U 666
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U 666 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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|---|---|
| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | M 51 377 |
| Shipyard: | Howaldtswerke , Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | August 15, 1940 |
| Build number: | 815 |
| Keel laying: | September 16, 1941 |
| Launch: | July 18, 1942 |
| Commissioning: | August 26, 1942 |
| Commanders: |
|
| Calls: | 11 patrols |
| Sinkings: |
1 warship |
| Whereabouts: | missing since February 10, 1944 west of Ireland in the North Atlantic |
U 666 was a German type VII C submarine of the Kriegsmarine in World War II .
history
Construction and commissioning
The building contract for this boat was awarded to Howaldtswerke in Hamburg on August 15, 1940 . It was laid down on September 16, 1941. The launch took place on July 18, 1942. On August 26, 1942, it was put into service under the command of Lieutenant Herbert Engel with a crew of 51.
Training and test drives
Until the end of February 1943 it was part of the 5th U-Flotilla in Kiel for training purposes . It was then assigned to the 6th U-Flotilla in Saint-Nazaire as a front boat. On December 10, 1943, Oberleutnant zur See of the Reserve Ernst Wilberg took command. As a tower coat of arms, U 666 had a drawing depicting a falling angel. It also bore the words U-Satan.
Calls
During its missions U 666 was able to sink the British frigate HMS Itchen and torpedo the freighter "Carras" (5,234 GRT). During an air raid on the boat, one aircraft was shot down on May 9, 1943, and a second was damaged two hours later.
Whereabouts
U 666 has been missing since February 10, 1944 under unexplained circumstances. The last known position is west of Ireland in the North Atlantic . For a long time it was assumed that the boat was sunk on the same day by an aircraft belonging to the escort carrier HMS Fencer . Up to that day, U 666 was one of the few submarines that did not suffer a single victim.
literature
- 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 .
- Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Maling's German submarines 1939–1945. 4th edition. Koehler, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-7822-0826-9 .
- Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .
- Martin Middlebrook: Convoy. Submarine hunt for the convoys SC. 122 and HX. 229 (= Ullstein. No. 23534). Unabridged edition. Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1995, ISBN 3-548-23534-4 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Martin Middlebrook: Convoy. Unabridged edition. 1995.