U 642
|
U 642 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
|
|---|---|
| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | M - 50 471 |
| Shipyard: | Blohm & Voss , Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | January 20, 1941 |
| Build number: | 142 |
| Keel laying: | November 19, 1941 |
| Launch: | August 6, 1942 |
| Commissioning: | October 1, 1942 |
| Commanders: |
October 1, 1942 to July 5, 1944 |
| Flotilla: |
|
| Calls: | 5 patrols |
| Sinkings: |
1 merchant ship with 2125 GRT (30 dead); 1 flying boat shot down (3 dead) |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk in the port of Toulon on August 6, 1944 (48 survivors, no dead) |
U 642 was one of the Navy in World War II employed submarine of type VIIC . During its five patrols it sank on March 8, 1943, a merchant ship ( Leadgate ) with 2125 GRT southeast of Cape Farwell, where 30 people died and none survived, and shot down a British flying boat, where three people were killed. The submarine was sunk on March 10, 1944 in the port of Toulon by an air raid . Since there were no crew members on board, there were no deaths.
Construction and equipment
U 642 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 642 had five 53.3-cm torpedo tubes - four at the bow and one at the stern - and fourteen torpedoes , an 8.8-cm SK C / 35 cannon with 220 rounds of ammunition, and a 3.7-cm anti -aircraft gun M42 18/36/37/43 and two 2 cm FlaK C / 30.
team
The crew strength of the submarine was 44 to 60 men. On his last trip there were 48 men.
Calls
After its commissioning, U 642 was tested under the command of the Hamburg- born Kapitänleutnants Herbert Brünning (1915-2005, by Crew 35) from October 1, 1942 and served until February 19, 1943 in the 5th U-Flotilla based in Kiel in Gdansk as a training boat.
On February 20, 1943, the U 642, now assigned to the 6th U-Flotilla , left the port of Kiel, was refueled on February 22, 1943 in Kristiansand and was still in the port of Farsund the following night, only to be closed on February 23, 1943 on his first patrol as part of the submarine groups "Neuland", "Ostmark", "Stürmer" and "Seewolf" in the North Atlantic south of Iceland. On March 31, 1943, it was supplied with fuel by U 463 . The submarine sank the British merchant ship SS Leadgate with 2125 GRT southeast of Cape Farwell on March 8, 1943 , whereby 30 people died and none survived. It entered the port of Saint-Nazaire on April 8, 1943 .
On May 4, 1943, U 642 left the port of Saint-Nazaire on its second patrol, during which it was part of the submarine groups “Oder”, “Mosel”, “Trutz”, “Trutz 1” and “Geier 3 “ Operated in the North Atlantic, Central Atlantic, southwest of the Azores and off Portugal . On May 16, 1943, it was supplied with fuel and provisions by U 461 and on June 8, 1943 with fuel and engine oil by U 488 . On July 9, 1943, the submarine was attacked 250 nautical miles west of Lisbon by a British flying boat Consolidated PBY Catalina FP155 (210 Squadron RAF / F, pilot: F / L DM Ryan). The crew of U 642 shot down the Catalina , but dived and did not notice its success, but the depth charges of the flying boat did not hit its target either. Three men were killed on the plane, but the remaining seven were taken on board by HMS Swale and taken to Casablanca. Ships could not sink the submarine on this patrol. It returned to Saint-Nazaire on July 17, 1943.
On September 11, 1943, U 642 ran from Saint-Nazaire on its third patrol, but drove to a sea mine in the Bay of Biscay on September 12, 1943 and therefore had to return to Saint-Nazaire on the same day.
On October 18, 1943, the fourth patrol of U 642 began with the renewed departure from Saint-Nazaire . The order was to cross the Strait of Gibraltar , which was heavily guarded by the British , and to advance into the Mediterranean . This breakthrough was made on October 30, 1943 together with four other submarines, but only U 642 and the U 450 commanded by Kurt Böhme succeeded , while the other three submarines were lost. Hans Hornkohl's U 566 was badly damaged by an aircraft and had to be self- scuttled on the Spanish coast near Vigo. The crew took the train back to Brest on October 31, 1943. Claus-Peter Carlsen's U 732 was sunk by British planes and 2 destroyers, with 19 men captured and the remaining 31 killed. U 340 under Hans-Joachim Klaus was badly damaged by 3 British warships and also had to self-sink off the Spanish coast, whereby one man drowned for unknown reasons. Already on board a Spanish fishing boat and initially full of joy, the crew was captured by the British sloop Fleetwood . U 642, however, was now operating in the Mediterranean, albeit without being able to sink or damage enemy ships, and entered Toulon on November 13th .
On December 22nd, 1943, U 642 left the port of Toulon on its fifth patrol and now operated in the Mediterranean Sea in the Gulf of Naples, off Algeria and Tunisia and north of Sicily. There were no successes of sinking and returned to Toulon on January 23, 1944.
On July 5, 1944, Allied bombers attacked the port of Toulon and severely damaged U 642 , the crew remained intact. The submarine, which was no longer ready for launch, was decommissioned on July 12, 1944.
Destruction in the port of Toulon
On August 6, 1944, several Consolidated B-24 Liberators of the 15th Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces attacked the docks of the port of Toulon. U 642 was destroyed and sank with the dock. Since there were no crew members on board, there were also no deaths.
The boat was raised with the sunken dock from April 12, 1945 and scrapped in 1946.
Fate of the occupation
The crew of U 642 took over U 3518 when it was commissioned on December 29, 1944 in Danzig . This boat was sunk by the crew itself on May 3, 1945 in the course of the Rainbow in Kiel-Wik on the orders of Commander Herbert Brünning . The entire crew, previously from U 642 , survived the war.
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, p. 40. 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. 89, 223. ISBN 978-3-8132-0512-1 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 3: The German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2008, pp. 277f. ISBN 978-3-8132-0513-8 .
- 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, pp. 265, 272f. ISBN 978-3-8132-0514-5 .
- 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 Hunted 1942–1945 . Heyne Verlag, 1999. pp. 315, 537, 539, 609, 612, 617. ISBN 3-4531-6059-2 .
Map with all coordinates: