U 764
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U 764 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 51 834 |
| Shipyard: | Kriegsmarine shipyard Wilhelmshaven |
| Construction contract: | August 15, 1940 |
| Build number: | 147 |
| Keel laying: | February 1, 1941 |
| Launch: | March 13, 1943 |
| Commissioning: | May 6, 1943 |
| Commanders: |
Captain Hans-Kurt von Bremen |
| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | 9 patrols |
| Sinkings: |
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| Whereabouts: | capitulated in Loch Eriboll on May 14, 1945 |
U 764 was a German submarine of the type VII C , a so-called "Atlantic boat ". It was used by the Kriegsmarine during the submarine war .
Technical specifications
Although the Kriegsmarinewerft was traditionally primarily responsible for equipping and repairing warships , it had also been involved in the submarine building program since the beginning of the war. From 1942 the completion of 12 submarines per year was planned. This scope could never be reached. The Kriegsmarinewerft delivered a total of 27 submarines by 1944, all of the Type VII C. U 764 was part of the second construction contract awarded to this shipyard. It was one of nine VII C-boats that could be completed in Wilhelmshaven in 1943. A VII C-boat had a length of 67 m and a displacement of 865 m³ under water. It had two diesel engines that enabled a speed of 17 knots over water . During the underwater journey, two electric motors propelled the boat to a speed of 7 knots. The armament consisted of a 8.8 cm cannon and a 2.0 cm flak on deck, as well as four bow torpedo tubes and a stern torpedo tube until 1944 . Usually a VII C-boat carried 14 torpedoes with it. U 764 was equipped with a snorkel. This is a ventilation hose that is attached to a fold-out mast and has a float at the top. The snorkel ensures the removal of the diesel gases so that a snorkel boat can use the diesel engines underwater. At the same time, the fresh air supply enables longer underwater journeys.
commander
- May 6, 1943 - May 14, 1945
Hans-Kurt von Bremen was born on August 11, 1918 in Goslar and joined the Navy in 1938 . He was a member of Crew 38 as an officer candidate . Until spring 1941 he served as an officer on watch with the 12th minesweeping flotilla ; then completed his submarine training. In July 1941, Leutnant zur See von Bremen was briefly employed in the operational staff of the BdU until he was ordered to Hamburg for building instruction regarding U 598 . On this boat, which was put into service in November under Oberleutnant zur See Gottfried Holtorf, Hans-Kurt von Bremen sailed as 1st WO until March 1943. On April 1, 1943, Hans-Kurt von Bremen was promoted to lieutenant captain. In May of the same year he took part in the building instruction for U 764 , which he put into service as commander on May 6th.
Commitment and history
When it was commissioned, U 764 was initially subordinate to the 8th U-Flotilla. The first patrol that led the boat to an operational area near Newfoundland and the Spanish coast ended in Brest , where U 764 was subordinated to the 9th U-Flotilla stationed there , with which it remained until September 1944. In October the boat moved to Bergen , where it was subordinate to the 11th U-Flotilla until the end of the war .
Fighting
On the first patrol trip - at the same time the transfer trip to Brest - U 764 was assigned to the Weddigen submarine group , which comprised a total of 15 boats. At the end of November, the Weddigen group attacked the combined convoys MKS 31 and SL 140. U 764 shot an acoustically controlled T-5 torpedo at a destroyer. After a detonation that could be assigned to this torpedo, sinking noises could be heard, which the Commander of Bremen interpreted as a success.
- November 28, 1943 an unidentified destroyer reported sunk, to this day unconfirmed
In the spring of 1944, U 764 operated from Brest, for example off Northern Ireland, and attempted a deep dive in the Bay of Biscay . As part of the Igel submarine group , it was possible on February 3rd to track down convoy ON 222 from Bremen, which consisted of 51 merchant ships. But he left the report and withdrew from the convoy without making an attack. On June 6, U 764 ran into the English Channel from Bremen with six other boats to repel Operation Overlord , and an enemy warship was torpedoed.
Although the BdU clearly ordered the operation "... even at the risk of losing your own boat ..." , the boat returned from Bremen to Brest on August 6th, undamaged except for a break in the snorkel. From there, U 764 ran out to be transferred to Norway and again attacked Allied ships on the way .
- 20 August 1944 British cargo ship, Coral with 638 GRT sunk ( Lage )
- 25 August 1944 landing ship LCT-1074 sunk ( location )
From Bergen, where the boat arrived on Christmas 1944, U 764 went on four more patrols, but could not achieve any further sinkings.
Surrender and sinking
On April 26, 1945 U 764 ran out for the eighth patrol. The English sea area was intended as the operational area. Captain von Bremen surrendered on May 14, 1945 in the Scottish fjord Loch Eriboll . U 764 was sunk by artillery fire north of Ireland as part of Operation Deadlight on January 3, 1946 .
literature
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X .
- 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 .
- Harald Fock: Fleet Chronicle. The active warships involved in the two world wars and their whereabouts. A compilation. Revised and expanded version 2000. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-7822-0788-2 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. 2001, p. 299.
- ↑ Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 , p. 533.
- ^ Herbert A. Werner: The iron coffins. Foreword by Hans Hellmut Kirst . Hoffmann et al. Campe, Hamburg 1970, ISBN 3-455-08150-9 .
- ↑ Harald Fock: Fleet Chronicle. 2000, p. 169.
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