U 603

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U 603
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Type : VII C
Field Post Number : 47 142
Shipyard: Blohm + Voss , Hamburg
Construction contract: May 22, 1940
Build number: 103
Keel laying: February 27, 1941
Launch: November 16, 1941
Commissioning: January 2, 1942
Commanders:
Flotilla:
Calls: 5 patrols
Sinkings:

4 ships (17,597 GRT)

Whereabouts: sunk by destroyers on March 1, 1944 in the Atlantic, north of the Azores (51 dead, no survivors)

U 603 was a German type VII C submarine . This class of submarines was also called "Atlantic boat". It was used by the Navy during the U-Boat War in the North Atlantic and sank 4 ships with a total of 17,597 GRT. When it was sunk on March 1, 1944, the entire 51-man crew died.

Technical specifications

Construction contracts were only given to the Hamburg shipyard Blohm & Voss after the war began. The sixth order to this shipyard comprised a total of ten boats in addition to the U 603 , all of the type VII C. A submarine of this type was 67 m long and had a displacement of 865 m³ under water. It was propelled over water by two diesel engines that reached a speed of 17 knots . Two electric motors ensured a top speed of 7 knots under water. The armament of this submarine class - also called "Atlantic boat" - consisted of an 8.8 cm cannon and a 2 cm flak on deck, as well as four bow torpedo tubes and a stern torpedo tube until 1944 .

Commanders

  • Kurt Kölzer was born on March 14th in Gelsenkirchen and joined the Reichsmarine in 1929 . He took command of U 603 on January 2, 1942 and gave it up again on September 12, 1942 due to illness.
  • Hans-Joachim Bertelsmann was born on April 29, 1916 in Cuxhaven , joined the Navy in 1936 and completed his submarine training in 1941. He was an officer on watch on U 71 until 1942 , commanded the U 142 school boat and commanded U 603 for the first time from September 1942 until May 1943. At the end of January 1944 he took command again.
  • Rudolf Baltz was born on July 2, 1920 in Berlin , joined the Navy in 1938 and served as the first watch officer on the U 630 from January 1942 to March 1943 . After completing his commandant course, he took command of this boat in May, which he handed over to Lieutenant Captain Bertelsmann in January 1944.

Commitment and history

U 603 completed four patrols on which it patrolled exclusively in the North Atlantic. During its operations, this boat was involved in convoy battles as part of the operations of the submarine groups "Ritter", "Raubgraf", "Drossel" and "Geier". The commanders Bertelsmann and Baltz managed to sink a total of four ships with the U 603 .

Discovery of a convoy

U 603 left Bergen on November 23, 1942 and was on its first patrol in the North Atlantic when the commander fell ill. The boat was already heading for France when a convoy was discovered on December 4th, which was on its way to Gibraltar. U 603 was tracked down by the escort vehicles, as commander tried Bertelsmann, heranzunavigieren the boat on the convoy, and two hours with water bombs occupied. The boat's bearing signs led four other submarines to the front. U 603 then called at Brest as quickly as possible. The attacks on the Gibraltar convoy by the submarines that had rushed up were canceled on December 6th because of its strong air security.

Knights and squires

On February 7, 1943, U 603 left for its second patrol. On the approach to the intended area of ​​operations, Commander Bertelsmann was instructed to look for a convoy that had been tracked down by U 155 in the sea area in which U 603 was located. However, the unsuccessful search was abandoned after a day on February 12. In the spring of 1943, the submarine command on the North Atlantic convoy route had established a total of three submarine groups - knights, squires and Neptune - which were supposed to disrupt the convoy system. U 603 , still on the approach to the intended area of ​​operations, was assigned to the Ritter group after the convoy ON 166 was discovered on February 20. Commander Bertelsmann managed to maneuver his boat through the convoy's escort and, on the afternoon of February 21 , to sink a Norwegian ship that had already been torpedoed by U 332 .

  • sunk on February 21, 1943 Norwegian motor ship Stigstad ( Lage ) with 5964 GRT

At this time, the convoy was in the so-called "gap", a region of the Atlantic that could not be reached by the Allied aircraft. The protection of ON 166 was therefore the sole responsibility of the escort ships, which were able to prevent the attacking submarines from further success for two days. The following night, however, Commander Holtring succeeded in sinking the rescue ship Stockport with U 604 , which had a Huff-Duff system on board, the use of which made it possible to locate the German submarines. As a result, some of the German submarines - including U 603 - succeeded in overcoming the escort protection again and approached the convoy and sank.

  • on February 23, 1943, the Norwegian motor ship Glitrefjell ( Lage ) with 6409 GRT sunk.

