U 722
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U 722 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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|---|---|
| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 54 762 |
| Shipyard: | HC Stülcken Sohn , Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | August 25, 1941 |
| Build number: | 788 |
| Keel laying: | December 21, 1942 |
| Launch: | September 21, 1943 |
| Commissioning: | December 12, 1943 |
| Commanders: |
Lieutenant to the sea (the reserve) Hans-Heinrich Reimers |
| Flotilla: |
|
| Calls: | 5 patrols |
| Sinkings: |
2 ships |
| Whereabouts: | sunk in the North Atlantic on March 27, 1945 |
U 722 was a German type VII C submarine . It was used by the Kriegsmarine during the U-Boat War in 1944 and 1945 in the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic.
Technical specifications
From the beginning of 1940, the Hamburg shipyard HC Stülcken Sohn produced exclusively for German submarine construction. From 1941 to 1945 24 boats of the type VII C and VII C / 41 were delivered. A VII C-boat had a length of 66.5 m and displaced 760 t of water. Powered by the 3000 hp diesel engine, such a boat made speeds of up to 17 knots over water and had a maximum range of 9500 nautical miles .
Snorkel boat
Like many submarines at that time, U 722 was also equipped with a snorkel that was attached to a foldable mast and allowed a longer underwater journey. Such a snorkel ensured the supply of fresh air and at the same time diverted the toxic exhaust gases from the diesel engines. This made it possible to operate the diesel underwater, which made detection of the boat less likely and increased its possible maximum speed.
Despite these advantages, the snorkel was not popular with the crews. The men feared that the upper float of the snorkel would be clearly visible on the water. Enemy ships could locate the boat while you would be "blind" yourself. It could also be located using radar. When the sea was choppy, the snorkel often came under the water surface, creating a negative pressure in the boat. There have been reports of numerous tears in the eardrum and eye damage. The spreading diesel exhaust gases were apparently only insufficiently discharged even when the snorkel was “free” and often led to dizziness and even fainting.
commander
- December 12, 1943 to March 27, 1945
Hans-Heinrich Reimers was born on October 19, 1916 in Neumünster and joined the Navy in October 1939. From 1941 to 1943 he served as a watch officer on U 454 and then completed the U-boat commanders course with the 24th U-Flotilla. In the summer of 1943 he commanded U 983 and finally took over command of U 722 in December of the same year .
history
U 722 sailed from December 1943 to July 1944 as a training boat and was subordinate to the 31st U-Flotilla. On August 1, 1944, the boat was assigned to the 1st U-Flotilla and was not used until it was disbanded. In autumn of the same year it was finally subordinated to the 11th U-Flotilla .
U 722 as a transport boat
The boat initially operated exclusively in the Baltic Sea and made trips between Horten and Marviken . To supply the German garrison in St. Nazaire , which was surrounded by Allied troops, U 722 , loaded with anti-tank weapons and ammunition, set sail for France on October 16, 1944. The boat reached its destination in late November of the same year, where it took cargo, fuel and four passengers, and reached Bergen at the end of the year .
Fighting
On the transport trip from St. Nazaire to Bergen, U 722 sank an unidentified steamer with an acoustic torpedo in mid-December . The sinking of the ship could not be observed. Although Commander Reimers reported no successes on his last voyage, the sinking of the British ship Inger Toft U 722 is also attributed.
- December 13, 1944 an unidentified cargo steamer sunk
- March 16, 1945 the British steamer Inger Toft with 2190 GRT ( location )
Sinking
U 722 left Drontheim on its last patrol at the end of February . The area around the Hebrides in the North Atlantic was intended as the area of operation . On 27 March 1945 the boat was by depth charges from the British escort destroyer HMS Fitzroy , HMS Redmill and HMS Byron sunk ( location ). All 44 men of the crew were killed.
literature
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .
- 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 .
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