U 667

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
U 667
( previous / next - all submarines )
Type : VII C
Shipyard: Howaldtswerke AG , Hamburg
Keel laying: August 16, 1941
Launch: August 29, 1942
Commissioning: October 21, 1942
Commanders:
Calls: 5 activities
Sinkings:
  • 1 merchant ship (7176 GRT)
  • 2 warships (2578 t)
Whereabouts: Sunk at La Rochelle on August 25, 1944

U 667 was a German type VII C submarine ofthe former Navy in World War II .

Construction and commissioning

It was laid on August 16, 1941 at the Howaldtswerke in Hamburg . It was launched on August 29, 1942, and on October 21, 1942, it was put into service under the command of Lieutenant Heinrich Andreas Schroeteler . Like most German submarines of its time, U 667 also had a boat-specific sign on the tower. Since the first commandant came from Gerthe , a district of Bochum , two crossed miner's hammers were chosen, with the miner's motto " Glückauf " underneath .

Commitment and history

Until May 31, 1943 U 667 belonged to the 5th U-Flotilla in Kiel for training purposes . Then it was assigned to the 7th U-Flotilla in St. Nazaire as a front boat. U 667 was the first German submarine equipped with a snorkel to be used in the Atlantic. Schroeteler's positive assessment of this otherwise often criticized innovation was spread by Karl Dönitz as a counter-argument in the submarine weapon.

First venture

On his first patrol in this boat, Schroeteler left Kiel on May 20, 1943 and returned to St. Nazaire on July 26. He achieved no success in sinking, but U 667 was attacked twice by Allied aircraft.

Second venture

After a two-day voyage in mid-September 1943, the second operation followed from September 18 to October 10, 1943. On this voyage, U 667 was repeatedly attacked by air forces stationed there while attempting to cross the Strait of Gibraltar . A. British bombers of type Vickers Wellington was attacked.

Third and fourth company and change of commanders

The two following ventures (November 18, 1943 - January 6, 1944 and March 8, 1944 - May 19, 1944) were unsuccessful. Commander Schroeteler reported that he had successfully attacked a destroyer on April 16 - but no sinking could be confirmed. Following the attack, the boat was followed for twelve hours by a coordinated submarine hunting group, because the warship that Schroeteler had attacked belonged to a "hunter killer group" that specialized in submarine hunting. U 667 managed to escape using the snorkel. On July 10, 1944 there was a change in command and Lieutenant Karl-Heinz Lange took over the boat. Schroeteler replaced Adalbert Schnee as first staff officer in the submarine tour in Berlin and married the daughter of Vice Admiral Ralf von der Marwitz . He later took command of U 1023 .

Fifth venture

For its fifth and last venture, U 667 left St. Nazaire on July 22, 1944. During an attack on convoy EBC-66, Commander Lange sank the Canadian corvette Regina (925 ts ) and the US freighter Ezra Weston (7,176 GRT) at position 50 ° 42 ′  N , 5 ° 3 ′  W on August 8 . An attack on convoy EBC 72 followed on August 14 , during which U 667 attacked several ships. Lange reported that he had sunk two tankers or cargo ships with a total of 8,000 GRT. In fact, he had at the position 51 ° 5 '  N , 4 ° 47'  W , the British infantry - landing craft -99 LCI (L) (246 ts) sunk and the US armored -Landungsfahrzeug LST-921 (1653 ts) so hard damaged that it later sank. On August 16, the chief of the submarine command, Eberhard Godt , ordered a call to one of the northern French bases. With the confirmation, Lange radioed that he had sunk a destroyer and merchant ships with a total of 15,000 GRT. This was the last message from U 667 .

Loss of the boat

Just before arriving in the port of La Rochelle broke on 25 August 1944, 46 ° 0 '  N , 1 ° 30'  W contact with U 667 from. The escort ships that were supposed to escort the boat into port the following day found no trace. There were no survivors. Since there were no Allied attacks in this sea area at the time in question, it was assumed that the boat had fallen victim to the “Cinnamon” mine field, which was laid out of the air by British aircraft. This was confirmed in 1973 when French divers in the area in question at position 46 ° 6 ′  N , 1 ° 36 ′  W found a submarine wreck with severe damage to the bow , which is typical for a mine hit Probability is U 667 . The only other German submarine that sank in this sea area, U 263 (on January 20, 1944) could be ruled out by analyzing the damage.

See also

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 .
  • Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Malings German submarines 1939-1945. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, page 136.
  2. ^ A b Clay Blair: The Submarine War 1942-1945. Volume 2: The Hunted. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 , page 778.
  3. ^ Clay Blair: The Submarine War 1942-1945. Volume 2: The Hunted. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 , p. 706.
  4. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 4: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1999, ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 . Page 183