U 651
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U 651 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Shipyard: | Howaldtswerke Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | October 9, 1939 |
| Build number: | 800 |
| Keel laying: | January 16, 1940 |
| Launch: | December 21, 1940 |
| Commissioning: | February 12, 1941 |
| Commanders: | |
| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | 1 company |
| Sinkings: |
2 merchant ships (11,639 GRT) |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk south of Iceland on June 29, 1941 |
U 651 was a Type VII C submarine of the German Navy .
history
The keel was laid on January 16, 1940. After being launched on December 21, 1940, the boat was put into service on February 12, 1941 and assigned as a training boat for training the crew of the 1st U-Flotilla , from which it was designated in June 1941 Front boat was taken. The commandant was Kapitänleutnant Peter Lohmeyer.
Calls
U 651 only had a short career. It was sunk on its first voyage after the sinking of two British merchant ships.
First patrol
On June 12, 1941, U 651 ran out of Bergen on its only patrol. On June 24, it encountered convoy HX-133 destined for Baltimore to Swansea and torpedoed the grain freighter Brockley Hill ( Lage ) southeast of Cape Farewell . The freighter's crew was picked up by other ships in the convoy. On the night of June 29, U 651 managed to torpedo another freighter from the same convoy, the Grayburn ( Lage ) laden with scrap , south of Iceland . 35 men of the 53-strong crew went down with the ship. Following this success, U 651 was attacked by the convoy's escort ships with depth charges and sunk.
Downfall
U 651 was attacked with depth charges on June 29, 1941 by the British destroyers HMS Malcolm and HMS Scimitar , the corvettes HMS Arabis and HMS Violet and the mine sweeper HMS Speedwell . Under the impression of the efficient attacks, Kapitänleutnant Peter Lohmeyer decided to show his submarine. As soon as U 651 reached the surface of the water, the commander disembarked with his crew. All 44 men were rescued by the Allied warships. U 651 sank at position 59 ° 52 ′ N , 18 ° 36 ′ W south of Iceland. Its entire crew was taken prisoner of war. After U 556 , U 651 was the second German submarine to be sunk by the escort of convoy HX 133 .
See also
literature
- Eberhard Möller, Werner Brack: Encyclopedia of German U-Boats. From 1904 to the present. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-613-02245-1 .
References and comments
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , p. 39 and p. 377.
- ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing vor München 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 , p. 72.
- ↑ U 556 was sunk on June 27th by the British corvettes Nasturtium, Gladiolous and Celandine with the loss of 6 crew members .
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