U 70 (Navy)

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U 70 (Kriegsmarine)
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Type : VII C
Field Post Number : M 17 952
Shipyard: Germania shipyard , Kiel
Construction contract: May 30, 1938
Build number: 604
Keel laying: December 19, 1939
Launch: October 12, 1940
Commissioning: November 23, 1940
Commanders:

November 23, 1940 - March 7, 1941
Lieutenant Joachim Matz

Calls: 1 company
Sinkings:

no

Whereabouts: Sunk on March 7, 1941 southeast of Iceland

U 70 was a German submarine of type VII C , which in World War II by the German navy was used.

history

The order for the boat was awarded to the Germania shipyard in Kiel on May 30, 1938 . The keel was laid on December 19, 1939, the launch on October 12, 1940. The commissioning under Lieutenant Joachim Matz finally took place on November 23, 1940.

Joachim Matz, who was born in Magdeburg on October 1, 1913 , joined what was then the Reichsmarine in 1932 . He served as an officer on watch on U 30 and U 14 before he took over command of U 6 in December 1938 . Although the U 6 was a school boat for officer training, Matz completed an undertaking with this boat at the beginning of the war. In the summer of the following year, Matz commanded U 59 on five operations until he took command of U 70 in autumn .

After its commissioning on November 23, 1940, until its sinking on March 7, 1941, the boat belonged to the 7th U-Flotilla in Kiel as a training and front boat . The tower's coat of arms was the drawing of an iron fist with the addition "Götz von Berlichingen".

Commander Joachim Matz led U 70 during his service time on an enterprise on which he damaged three ships with a total tonnage of 20,484  GRT .

Use statistics

U 70 left Kiel on February 20, 1941. The next day the boat entered Heligoland , before leaving there on February 22, 1941 for its only enemy mission. On March 7, 1941, it was sunk in the North Atlantic . On this 15-day expedition, Commander Matz damaged three ships of 20,484 GRT.

  • March 7, 1941: Damage to the British steamer Athelbach with 6,568 GRT. The steamer was damaged by a torpedo. The ship belonged to convoy OB-293.
  • March 7, 1941: Damage to the British steamer Delilian with 6,423 GRT. The steamer was damaged by a torpedo. He had general cargo and was on his way from Glasgow to Saint John . It could still run into Glasgow and was repaired there. The ship belonged to convoy OB-293.
  • March 7, 1941: Damage to the Dutch tanker Mijdrecht with 7,493 GRT. The tanker was damaged by a torpedo. He was ballasted and on his way from Grangemouth to Trinidad . The ship belonged to convoy OB-293.

Whereabouts

In the spring of 1941, U 70 was part of a submarine group that attacked the Allied convoy OB 293 according to the pack tactics developed by Karl Dönitz . On March 7, 1941, U 70 was discovered southeast of Iceland by the crew of a Dutch tanker traveling in a convoy . The tanker was heading for the submerged submarine and severely damaged the U 70 when it overflowed to periscope depth. U 70 was then additionally damaged by depth charges from the British Flower-class corvettes HMS Camelia and HMS Arbutus . The German submarine was attacked with over 50 depth charges, ultimately ran full of water, could no longer be controlled by the crew and sank to a depth of 200 m. In this situation, Commander Matz decided to let U 70 emerge in an uncontrolled manner by introducing the remaining compressed air into the diving cells and to evacuate the boat. The maneuver of the German boat had been observed from aboard the Arbutus , and the British corvette was aiming to carry out a ram thrust under artillery fire at U 70 . However, the HMS Arbutus stopped the attack when it was noticed that the German crew jumped into the water. The corvette then launched lifeboats. U 70 sank at position 60 ° 15 ′  N , 14 ° 0 ′  W in marine grid square AM 1193.

20 crew members were killed in the attacks on U 70 , 25 crew members were rescued by HMS Arbutus , including the commander Kapitänleutnant Joachim Matz. U 70 did not lose any crew members during its service life before the sinking.

literature

  • Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X .
  • Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .
  • Robert M. Browning Jr .: US Merchant Vessel War casualties of World War II. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD 1996, ISBN 1-55750-087-8 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
  • 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 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine 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 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 5: The knight's cross bearers of the submarine weapon from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg et al. 2003, ISBN 3-8132-0515-0 .
  • Erich Gröner : Die Handelsflotten der Welt 1942 and supplement 1944. JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-469-00552-4 (reprint of the 1942–1943 edition).
  • Erich Gröner: Search list for ship names (= The merchant fleets of the world. Supplementary volume). JF Lehmanns Verlag Munich 1976, ISBN 3-469-00553-2 (reprint of the 1943 edition).
  • Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Maling's German submarines 1939–1945. 4th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 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 .

See also

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ 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 156
  2. ^ Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Malings German submarines 1939-1945. 5th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , page 50
  3. ^ Bernard Ireland: The Battle of the Atlantic. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2003, ISBN 1-59114-032-3 , p
  4. ↑ Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, page 305

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