U 736
|
U 736 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
|
|---|---|
| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 49 866 |
| Shipyard: | F. Schichau shipyard , Danzig |
| Construction contract: | April 10, 1941 |
| Build number: | 1533 |
| Keel laying: | November 29, 1941 |
| Launch: | October 31, 1942 |
| Commissioning: | January 16, 1943 |
| Commanders: |
Oberleutnant zur See (the reserve) Reinhard Reff |
| Flotilla: |
|
| Calls: | 3 patrols |
| Sinkings: |
no |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk in the English Channel in August 1944 |
U 736 was a German type VII C submarine . It was used by the Navy during the U-Boat War in 1943 and 1944 in the Baltic Sea and for weather monitoring in the North Atlantic.
Technical specifications
The F. Schichau shipyard was only included in the war armaments after the occupation of Poland and built a total of 62 VII-C boats from 1941 to 1944 of the series commissioned in June 1941 (so-called "Atlantic boats"), which comprised a total of six other boats. A VII-C boat was 66.5 m long and displaced 760 t of water. Powered by the 3000 hp diesel engine, it made speeds of up to 17 knots and had a maximum range of 9500 nautical miles .
Snorkel boat
In the course of a shipyard layover at the beginning of August 1944, U 736 was equipped with a snorkel that was attached to a foldable mast and enabled longer underwater travel. The snorkel ensured the fresh air supply and at the same time discharged the toxic exhaust gases from the diesel engines. The snorkel of U 736 , however, worked incorrectly, which ultimately led to the loss of the boat.
commander
- January 16, 1943 to August 6, 1944
Reinhard Reff was born on September 7, 1913 in Wollin , Pomerania , and joined the Navy in 1937 . In 1941 and 1942 he served as an officer on watch on U 453 and then completed the commanding course for the 24th U-Flotilla. At the beginning of 1943, Oberleutnant zur See Reff was given command of U 736 , which he held until his capture after the boat was sunk.
history
U 736 was initially assigned to the 8th U-Flotilla in Gdansk as a training boat. In the spring of 1944, Commander Reff made the first trip from Kiel to Stavanger . At the beginning of April, U 736 was assigned to the 1st U-Flotilla and in the same month transferred to Lorient , where it arrived at the end of May. On this voyage the boat operated between Ireland and Newfoundland and made weather observations.
Fighting
In May 1944 U 736 sighted a destroyer, Commander Reff decided to fire with an acoustically controlled torpedo . Two minutes later, the "listener" heard the typical sinking noises. The sinking of the ship could not be observed. The sinking could not be confirmed after the war.
In May 1944, the submarine group Dragoons undertook test drives in the English Channel to prepare for use as a front boat. U 736 crossed Dragoon's course on its way towards Brest , where it was supposed to join the U-Gruppe Farmer , which had been formed to repel Operation Neptune . It was discovered by the patrolling planes of the British and badly damaged with depth charges. U 736 reached Brest, but was not able to join the U-Gruppe Farmer due to the now necessary docking time .
Sinking
U 736 was fitted with a modern snorkel during the repair work at the Brest shipyard. The newly installed system worked incorrectly, however, so that shortly after leaving Brest, Commander Reff had to order an emergence to vent the interior of the boat, in which toxic diesel exhaust had accumulated. Although the boat was on snorkel depth, it was of two ships of the British 2 nd Escort Group (2nd Escort Group), HMS Loch Killin and HMS Starling discovered and pelted with water balloons. After an unsuccessful attempt at defense with two torpedoes - one got stuck in the tube and another failed - Commander Reff finally decided to give up the boat and ordered the disembarkation ( location ). In addition to the commander and chief engineer, only 17 other men, who were rescued by the Starling and were taken prisoner by the British , succeeded in trying to save themselves against the incoming water masses through the tower hatch .
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 .
Map with all coordinates: