U 652
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U 652 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Shipyard: | Howaldtswerke Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | October 9, 1939 |
| Build number: | 801 |
| Keel laying: | 5th February 1940 |
| Launch: | February 7, 1941 |
| Commissioning: | April 3, 1941 |
| Commanders: |
First lieutenant to the sea Georg-Werner Fraatz |
| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | 8 activities |
| Sinkings: |
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| Whereabouts: | sunk in the Mediterranean on June 2, 1942 |
U 652 was a Type VII C submarine of the German Navy .
history
The keel was laid on February 5, 1940. After being launched on February 7, 1941, the boat was put into service on April 3, 1941 and assigned to the 3rd U-Flotilla . The commandant was first lieutenant at sea Georg-Werner Fraatz.
Calls
It was the first submarine to attack an American warship, the USS Greer . On the way to Iceland, the Greer was informed of the presence of the submarine on September 4, 1941 by a British bomber. After tracking the boat, she chased it. The bomber dropped four depth charges , which the commander of the submarine attributed to the destroyer. He fired a torpedo at the Greer , which in turn attacked. A two-hour battle developed, but it brought no results.
In response to this incident, President Franklin D. Roosevelt instructed US warships not to wait for an attack but to strike immediately if they sighted a German submarine (“shoot on sight order”).
First patrol
On July 23, 1941, U 652 left the Bökfjord for its first mission. On August 6, 1941, about seven miles from Cape Teriberka on the Kola Peninsula , the boat struck the Soviet trawler PS-70 and sank it with a torpedo. 45 crew members lost their lives, the 12 survivors of the sunken ship were rescued by Soviet motor boats and brought to safety on the nearby coast. This sinking represented the first success of a submarine in the Arctic Ocean . Only one day later, U 652 ended its mission in the port of Kirkenes .
Second patrol
U 652 left the port of Trondheim on August 23, 1941. Shortly after midnight on August 26, she torpedoed the HMS Southern Prince , a British passenger ship converted into a mine- layer. The ship was damaged by the torpedo hit near the bridge, but could be escorted home by escort destroyers hurrying to help and repaired in Belfast.
In the early morning hours of September 10, U 652 shot down two torpedoes on the SC-42 convoy that U 85 had tracked down the day before , both of which hit and damaged the British merchant ships Tahchee and Baron Pentland . The Tahchee's cargo of gasoline and diesel oil caught fire and the crew left the ship because of the risk of explosion, but returned later to put out the fire. After this was successful, the damaged tanker was towed to safety in Iceland by the Canadian corvette HMCS Orillia . The Baron Pentland , whose keel was broken, was held to the surface by her cargo of lumber. It was finally sunk on September 19, 1941 by U 372 by torpedoes.
U 652 entered the Lorient submarine base on September 18, 1941 after 27 days at sea .
Third patrol
On November 1, 1941 U 652 ran from Lorient on its third patrol. After an unsuccessful search for enemy ships in the Atlantic, the longest patrol in the history of the boat with 42 days at sea finally led through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean on December 4th . There she succeeded on December 9, south of the Balearic Islands , in torpedoing the French merchant ship Saint Denis . The crew was able to leave the ship in time, so that there were no victims. On December 12, U 652 ended its mission in the port of Messina .
Fourth patrol
In December 1941 U 652 was in Messina. From there it set out on its fourth patrol on December 14th. On December 19, it attacked the Russian tanker Varlaam Avanesov ( Lage ) in the Aegean Sea and sank it with a torpedo. When the ship sank 2.5 miles from Cape Baba , one crew member was killed, the others were able to save themselves with the lifeboats to the nearby Turkish coast. After 19 days at sea, U 652 entered the port of La Spezia on January 1, 1942 .
At the beginning of February 1942, U 652 was assigned to Greece. She left La Spezia on February 5 and reached her new base in Salamis on February 16 after an uneventful journey .
Fifth patrol
On February 21, 1942, U 652 left Salamis on its fifth patrol . The nine-day trip took the boat to the Libyan coast. No enemy ships were sighted and so U 652 returned to the base on March 1st.
Sixth patrol
The boat left the port of Salamis on March 12, but returned on March 14.
Seventh patrol
On March 18, 1942, U 652 left the port of Salamis on its seventh patrol. The patrol led the boat off the North African coast near Sidi Barrani . There she torpedoed the British destroyer escort HMS Heythrop on March 20, about 40 miles northeast of Bardia . The Heythrop was still towed by her sister ship HMS Eridge , but sank five hours later.
Six days later, the crew of U 652 managed to torpedo the destroyer HMS Jaguar . The ship received two hits in the bow and sank ( location ) in a short time. Three officers and 190 seamen lost their lives, 53 crew members were rescued by escort ships.
Then U 652 ran north and ended its mission after a total of 14 days on March 31 in the port of Pola .
Eighth patrol
On May 25, 1942, the boat left Pola for its eighth patrol . No ships were sunk during the mission. After nine days, U 652 was lost off the North African coast.
Downfall
U 652 was badly damaged in June 1942 by depth charges from a British Swordfish . Commander Fraatz succeeded in calling the nearby U 81 by radio . Its commander, Friedrich Guggenberger , took the hapless crew of U 652 on board and allowed Kapitänleutnant Georg-Werner Fraatz to shoot his submarine with a torpedo from the stern torpedo tube of U 81 . Fraatz hit the now heavily stern-heavy submarine amidships, whereupon it broke apart and sank. In this way, U 652 was self- scuttled on June 2 at position 31 ° 55 ' N , 25 ° 11' E northwest of Sidi Barrani. There were no losses.
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 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , p. 42 and p. 235.
- ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing vor München 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 , p. 84.
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