U 597
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U 597 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 42 993 |
| Shipyard: | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | January 16, 1940 |
| Build number: | 097 |
| Keel laying: | January 13, 1941 |
| Launch: | October 1, 1941 |
| Commissioning: | November 20, 1941 |
| Commanders: |
Captain |
| Flotilla: |
|
| Calls: | 2 patrols |
| Sinkings: |
no |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk in the North Atlantic on October 12, 1942 |
U 597 was a German submarine of the type VII C - also called "Atlantic boat " - which was used in convoy battles in the North Atlantic during the submarine war .
Convoy battles in the North Atlantic
According to the stipulations of the pack tactics , the Kriegsmarine deployed several submarine groups against the Allied convoys from summer 1941, which were supposed to ensure supplies to Great Britain . On June 13, U 597 was assigned to the "Wolf" group, which attacked convoy ON 113 at the end of the month. Commander Bopst launched an attack, but achieved no success. On June 27, the “Wolf” submarine group disbanded, and some of the associated submarines, including the U 597 , were supplied by the U 461 “milk cow” . These boats then placed themselves in the outpost strip formed by the "Pirate" submarine group, which had meanwhile been assembled, and attacked convoy ON 115 in early August 1942, from which two ships were sunk. Before this submarine group was disbanded a few days later due to unfavorable weather conditions, U 597 unsuccessfully attacked a straggler. On August 3, the boat was assigned to the “Steinbrinck” submarine group, which patrolled east of the Newfoundland Bank and attacked the SC 94 convoy. Commander Bopst sighted some ships that had lost connection with the convoy, but could still not achieve any success. On August 16, U 597 returned to Brest , the base of the 1st U-Flotilla.
Sinking
On October 1, 1942, U 597 was initially assigned to the “Luchs” submarine group, but the hunt for its target, the HX 209 convoy , was broken off and disbanded a week later due to considerable air security. From some of these boats - including U 597 - and newcomers, the submarine group "Panther" was formed on October 8th, which discovered the 36 ships of the ONS 136 convoy on October 11th. To attack this convoy, the BdU formed the U-boat group "Leopard" from U 597 and seven other boats. Because of the unfavorable weather conditions, with winds of up to strength 10 , the attack by the submarine group was unsuccessful, only U 587 managed two attacks without sinking. Around noon on October 12, a Liberator bomber discovered the surfaced submarine and attacked it with depth charges. Oil spills and debris observed from the aircraft indicated the sinking of U 597 ( Lage ).
Literature and Sources
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
- Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .
- Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Manfred Pawlak Verlagsges., Herrsching 1981, ISBN 3-88199-0097 .
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