered the group of 28 survivors who were brought on board. Riflemen on the Saucy fired at sharks, which were apparently following the ship, whereupon one of the prisoners went overboard in horror under the impression that they were shooting at his comrades. A total of 28 crew members from U 591 were rescued from the Saucy and thus became US prisoners of war , while 19 died. The prisoners were brought ashore in Recife at 10:40 p.m. that same day. They were brought to the USA on the aircraft mother ship USS Albemarle (AV-5), where they arrived at Naval Station Norfolk on September 5, 1943 - with the exception of Ziesmer, who was flown to the USA for questioning.
See also
literature
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. Preface by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rohwer, Member of the Presidium of the International Commission on Military History. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1996, pp. 201, 216, 263, 264. ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: Submarine construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1997, pp. 57, 223. ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 3: The German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2008, p. 255. ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 4: The German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2008, p. 124f. ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 .
- Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maas: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 3: Submarines, auxiliary cruisers, mine ships, net layers. Bernhard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7637-4802-4 .
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War - The Hunters 1939–1942 . Heyne Verlag, 1998. pp. 642f. ISBN 3-453-12345-X .
- Clay Blair: The Submarine War - The Hunted 1942–1945 . Heyne Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 , pp. 167, 173, 177, 314f., 333, 389, 443.
- John M. Waters: Bloody Winter . Welsermühl Verlag, Wels 1970. pp. 204, 249. ISBN 3-8533-9104-4 .
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