Robber Count

"Huff-Duff" radio direction finder

In the spring of 1943 two convoys left New York City , the fast convoy HX 229 and the slower and larger SC 122 , the planned route of which was known to the submarine guidance through deciphered radio traffic. U 91 happened to cross the course of HX 229 on March 15 and reported it, which was initially incorrectly identified as SC 122. U 603 was assigned to the “Raubgraf” submarine group, which attacked the ON 170 convoy in mid-March, with U 603 acting as a contactor and thus repeatedly pulling the convoy's escort ships onto itself. The submarine command was not aware that it was possible for the Allies to target radio submarines with the ship's radio direction finder "High Frequency Direction Finder HF / DF" (also known as " Huff-Duff " - see picture on the right). The sentiment-retaining boat, which had to give signals according to the stipulations of the pack tactics in order to lead further submarines to a convoy, always acted at particular risk . On March 16, U 603 opened the attack on the newly discovered convoy SC 122 (alias HX 229). Commander Bertelsmann was the first to sink this attack.

  • on March 16, 1943, the Norwegian motor ship Elin K. ( Lage ) with 5214 GRT sunk

U 603 had fired its last torpedoes with it and was again entrusted with the task of the feeler holder, which the boat carried out until March 18.

The boat did not reach the intended area of ​​operations between Greenland and Newfoundland on this patrol and returned to Brest on March 26th.

Thrush and Vulture

The submarine group “Drossel” patrolled Cape Finisterre in April with relatively no results . After a few breakdowns, including collisions, the number of boats involved was reduced to five. When the convoy HX 237 was discovered on May 9, U 603, among others, joined this submarine group, which went on the hunt for this convoy. The 23-year-old Rudolf Baltz, previously the 1st watch officer on U 603 , had taken over command because Hans-Joachim Bertelsmann had to stay in Brest due to illness. On May 12th, Commander Baltz spotted a straggler from HX 237, which was sunk with a torpedo around half past one in the afternoon.

  • sunk on May 12, 1943, Norwegian steamer Brand with 4416 GRT.

In the summer of 1943, the “Trutz” submarine group had the task of searching for Allied convoys in the mid-Atlantic. However, the Allied operations management succeeded in attacking this group and, since the positions of the boats had been determined with Huff-Duff bearings, also maneuvered two convoys around them. The failures of the group "Trutz" led to their dissolution, the boats were instructed to operate in smaller groups. U 603 was assigned to the group "Geier", whose boats were strongly pressed by the efficient British air security and could not achieve any success. After U 603 had been attacked by a Catalina on July 8, the commander decided to end the patrol and returned to Brest.

Sinking

In the spring of 1944, U 603 was assigned to a group of submarines that were to meet north of the Azores with a U-tanker , a so-called "dairy cow", for supply. The Allies received news of the intention of this U-Group and deployed the American Task Group 21.16, which consisted of four destroyers and an escort aircraft carrier , on the German boats. On February 22nd, the U-Gruppe was tracked down after the U 709 , which had surfaced at the time, was discovered by radar. The attack was therefore initially carried out with ship artillery and continued with Hedgehog after the submarine dived. While the destroyers U 709 were tracking down with Asdic , one, Bronstein , found another boat and sank it in a depth charge. It is assumed that it was U 603 . ( Location )

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ The construction contract was issued on May 22, 1940 and included U 599 to U 610 .
  2. ↑ Peter-Erich Cremer reports in the book about his boat U 333 ; the names of the submarine groups indicated who had drawn up the respective operational plan. Karl Dönitz always chose combative and aggressive-looking names, his first staff officer Eberhard Godt named "his" submarine groups preferably after birds.
  3. ↑ Lt. KTB d. BdU these were: U 175 , U 214 , U 432 and U 602 .
  4. ↑ Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. 1999, p. 168.
  5. ↑ Lt. KTB d. BdU in grid square BE, about 500 km northwest of the Spanish coast.
  6. ↑ Martin Middleton: Convoy - German submarines chase allied convoys. Moewig Taschenbuchverlag. Rastatt. ISBN 3-8118-4342-7 . Page 19.
  7. ↑ "Raubgraf" was formed from the boats of the submarine groups "Burggraf" and "Wildfang" and was reinforced by boats of the submarine group "Stürmer" to attack the discovered convoy.
  8. ↑ Martin Middleton: Convoy - German submarines chase allied convoys. Moewig Taschenbuchverlag. Rastatt. ISBN 3-8118-4342-7 . Page 139 ff.
  9. ↑ U 659 had collided with U 439 , according to KTB d. BdU also collided U 600 and U 406 on May 5th .
  10. ↑ GUS 8 and GUS 9.
  11. ↑ The plane was according to Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. 1999, p. 416, identified by Baltz as Short Sunderland .
  12. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 4: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. 1999, p. 197.
  13. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 4: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. 1999, p. 198.

literature

  • Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .
  • 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 .
  • 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 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine 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 .