U 956
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U 956 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 49 622 |
| Shipyard: | Blohm & Voss , Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | April 10, 1941 |
| Build number: | 156 |
| Keel laying: | February 20, 1942 |
| Launch: | November 14, 1942 |
| Commissioning: | January 6, 1943 |
| Commanders: |
Lieutenant Captain Hans-Dieter Mohs |
| Calls: | 13 activities |
| Sinkings: |
two ships sunk (8,366 GRT ) |
| Whereabouts: | capitulated off the Scottish coast on May 13, 1945, then sunk as part of Operation Deadlight . |
U 956 was a German type VII C submarine, a so-called "Atlanticboat", which was used by the German navy during the submarine war in World War II in the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean .
Technical specifications
A VII C-boat was driven by two 1400 HP strong diesel engines and reached a speed of 17 knots . Under water, a submarine could make a speed of 7.6 kn with the help of two electric motors with 375 HP each. However, the power of the batteries only allowed this top speed for underwater travel for an hour. At a lower speed, the boat could theoretically travel underwater for up to three days.
As a VII C-boat, U 956 also had a water displacement of 769 t on the surface and 871 t under water. It 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 Hamburg shipyard Blohm & Voss , 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 for underwater operation driven with an output of 550 kW. It had two drive shafts with two 1.23 m tall propellers. The boat was suitable for diving to a depth of 230 m.
Like most German submarines of its time, the U 956 had a boat-specific symbol on the tower : a skull with a raven perched on it.
U 956 was with five 53.3 cm 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, and a 3.7 cm anti -aircraft gun M42 18/36/37/43 and two 2 cm FlaK C / 30.
Commitment and history
From January 7, 1943 to June 30, 1943, U 956 was part of the 5th U-Flotilla as a training boat and was stationed in Kiel . On July 1, 1943 it came to the 1st U-Flotilla as a front boat , where it remained until December 31. At the beginning of 1944 the boat switched to the 11th U-Flotilla and on October 1 finally to the 13th U-Flotilla , where it remained until the end of the war.
First missions
U 956 completed a total of nine operations from October 1943 to September 1944 and was temporarily assigned to the submarine groups Monsun , Isegrim , Werwolf , Blitz , Trutz and Dachs during these missions .
Butt
At the beginning of September 1944, several boats were sent to the Barents Sea as the Grim submarine group in a coordinated action in order to make it difficult to put together the northern sea convoys in this region through mines. U 956 laid out a mine barrier in front of Beluschja Guba . The lock was given the cover name "Butt". At the same time, other submarines of the group laid such mine barriers. U 992 moved the “Sprotte” barrier near Kolgujew Island, U 968 set up the “Salmon” barrier off Cape Kanin and U 636 laid the “Forelle” barrier.
Last missions
From October 15 to November 24, 1944, U 956 completed another operation, in the course of which it was assigned to the U-boat group Panther .
From December 11th, the boat started another operation from Narvik . During this mission U 956 was assigned to the Stier submarine group on December 30th . On the same day, Commander Mohs sank the freighter Tbilisi (7,176 GRT ) sailing under the Soviet flag as part of the convoy KP-24 . After belonging to the group bull for U 956 had ended on January 8, 1945 Mohs was on January 16, also the Soviet freighter Dejatelnyi (1190 BRT) from the convoy KB-1 sink. The venture ended on January 20th in Narvik.
On April 2, 1945 U 956 ran from Trondheim on its last patrol.
Whereabouts of the boat
On May 13, 1945, Commander Mohs surrendered to the British forces in Loch Eriboll . The boat was first transferred to Londonderry Harbor and then to Loch Ryan that same month . From here, U 956 was towed into position on December 15 for target exercises as part of Operation Deadlight . While towed by HMS Prosperous, the boat sank on December 17th due to ship artillery fire.
literature
- 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
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 , Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1996, ISBN 3-86070-036-7 . Page 196
- ^ Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Malings German submarines 1939-1945. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, page 156.
- ↑ Eckard Wetzel: "U-Boats before Murmansk" , 4th edition, Ullstein Edition Maritim, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-548-26810-1 , p. 129
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 4: The German submarine losses. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1999, ISBN 3-8132-0509-6 , page 385
Web links
- U 956 CV of the boat on: uboat.net , a detailed site about German submarines, their commanders and their allied opponents (in English).
Map with all coordinates: