U 85 (Navy)

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U 85 (Kriegsmarine)
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Type : VII B
Field Post Number : M 40 935
Shipyard: Flender-Werke , Lübeck
Construction contract: June 9, 1938
Build number: 281
Keel laying: December 18, 1939
Launch: April 10, 1941
Commissioning: June 7, 1941
Commanders:

June 7, 1941 - April 14, 1942
First Lieutenant for the Sea Eberhard Greger

Calls: 4 activities
Sinkings:

3 ships (15,060 GRT, 45 dead)

Whereabouts: sunk on April 14, 1942 near Cape Hatteras (45 dead, no survivors)

U 85 was a German submarine of type VII B , which in World War II by the German navy was used. It sank 3 ships with 15,060 GRT, whereby 45 people died. On April 14, 1942, with a crew of 45 men, it wassunkby the US destroyer USS Roper near Cape Hatteras and around 40 of its men were initially pelted with depth charges in the water next to the already sinking submarine, which may have already killed everyone, and then left to yourself. When all the men from U 85 were deadthe next day, although most of them were wearing life jackets, the Roper collected and searched29 bodies. The evaluation of the killing of the occupation as a war crime is controversial.

history

The order for the boat was placed on June 9, 1938 by the Flender works in Lübeck . The keel was laid on December 18, 1939, the launch on April 10, 1941, the commissioning under Oberleutnant zur See Eberhard Greger finally took place on June 7, 1941.

After its commissioning on June 7, 1941, until its sinking on April 14, 1942, the boat belonged to the 3rd U-Flotilla in Kiel and La Pallice / La Rochelle as a training and front boat .

Use statistics

During his service, Commander Greger led U 85 on four operations, on which he sank three ships with a total tonnage of 15,060  GRT .

First venture

The boat was on August 28, 1941 at 10:00 am from Trondheim , and on 18 September 1941 at 14:34 to St. Nazaire one. U 85 belonged to the “Margrave” group. A ship with 4,748 GRT was sunk on this 22-day and approx. 4,750 nm above and 125 nm underwater expedition in the North Atlantic southwest of Iceland .

  • September 10, 1941: sinking of the British steamer Thistleglen ( Lage ) with 4,748 GRT. The steamer was sunk by a torpedo , in which 3 men died and 46 were rescued. He had loaded 5,200 tons of steel and 2,400 tons of pig iron and was on the way from New York via Sydney to Glasgow . The ship belonged to convoy SC-42 with 65 ships.

Second venture

The boat left St. Nazaire on October 11, 1941 at 6:00 p.m. and entered Lorient on November 27, 1941 . U 85 had to return to St. Nazaire on October 13, 1941 due to problems with a cooling water valve and left there on October 16, 1941. The boat belonged to the group "Schlagetot" and "Störtebecker". No ships were sunk or damaged on this 45-day venture into the North Atlantic southeast of Greenland and Newfoundland .

Third company

The boat left Lorient on January 8, 1942 at 6:30 p.m. and entered St. Nazaire on February 23, 1942. On this 44-day and approx. 6,000 nm over and 406 nm underwater expedition in the West Atlantic to the Newfoundland Bank and off Nova Scotia , a ship with 5,408 GRT was sunk.

  • February 9, 1942: sinking of the British steamer Empire Fusilier with 5,408 GRT. The steamer was sunk by a torpedo. He was ballasted and on his way from Tyne to Tampa . The ship belonged to the disbanded convoy ON-60 with 45 ships. There were nine dead and 38 survivors.

Fourth venture

The boat left St. Nazaire on March 21, 1942 at 7:10 p.m. and was sunk on April 14, 1942. A ship with 4,904 GRT was sunk on this 24-day expedition to the west Atlantic and the east coast of the USA .

  • April 10, 1942: sinking of the Norwegian motor ship Chr. Knudsen with 4,904 GRT. The ship was sunk by a torpedo. It had general cargo loaded and was on its way from New York to Alexandria . It was a total loss with 33 dead.

