U 655
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U 655 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
|
|---|---|
| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 06 051 |
| Shipyard: | Howaldtswerke Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | October 9, 1939 |
| Build number: | 804 |
| Keel laying: | August 10, 1940 |
| Launch: | June 5, 1941 |
| Commissioning: | August 11, 1941 |
| Commanders: |
Adolf Dumrese |
| Flotilla: |
6th U-Flotilla training boat |
| Calls: | an enterprise |
| Sinkings: |
no |
| Whereabouts: | in the March 24, 1942 Barents Sea sunk |
U 655 was a class VII C submarine, a so-called "Atlantic boat ", which was usedby the navy in the Arctic Ocean during the submarine war of the Second World War .
Technical specifications
Immediately after the start of the war, the Howaldtswerke adjusted the capacities of the shipyards in Kiel and Hamburg to submarine construction. An annual production of 12 type VII C submarines was planned for the Kiel shipyard, while the Hamburg shipyard was to deliver 16 type VII C boats - the most frequently built class of submarines in the Navy. However, the Howaldtswerke never met these requirements.
A total of 12 Type VII C submarines were completed by all German shipyards in July 1941. Such boats were 67.1 m long and 6.2 m wide. They achieved a range of 6500 nautical miles with an average surface speed of 12 knots . They carried 14 torpedoes with them, which could be ejected through four bow torpedo tubes and one stern torpedo tube.
commitment
Kapitänleutnant Adolf Dumrese put U 655 into service on August 11, 1941. Dumrese was born in Berlin on November 13, 1909 and joined the Reichsmarine in 1929 . He was promoted to lieutenant captain in November 1938 and served on the staff of the 5th Marine Artillery Regiment until January 1940. From April to September 1940 he completed his submarine training and immediately afterwards the submarine commanders course with the 24th U-Flotilla in Memel . From February to July 1941 he was in command of the U 78 school boat . A month later he took command of U 655 .
Dumrese took over U 655 in Hamburg and undertook training trips in the Baltic Sea until January 1942 to train the crew and to run the boat.
In March 1942 U 655 was equipped for the first company. The boat left Heligoland in the direction of the intended area of operation in the North Sea. It was assigned to the Ziethen submarine group , which, according to the pack tactics developed by Karl Dönitz , was supposed to seek combat with the northern sea convoys .
Sinking
While searching for the QP 9 convoy from Murmansk to Scotland , U 655 was rammed by the British mine-clearing boat Sharpshooter , which was accompanying the convoy, south of Bear Island on March 24, 1942, in the midst of a heavy snow storm . After the impact, the U 655 straightened up in the water and then quickly sank with the stern first. The deminer's crew recovered two lifebuoys and a rubber dinghy, but no survivors.
literature
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X .
- 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 4: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1999, ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 . Page 54
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