U 637
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U 637 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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|---|---|
| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 51 550 |
| Shipyard: | Blohm & Voss , Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | January 20, 1941 |
| Build number: | 137 |
| Keel laying: | October 17, 1941 |
| Launch: | July 7, 1942 |
| Commissioning: | August 27, 1942 |
| Commanders: |
Lieutenant |
| Flotilla: |
|
| Calls: | 6 companies, including 2 transfer trips and one transfer trip |
| Sinkings: |
1 warship with 39 t sunk |
| Whereabouts: | capitulated at the end of the war |
U 637 was a German submarine of the type VII C , a so-called "Atlantic boat ". It was used by the Kriegsmarine during the submarine war - among other things to lay sea mines .
Technical specifications
A VII C-boat had a length of 67 m and a displacement of 865 m³ under water. It had two diesel engines that enabled a speed of 17 knots over water . During the underwater journey, two electric motors propelled the boat to a speed of 7 knots. The armament consisted of an 8.8 cm cannon and a 2.0 cm flak on deck until 1944 , after which the artillery armament was reinforced in all boats of this type. The main weapon of the VII-C boats, however, were the four bow torpedo tubes and one stern torpedo tube. Usually a VII C-boat carried 14 torpedoes with it.
Commanders
- August 27, 1942 to February 22, 1943 Max Dieterich
Max Dieterich was born on September 6, 1916 in Mannheim and joined the Reichsmarine in 1934 . He completed his submarine training in the summer of 1941, after which he drove as a commanding student on U 572 as part of his commanding course . Upon completion of this course, Max Dieterich was promoted to lieutenant captain and was given command of the school boat U 78 . In August 1942 he took command of U 637 , but did not undertake any patrols with this boat.
- February 23, 1943 to July 20, 1944 Günther Zedelius
Günther Zedelius was born on May 19, 1915 in Hamburg-Othmarschen and joined the Navy in 1935. Like Dieterich, he was first used in the Air Force before he began his submarine training, which he finished in September 1942. He was promoted to lieutenant captain in October and initially served as a watch officer on U 130 until he took command of U 627 from Max Dieterich in February 1943 . Captain Zedelius made two trips with this boat.
- July 21, 1944 to September 30, 1944 Fritz Fabricius
Fritz Fabricius was born on May 18, 1919 in the Frisian town of Fedderwarden near Wilhelmshaven and joined the Navy in 1937. After completing his basic training, he was used as an aviator for a few years. Fabricius completed his submarine training in the winter of 1943/44. U 637 was his first on-board command on a submarine. Without leaving the boat on a patrol, he handed over the command to his successor at the end of September.
- October 1, 1944 to April 26, 1945 Wolfgang Riekeberg
Wolfgang Riekeberg was born on October 14, 1918 in Peine near Hanover and - like Fabricius - joined the Navy in 1937. From 1942 to 1943 he served as an artillery officer on the auxiliary cruisers Stier and Hansa , after which he completed his submarine training. From March to September 1944, Riekeberg, who had been promoted to captainleutnant in April, commanded U 1054 , but did not undertake any patrols with this boat. In October 1944 he took command of U 637 .
- from April 27th Klaus Weber
Klaus Weber was born on October 20, 1922 in Elberfeld and joined the Navy in 1941. In 1944 he initially served as chief engineer on U 1054 , until in October he was transferred to U 637 together with his commander Riekeberg , where he stayed until the end of the war, which he experienced as a commander on behalf of Riekeberg.
Mission history
Despite its long service life, U 637 completed several relocation and transfer trips, but only two combat missions - one of which was a mining operation off the British east coast, to which the boat departed from Kiel in early April 1945.
Baltic patrol
The German submarines originally stationed in Finland operated in the winter of 1944, since the loss of the Finnish bases in Gotenhaven and - like U 637 - from Danzig . The first enemy contact was U 637 under the command of Wolfgang Riekeberg towards the end of 1944. The boat had left Gdansk on November 25th and was patrolling the Gulf of Finland when it was caught by Soviet submarine hunters. Commander Riekeberg shot a torpedo fan and shortly afterwards heard sinking noises.
- December 24, 1944 Soviet submarine fighter BMO-594 Baltiec sunk with 39 t.
Similar noises followed another torpedo attack, from which Riekeberg concluded another devastating hit on another pursuer. However, this could not be confirmed.
Mine layers
Even in the last days of the war, extensive submarine operations took place off the British east coast at the behest of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Karl Dönitz . Between the end of April and the beginning of May, U 2324 , U 245 , U 1274 , U 2329 and U 2322 sank a total of six ships near the English coast. Two submarines were simultaneously assigned to lay mines off Newcastle upon Tyne and Hartlepool . After the end of the operation, U 637 entered Stavanger on April 28th .
End of the boat
Although many U-boat officers followed the so-called rainbow order and - although this instruction had been expressly withdrawn by Commander-in-Chief Dönitz - sank their boats themselves, Klaus Weber decided to hand U 637 over to the Allies. The boat ran out again on May 29, was transferred to the British Isles and sunk there as part of Operation Deadlight west of the Hebrides .
literature
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .
- 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 .
Notes and individual references
- ↑ Fabricius and Riekeberg joined the Navy in the same year, but were not crewmates , because two years, 37a (Riekeberg) and 37b (Fabricius) were hired. The Z-Plan was intended to significantly increase the fleet of ships in the Kriegsmarine, which resulted in an increased need for future officers this year.
- ^ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Manfred Pawlak Verlagsges., Herrsching 1981, ISBN 3-88199-0097 , p. 480.
- ^ In addition to U 637 , this was U 975 .
- ^ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Manfred Pawlak Verlagsges., Herrsching 1981, ISBN 3-88199-0097 , p. 539.
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