U 802
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U 802 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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 The Olympic rings, crew symbols from Steinhaus and Schmoeckel, were attached to the tower of the boat |
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| Type : | IX C / 40 |
| Field Post Number : | M-52 697 |
| Shipyard: | Seebeck shipyard , Geestemünde |
| Construction contract: | December 7, 1940 |
| Build number: | 711 |
| Keel laying: | December 1, 1941 |
| Launch: | October 31, 1942 |
| Commissioning: | June 12, 1943 |
| Commanders: |
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| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | 4 activities |
| Sinkings: |
1 ship (1,621 GRT) |
| Whereabouts: | Surrendered on May 11, 1945 in Loch Eriboll , Scotland . Transferred to Lisahally and sunk on December 31, 1945 en route to Operation Deadlight . |
U 802 was a German long-range submarine of the class IX C / 40 , which was used in World War II .
History of the boat
The U 802 was commissioned from the Geestemünder Seebeck shipyard on December 7, 1940 as the second boat in the U 801 to U 820 series . The keel laying under the name of Neubau 711 began on December 1, 1941, the launch took place on October 31, 1942 and the commissioning under Lieutenant Rolf Steinhaus took place on June 12, 1943. As a tower emblem, the boat led next to the symbol of the 2nd U-Flotilla (see left) and the Olympic rings also have their own coat of arms: a four-leaf clover, in the middle of which an arrow pierced from the right through a mirror-inverted N or an S rune.
Commanders
- Rolf Steinhaus was born on April 1, 1916 in Hachenburg , Kaiserslautern . He belonged to the so-called Olympic Crew 36 (hence the Olympic rings on the tower of U 802 ) and from March 11, 1940 to April 1941 he was the second officer on watch on the Type VII B boat U 101 under Lieutenant Fritz Frauenheim and Lieutenant Ernst Mengersen . He drove the boat on six patrols on which they could sink 20 ships with a total tonnage of 110,245 GRT. After completing his commanding course with the 24th U-Flotilla , he took over the U 8 school boat from Lieutenant Borcherd for two months . After having been a teacher in the 2nd U-Teaching Division for over two years, he put U 802 into service on June 12, 1943, which he handed over to Helmut Schmoeckel on December 12, 1943.
- Helmut Schmoeckel was born on December 18, 1917 in Berlin . Like Rolf Steinhaus, he was also a member of the Olympic crew. After completing his submarine training, he was from December 1942 1st officer on watch on the Type IX C boat U 504 under Korvettenkapitän Poske . In June 1943 he left it to go to his commanding course with the 24th U-Flotilla. After graduating, he became a commanding student on U 802 , which he took over on December 13, 1943.
Use statistics
1. Company
The boat left the port of Kiel on January 29, 1944 at 8:00 am for the first patrol. It first moved to Kristiansand, where fuel and water were taken over again, and then ran to Stavanger . On the 92 day long patrol, U 802 operated in the North Atlantic and near Newfoundland and succeeded in sinking a ship, the Canadian Watuka with 1,621 GRT. On the march back to Lorient , the new home port of the boat, it was attacked by a British Wellington bomber in the Bay of Biscay , but U 802 escaped. The sinking of Oberleutnant zur See Abels' U 193 was credited to the Wellington bomber for a long time , as this has been missing since April 23, 1944. A snorkel system was then installed at the Kriegsmarine Werft, Lorient.
2. Company
On June 22, 1944, the boat left Lorient at 9:15 p.m. for the second patrol. On this 16-day voyage, the boat operated in the central North Atlantic without making any contact with the enemy. The trip had to be stopped early because of a snorkel damage.
3. Company
U 802 left Lorient for the last time on July 16, 1944 and was at sea for 122 days from there. On the way, the boat operated again in the North Atlantic in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and again in Newfoundland , before entering Bergen on November 12, 1944 for snorkel repairs. Subsequently, U 802 moved via Bergen, Stavanger , Egersund , Flekkefjord , Farsund , Kristiansand and Horten to Flensburg in the shipyard. On this trip, too, no sinking or damage could be achieved.
Relocation trip
After the end of the shipyard layover, the newly repaired U 802 ran on April 8, 1945 from Kiel to Horten and later to Kristiansand, where it was equipped for the next patrol.
4th and last venture
On April 28, 1945 at 9:00 p.m. the boat left Kristiansand for the last time and transferred to Stavanger and Bergen, where some additions were made. Then it left Bergen on May 2nd for the 4th patrol. The North Atlantic with the destination Harbor New York was planned as the area of operation. But because of the surrender order, Loch Eriboll was called, where Lieutenant Schmoeckel capitulated.
Transfer trip
After the surrender, the boat was transferred to Loch Alsh and the port of Londonderry on May 12 , where it awaited its sinking in Operation Deadlight .
Whereabouts
On December 30, 1945, U 802 was selected for scuttling and towed by the British destroyer HMS Pytchley (L.92) . But on the way to the sinking position, the towline to the boat broke, it lost its buoyancy, cut under and sank. It is still in the former naval grid square AM 5377 in position 55 ° 30 ' N , 8 ° 25' W .
Web links
literature
- 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 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Malings German submarines 1939-1945. 5th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , p. 147.