U 628
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U 628 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 07 314 |
| Shipyard: | Blohm & Voss , Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | August 15, 1940 |
| Build number: | 128 |
| Keel laying: | August 7, 1941 |
| Launch: | April 29, 1942 |
| Commissioning: | June 25, 1942 |
| Commanders: |
Captain |
| Flotilla: |
|
| Calls: | 4 activities |
| Sinkings: |
4 ships with 21,635 GRT sunk, |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk in the Bay of Biscay on July 3, 1943 |
U 628 was a German type VII C submarine , a so-called "Atlantic boat ". It was used by the Kriegsmarine during the submarine war in the North Atlantic .
Technical specifications
The Hamburg shipyard Blohm + Voss was not involved in the submarine building program of the Reichsmarine or the Kriegsmarine before the war began . From 1939, however, the capacity of the Hamburg shipyard was fully utilized with the construction of submarines. The efficient series production method of the shipyard was supposed to guarantee the annual production of 52 type VII C submarines. In addition - under license from MAN - diesel engines were manufactured for installation in boats of this type. Two such diesel engines achieved a speed of 17 knots when sailing above water . A VII 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. The armament consisted of an 8.8 cm cannon and a 2.0 cm flak on deck as well as four bow torpedo tubes and a stern torpedo tube until 1944 . Usually a VII C-boat carried 14 torpedoes with it. At the tower wore U 628 a coat of arms with a gauntlet and the caption Götz von Berlichingen .
commander
Heinrich Hasenschar was born on September 27, 1916 in Höringhausen in the Sauerland and joined the Navy in 1936. He completed his submarine training in the summer of 1940. Until autumn of the following year he served as an officer on watch on the U 59 and U 751 , when he became the commander of the U 29 school boat . After a building instruction , he was given command of U 628 in the summer of 1942 . On March 1, 1943, Heinrich Hasenschar was promoted to lieutenant captain.
Mission history
On November 28, 1942 was U 628 from Kiel made from first to his company. The area of operation was the North Atlantic, specifically the sea area south of Iceland . During this venture, the boat was assigned to the U-boat group Ungestüm . At the beginning of January of the following year, U 628 entered Brest , the base of the 1st U-Flotilla, from where Commander Hasenschar left for three more patrols with U 628 . During its four ventures, the boat took part in several convoy battles.
Attack on ONS 154
At the end of 1942, the submarine command ordered the submarine groups Spitz and Ungestüm to attack the convoy ONS 154. U 664 had discovered this convoy on December 26th 1,100 km west of Brest and has since been in touch while Commander Graef tried to follow up the stipulations of the pack tactics developed by Karl Dönitz to bring in more submarines. The German submarines succeeded in damaging a tanker along with some freighters, which was intended to supply the escort ships, but now had to leave the convoy. Two days later, on the night of December 29th, the submarine formation, which had now grown considerably, attacked and sank nine ships.
- 29 December 1942 British steamer Lynton Grange with 5,029 GRT sunk
Commander Hasenschar reported that he had sunk a corvette and a steamer. Only the latter could be confirmed - it was the British Lynton Grange , which had been torpedoed by U 406 two hours earlier .
Knight against ON 166
U 628 left for its second venture on February 1, 1943. When two submarine groups, Knappen and Ritter , attacked the convoy ON 166 towards the end of the month , the boat belonged to the latter group. Commander Hasenschar attacked two tankers that were in ballast and damaged both of them. The Winkler from Panama was sunk a little later by U 223 and the Norwegian Glittre by U 603 . A day later Hasenschar overheard detonations indicating three hits after a torpedo fan had been shot down , and other noises from which he concluded that he had damaged a ship and sunk two more. In fact, he had sunk the Norwegian Ingria .
- February 24, 1943 Norwegian freighter Ingria with 4,391 GRT sunk
A subsequent attack by the Canadian escort ship Rosthern forced him to withdraw from the fight with U 628 .
Accidental find
U 262 , which was on its way to the American east coast to take inGerman prisoners of warin the Saint Lawrence Gulf who wanted to flee from a Canadian prison camp, discovered a convoy in mid-April and brought several submarines to it before continuing its journey . On April 17, U 628 met convoy ON 166 and commander Hasenschar decided to attack. He reported two hits on two ships, one of which had sunk. In fact, he had onlyhit Fort Rampart , which he latersank- together with Commander Borchers of U 226 .
- 17th April 1943 British steamer Fort Rampart with 7,134 GRT damaged and sunk
Blackbird and Finch
The largest task force of submarines, which was drawn together in the Atlantic during World War II , was created through the joint operation of the submarine groups Amsel and Fink . At the beginning of May 1943 the Allies succeeded in diverting two convoy trains - SC 128 and HX 236 - around the line-up of the German boats. The third convoy, which was about to cross the Atlantic, drove directly into the combined submarine group and was discovered, among other things, by U 628 . The BdU and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Karl Dönitz, demanded in the attack order that the enemy be “destroyed” . The German submarines sank twelve Allied ships with 55,800 GRT on the night of May 5. Commander Hasenschar reported that he had sunk four ships in this convoy battle - including a warship. He had fired six torpedoes and learned his success from the noises he obeyed. In retrospect, only one hit was confirmed.
- May 5, 1943 British steamer Harbury with 5081 GRT first damaged, then sunk
An escort managed to take over the crew of the struck steamer before a catch shot by U 628 sank the abandoned wreck.
Sinkings
During his time in command of U 628 , Commander Hasenschar reported that he had sunk a total of eight ships and two warships - only four successes could be confirmed. Hasenschar's underlying observations were made in the course of large and confusing convoy battles, which also took place at night or in the early morning hours of a winter day.
Sinking
On July 1, 1943, U 628 left Brest for its fourth and last venture. The intended area of operation for the boat was again the North Atlantic. Two days later a Liberator first recorded the submarine in the Bay of Biscay with radar, a short time later sighted the wake and then the submarine itself. On the afternoon of July 3, shortly after 2 p.m., the British bomber U 628 sank with it two depth charges . No crew member survived the sinking of the submarine.
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 and Son, Hamburg a. a. 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 and Son, Hamburg a. a. 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 .
Notes and individual references
- ^ 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. 132.
- ↑ 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 , p. 91.
- ↑ In addition, a float plane that belonged to the catapult ship Fidelity was lost.
- ^ A b c d e Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939–1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 , pp. 273-274.
- ↑ The Norwegian ship had been damaged by U 600 shortly before .
- ↑ Also U 358 and U 270 reported contact with the convoy.
- ↑ C. Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1999, p. 356.
- ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing vor München 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 , p. 132.
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