U 964

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U 964
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Type : VII C
Field Post Number : 50 718
Shipyard: Blohm & Voss , Hamburg
Construction contract: June 5, 1941
Build number: 164
Keel laying: April 20, 1942
Launch: December 30, 1942
Commissioning: February 18, 1943
Commanders:

Emmo Hummerjohann

Calls: 1 company
Sinkings:

no depressions

Whereabouts: Sunk by an air raid on October 16, 1943 southwest of Iceland

U 964 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 .

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 964 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.

U 964 had 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.

commander

Emmo Hummerjohann was born on April 15, 1916 in Mellendorf ( Sagan district ) and joined the Navy in 1937 . He was promoted to lieutenant at sea on September 1, 1941. Hummerjohann completed his submarine training in the spring of 1942 and then went to the U 205 as an officer on watch . After completing his commanders training course, Hummerjohann took command of the U 964 in spring 1943 .

Commitment and history

From February 18 to September 30, 1943, U 964 served as a training boat with the 5th U-Flotilla . On October 1, 1943, the boat was subordinated to the 6th U-Flotilla as a front boat. Commander Hummerjohann left Kiel with U 964 on September 30th and reached Bergen on October 4th. From here, U 964 set out on the following day in the direction of the intended area of ​​operations, the waters around Iceland .

After eleven days at sea, the boat was still in the range of Allied aircraft, when it received the command, the submarine group Schlieffen to join and together with U 470 and U 844 the convoy ON 206 in Wolf Packs attack. The submarine group consisted of 14 submarines waiting south of Iceland for the convoys returning to North America. The convoy was, however, far south of the boats in the area of ​​the west approach northwest of the British Isles and could only be reached by means of the faster surface voyage. As a result, the submarines began the overwater march southwards, which was continued on October 16 during the daylight phase. Günther Möller, commander of U 844 , discovered allied ships on October 15th that were secured by strong escorts.The two convoys ONS 20 and ON 206 together consisted of over a hundred ships, which were secured by twenty-one warships, including four destroyers . In addition, a significant number of aircraft were in use.

Sinking

On the evening of October 16, U 964 was discovered by a Consolidated B-24 of the 86th Squadron of the Royal Air Force . The pilot of the bomber, a so-called "Liberator", attacked the submarine despite massive anti-aircraft fire and dropped four depth charges . With regard to the use of the U-Bootgruppe Schlieffen , the submarine command had ordered not to submerge in such situations, but to defend the submarine with artillery, which was considered more promising than an alarm dive under depth charges. Faced with vigorous defensive fire, the British pilot steered the B-24 out of range of the submarine artillery, began circling, and requested assistance to launch a coordinated air and surface attack. This attempt failed and so he decided to launch another attack. This time one of the three depth charges used hit in the immediate vicinity of the boat and destroyed U 964 . ( Location ). The B-24 sighted 35 German survivors who were floating in the water, but although there were surface units in the sea area, no rescue measures were initiated by the British side. Three men of the 50-man crew were taken on board U 231 the next morning after they had drifted for hours in an oil expanse in the water. Also on October 16, U 470 and U 844 were sunk by Allied aircraft.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906-1966 , Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1996, ISBN 3-86070-036-7 . Page 196
  2. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 . Page 108
  3. ↑ Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2. The Hunted 1942-1945 , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 page 513
  4. ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes-Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 . Page 157

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 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn 1999 ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 .