U 862

U 862 ( previous / next - all submarines )
Type :	IX D2
Field Post Number :	52 685
Shipyard:	AG Weser , Bremen
Construction contract:	June 5, 1941
Build number:	1068
Keel laying:	August 15, 1942
Launch:	June 8, 1943
Commissioning:	October 7, 1943
Commanders:	October 7, 1943 - May 5, 1945 Lieutenant Heinrich Timm
Flotilla:	October 7, 1943 - April 30, 1944 4th U-Flotilla training boat May 1, 1944 - September 30, 1944 12th U-Flotilla front boat October 1, 1944 - May 6, 1945 33rd U-Flotilla front boat
Calls:	2 activities
Sinkings:	7 ships (42,374 GRT)
Whereabouts:	handed over to Japan on May 5, 1945

U 862 was a German submarine of the type IX D2 , which was used in the Second World War by the Kriegsmarine . It was the only German submarine that sank a ship in the Pacific Ocean .

history

The U 862 , put into service by Lieutenant Heinrich Timm on October 7, 1943 , was initially assigned to the 4th U-Flotilla in Stettin as a training boat for training the crew . On October 1st, U 862 switched to the 12th U-Flotilla in Bordeaux as a front boat . All submarines intended for use in the Indian Ocean were gathered in this. After U 862 had reached Penang in Malaysia , it joined the 33rd U-Flotilla stationed there.

First patrol

On June 3, 1944, U 862 set sail from Bordeaux and reached Penang on September 3. On this patrol it sank five ships with 28,018 GRT and shot down a PBY Catalina .

Second patrol

On November 18, 1944, U 862 began its second patrol. After a stopover in Batavia , it sailed into Australian waters. There Kptlt. Timm drove along the Australian west coast until he reached the Great Australian Bight in the south of the continent. Then he circumnavigated Tasmania on the south side and then drove north to Sydney . From there, U 862 crossed over to New Zealand and drove south on the east coast. It reached Penang again on February 15, 1945. On this patrol, it sank two ships with 14,356 GRT. The Robert J. Walker, sunk off the southern coast of New South Wales on December 24, 1944, and Peter Silvester , also sunk in the Tasman Sea on February 6, 1945, were the only Allied ships that were in the Pacific Ocean by a German submarine were sunk.

Whereabouts

After the German surrender on May 8, 1945, the Japanese Navy took over the boat and put it into service as I-502. After the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945, it became the spoils of war by the Allies, who sank it in the Strait of Malacca on February 13, 1946 ( Lage ).

Sinkings

date	Ship name	flag	GRT	dead	Cargo and passengers	position
July 25, 1944	Robin Goodfellow	United States	6885	68	8602 tons of chrome	location
August 13, 1944	Radbury	United Kingdom	3614	23	4,000-5,000 tons of coal	location
August 16, 1944	Empire Lancer	United Kingdom	7037	42		location
August 18, 1944	Nairung	United Kingdom	5414	92		location
August 19, 1944	Wayfarer	United Kingdom	5068	51		location
December 24, 1944	Robert J. Walker	United States	7180	2	ballast	location
February 6, 1945	Peter New Years Eve	United States	7176	33	2700 t US Army equipment 317 mules 107 soldiers	location

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 , p. 748.
2. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, August 1944 , accessed on April 12, 2014.

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