U 968

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U 968
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Type : VII C
Field Post Number : 51 536
Shipyard: Blohm & Voss , Hamburg
Construction contract: June 5, 1941
Build number: 168
Keel laying: May 14, 1942
Launch: February 4, 1943
Commissioning: March 18, 1943
Commanders:

Otto Westphalen

Calls: seven ventures
Sinkings:

three ships (15,736 GRT) sunk

Whereabouts: sank off the Scottish coast on November 29, 1945, towed by a British ship

U 968 was a German U-boat from the Type VII C , a so-called "Atlantic Boat", which by the German Navy during the submarine war in the Second World War in the North Atlantic , the Arctic Ocean and the North Sea was used.

Technical specifications

A VII C-boat had a length of 67 m and a displacement of 865 m³ under water. Two diesel engines accelerated the boat to a speed of 17 knots , which corresponds to 31.5 km / h , while driving over water . When underwater, two electric motors propelled the boat to a speed of 7.6 kn, which corresponds to 14 km / h . The armament consisted of an 8 cm cannon and a 2.0 cm flak on deck, four bow torpedo tubes and a stern torpedo tube. When the boat had no mines on board, it usually carried 14 torpedoes.

Commitment and history

From March 24, 1943 to February 29, 1944, U 968 was a training boat and subordinated to the 5th U-Flotilla . On March 1, the boat came to the 13th U-Flotilla as a front boat , where it remained until the end of the war. On a total of seven operations, the boat was involved in attacks on northern sea convoys and completed mining operations .

End of the boat

On May 16, the boat left Narvik and was transferred to Great Britain . It was first taken to Loch Eriboll , then to Londonderry , where it remained for a few months. In September U 968 was transferred to the west coast of southern Scotland. There the boat was towed by the naval tug HMS Prosperous in November , whereupon it capsized and sank.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat 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 . Pp. 375-376

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 .