Whereabouts

Burial of the fallen

On April 14, 1942, U 85 off the east coast of the USA at Cape Hatteras by artillery of the US destroyer USS Roper in position 35 ° 55 '  N , 75 ° 13'  W sunk. It was the first submarine to be lost at the Paukenschlag company . The Roper , which had a radar device, discovered U 85 on April 18 from a distance of 2.5 km. When the destroyer approached, the German submarine was in about 30 m deep water, so Commander Greger decided to pick up speed, probably to shake off the enemy and escape into deeper waters. At that time, Karl Dönitz and his submarine commanders still assumed that  no radar devices could be installed on ships of small size - such as the Roper . The maximum speed of a type VII B boat was about 14 knots when traveling over water, the Roper soon overtook the submarine with her 20 knots. After a fired stern torpedo missed the enemy ship, Commander Greger decided to turn around and sink the U 85 himself. The German submarine lost speed and was caught by the searchlight of the Roper , which began artillery fire from a short distance while the crew of U 85 jumped into the water. By the fire of Roper was U 85 severely damaged, but a lot of the crew - about 40 man - made it out. The USS Roper continued the attack, drove into the swimming German sailors and threw a volley of eleven depth charges at the already sinking submarine. Then the Roper moved away from the sinking site.

The next day, the wreck site was marked by aircraft and the bodies of 29 crew members were taken on board the returned Roper , which threw further depth charges. The recovered bodies were searched for information, and they were later interred with military honors at Hampton National Cemetery in Hampton, Virginia . The former submarine commander of U 802 and author Helmut Schmoeckel takes the view that this is a war crime and draws a comparison with the trial against the submarine commander Eck , which was carried out by the Allies because of the shelling of shipwrecked people was executed. The American author Bernard Ireland describes the actions of the crew of the Roper as "revenge-led", "undisciplined", but rates it as "understandable". The American destroyer had sighted several wrecks and numerous corpses on a two-week patrol that could be traced back to submarine attacks. In addition, a number of seamen, some seriously wounded, had been taken on board who had escaped from the sinking ships. The day before U 85 was sunk , the Roper had rescued survivors of the City of New York from distress. The ship, which had 47 passengers on board, was sunk on March 29 by Georg Lassen , the commander of U 160 .

U 85 did not lose any crew members during its service life before the sinking.

See also

literature

  • Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X .
  • Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 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 and Son, Hamburg a. a. 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 and Son, Hamburg a. a. 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 4: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1999, ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 5: The knight's cross bearers of the submarine weapon from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 2003, ISBN 3-8132-0515-0 .
  • Erich Gröner : Die Handelsflotten der Welt 1942 and supplement 1944. JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-469-00552-4 (reprint of the 1942–1943 edition).
  • Erich Gröner: Search list for ship names (= The merchant fleets of the world. Supplementary volume). JF Lehmanns Verlag Munich 1976, ISBN 3-469-00553-2 (reprint of the 1943 edition).
  • Axel Herbschleb: From cabin boy to submarine commander. Captain Karl-Heinz Herbschleb. A biography in words and pictures. Flechsig, Würzburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-88189-778-5 .
  • Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Photos of the wreck. Mirror online
  2. ↑ Clay Blair: The Submarine War. Volume One: The Hunters 1939–1942. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1998, page 633-page 634
  3. ↑ Photo of the graves. Mirror online
  4. ↑ Helmut Schmoeckel: German shipwrecked people are killed by the US destroyer ROPER after the sinking of "U 85" on April 18, 1942. In: Franz W. Seidler , Alfred M. de Zayas (ed.): War crimes in Europe and the Middle East in the 20th century. Mittler, Hamburg a. a. 2002, ISBN 3-8132-0702-1 , p. 181.
  5. ↑ in the original: “ vengeful ”, “ undisciplined ”, “ understandable ”
  6. ^ Bernard Ireland: Battle of the Atlantic. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis Maryland 2003, ISBN 1-59114-032-3 , page 83-page 84