U 801

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U 801
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Type : IX C / 40
Field Post Number : M 51 307
Shipyard: Seebeck shipyard in Geestemünde
Construction contract: December 7, 1940
Keel laying: October 1, 1941
Launch: October 31, 1942
Commissioning: March 24, 1943
Commanders:

Lieutenant Captain Hans-Joachim Brans

Flotilla:
Calls: 2 activities
Sinkings:

no

Whereabouts: sunk in the mid-Atlantic itself on March 17, 1944

U 801 was a German submarine of the type IX C / 40 .

General data

The submarine class IX , officially called Type IX , was a class of seaworthy submarines of the German Navy . Development began in 1935, and the first boats entered service in 1938. In the following years five improved versions of this class were developed and built. There were a total of 243 Type IX boats, most of which were built at Deschimag -Werft AG Weser in Bremen. Of the 141 IX-C and IX-C / 40 boats, 65 were built at the Deutsche Werft in Hamburg. In addition to the submarine class VII , the type IX was the most built submarine type in World War II .

Compared to the Type IX C, the Type IX C / 40 has been enlarged again to achieve an increased range. In addition, the third periscope that had been in the headquarters was removed. From 1940 to 1944 87 boats were built, 41 of them in Hamburg and 46 in Bremen. Originally a larger number of units was ordered, but many deliveries were canceled in favor of the Type XXI .

The following data distinguishes type IX C / 40 from type IX C:

  • Displacement: above water 1144 tons, submerged 1257 tons, total 1545 tons
  • Range: above water 13,850 nm at 10 kn, submerged 63 nm at 4 kn

commander

Commitment and history

U 801 was used from March 24, 1943 to October 31, 1943 as a training boat in the 4th U-Flotilla and from November 1, 1943 as a front boat in the 2nd U-Flotilla.

First operation - November 6, 1943 to January 8, 1944 - Area of ​​operations: North Atlantic, southwestern Biscay

  • November 6, 1943 - left Kiel
  • November 9, 1943 - arrived in Bergen
  • November 13, 1943 - left Bergen
  • January 8, 1944 - arrived in Lorient

Second operation - February 26, 1944 to March 17, 1944 - Area of ​​operation: North Atlantic, southwest of the Azorean Islands

  • February 26, 1944 - Leaked from Lorient
  • March 17, 1944 - Loss of the submarine

Sinking

USS Corry recovering the crew from U 801

Through intercepted and decrypted radio messages, the US Navy learned of the intended meeting of the supply boat U 488 with the torpedo transport boat U 1059 west of the Cape Verde Islands. Although the Admiralty had prohibited attacks on such supply rendezvous, a task force led by the US escort carrier Block Island set out from Casablanca to provide the two German submarines. The first German submarine ordered to meet the U 488 at a meeting point west of the Cape Verde Islands was the U 801 . Scouting aircraft from Block Island , which were looking for the supply submarine based on Ultra information , discovered U 801 instead on March 16. At that moment, U 801 was surfacing to supply fresh air. The planes took the submarine under machine gun fire. One crew member died and the commander was injured but managed to escape with his submarine. Captain Brans had U 801 appear the following night to bury the dead. On the occasion, he arranged a radio meeting for medical care with U 488 , which had a doctor on board. The US task force managed to pinpoint the position of the boat, attack it again and this time badly damage it. U 801 was killed on March 17, 1944 in the mid-Atlantic off the Cape Verde Islands after a two-day chase by ships of US Task Group 21.16 around the US escort aircraft carrier USS Block Island (CVE-21) , the destroyer USS Corry (DD-463) and the destroyer escort USS Bronstein (DE-189) forced to surface by depth charges and then put under gunfire. While trying to leave the boat, the commander and the head mate were shot. The chief engineer took command and initiated the self-sinking. The submarine was sunk by the crew themselves at position 16 ° 42 '  N , 30 ° 28'  W. Forty-seven crew members were fished out of the water by the USS Corry and the USS Bronstein and taken aboard Block Island as prisoners of war .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 . Page 36.
  2. ↑ This "Block Island Group" had already sunk the U 603 and U 709 .
  3. ^ Bernard Ireland: Battle of the Atlantic. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland 2003, ISBN 1-59114-032-3 , 196.
  4. ↑ Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. 1999, pp. 628-629.
  5. ^ Reports of the US armed forces about the sinking of U 801 , u. a. from March 31, 1944, uboatarchive.net ( Memento from June 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive )