U 767

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U 767
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U-bootVIIc0001.jpg
Graphic of a class VII C submarine
Type : VII C
Field Post Number : M - 52 399
Shipyard: Kriegsmarine shipyard , Wilhelmshaven
Construction contract: August 15, 1940
Build number: 150
Keel laying: April 5, 1941
Launch: July 10, 1943
Commissioning: September 11, 1943
Commanders:

September 11, 1943 to June 18, 1944
Oberleutnant zur See Walter Dankleff

Flotilla:
Calls: 1 patrol
Sinkings:

1 British frigate, 1370 ts

Whereabouts: Sunk on June 18, 1944 in the English Channel southwest of Guernsey (49 dead, 1 prisoner of war)

U 767 was one of the Navy in World War II employed submarine of type VIIC . During its only patrol on June 15, 1944, it sank a British frigate in the English Channel . Shortly thereafter, the submarine was sunk on June 18, 1944 in the English Channel by the three British destroyers Fame , Inconstante and Havelock . 49 of the 50 crew members died; only one survived and was taken prisoner by the British .

Construction and equipment

U 767 had a water displacement of 769 t on the surface and 871 t under water. She was a total of 67.1 m long, 6.2 m wide, 9.6 m high with a 50.5 m long pressure hull and had a draft of 4.74 m. The submarine built in the Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven was powered by two four-stroke F46 diesel engines with 6 cylinders each and a charging fan from the Kiel Germania shipyard with an output of 2060 to 2350 kW, with two electric motors GU 460 / 8-27 from AEG with one underwater operation Power of 550 kW driven. It had two drive shafts with two 1.23 m tall propellers. The boat was suitable for diving to a depth of 230 m.

The submarine reached speeds of up to 17.7 knots on the surface and up to 7.6 knots under water. When surfaced, the ship could travel up to 8,500 nautical miles at 10 knots, and up to 80 nautical miles submerged at 4 knots. U 767 had five 533 mm torpedo tubes - four at the bow and one at the stern - and fourteen torpedoes , an 8.8 cm SK C / 35 cannon with 220 rounds of ammunition, a 3.7 cm FlaK M42 18/36 / 37/43 and two 2 cm FlaK C / 30.

team

The crew strength of the submarine was 44 to 60 men. On his last trip there were 50 men.

Use and end

After its commissioning, U 767 was tested under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Walter Dankleff (1906–1944) from September 11, 1943 and then served as a training boat for the 8th U-Flotilla in Danzig until April 30, 1943 , after which it followed To be convicted of Kiel . It left the port of Kiel on May 9, 1944 and arrived on May 11 to prepare for the first patrol in Kristiansand, Norway . From May 22nd, with a short stop on May 24th in Bergen (Norway) , the boat first sailed into the North Atlantic, but was sent to the Bay of Biscay and then to the English Channel after the Allied invasion of Normandy ( Operation Overlord ) , to fight enemy ships there. When U 767 reached the English Channel on June 15, 1944, it encountered the British frigate Morne (K.261) with 1370 tons, which was sunk with a torpedo at 1:45 p.m. 111 British crew members including the commander Raymond Spurr Holland RD, RNR and seven other officers were killed - including a seaman who later died of his wounds - and only 27 were able to save themselves.

On June 18, 1944, U 767 was discovered southwest of the island of Guernsey by the three British destroyers Fame , Inconstante and Havelock and sunk using Hedgehog grenade launchers. The submarine and all 50 crew members sank 70 m to the sea floor, where it became a grave for 49 of them. , The 19-year-old Lance Corporal Walter Schmietenknop (1925-2012) working as an electrician was able, however, to leave the submarine to ingress of water on the torpedo tube and a Dräger - Tauchretter on his life jacket given to him shortly before a comrade had to get to the surface alive. The destroyer Fame discovered him shortly afterwards and drove up to him, whereupon he was pulled on board. Walter Schmietenknop was the only survivor of U 767 to become a British prisoner of war .

See also

literature

  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. Preface by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rohwer, Member of the Presidium of the International Commission on Military History. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1996, p. 48. ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: Submarine construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1997, pp. 127, 251. ISBN 3-8132-0512-1 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 4: The German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2008, pp. 259f. ISBN 3-8132-0514-5 .
  • Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maas: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 3: Submarines, auxiliary cruisers, mine ships, net layers. Bernhard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7637-4802-4 .
  • Clay Blair : The Submarine War - The Hunted 1942–1945 . Heyne Verlag, 1999. P. 689. ISBN 3-4531-6059-0 .
  • Innes McCartney: Lost Patrols - Submarine Wrecks of the English Channel . Periscope Publishing Ltd., Penzance (Cornwall) 2002. pp. 69f. ISBN 1-904381-04-9 .

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