U 969

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U 969
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Type : VII C
Field Post Number : 51 543
Shipyard: Blohm & Voss , Hamburg
Construction contract: June 5, 1941
Build number: 169
Keel laying: May 29, 1942
Launch: February 11, 1943
Commissioning: March 24, 1943
Commanders:

Max Dobbert

Calls: three ventures
Sinkings:

two ships with 14,352 GRT damaged (later classified as total losses)

Whereabouts: Destroyed in an air raid in Toulon on August 6, 1944, canceled in 1947

U 969 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 Mediterranean .

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 969 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 969 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.

Commitment and history

From March 24 to September 30, 1943, U 969 was assigned to the 5th U-Flotilla as a training boat and was stationed in Kiel . On October 1, the boat was assigned to the 7th U-Flotilla and used as a front boat.

First patrol

On October 5, 1943 was U 969 of mountains from its first war patrol. The boat circled the British Isles , patrolled the east coast of Canada and hit Lorient in occupied France on December 6 . During this time the boat was assigned to the submarine groups Siegfried , Siegfried 1 , Körner , Tirpitz 2 , Eisenhart 3 , Schill 2 and Wedding. No Allied ships were sunk or damaged by U 970 on this patrol.

Second patrol

U 969 left Lorient on January 18, 1944 and circled the Iberian Peninsula . In early February, Commander Dobbert managed to cross the Strait of Gibraltar . On February 22nd, the boat met the Allied convoy GUS-31 on the Algerian north coast near Annaba . The day before, the convoy had left Tunis for Hampton Roads , Virginia . Dobbert released a fan of three torpedoes on the convoy and hit the two American Liberty freighters George Cleeve and Peter Skene Ogden. There was one fatality on the George Cleeve . Both ships were very badly damaged and had to be put on the beach. The damage later turned out to be so serious that both ships were written off as total losses. U 969 reached Toulon on February 26th .

Third patrol

On March 1, 1944, U 969 joined the 29th U-Flotilla . On March 20, the boat set out on its third patrol, cruised again on the Algerian coast, but could not sink or damage any other ships. The patrol ended on April 28th in Toulon.

Loss of the boat

At the beginning of August 1944, U 969 was in the dock in Toulon due to severe damage as a result of an air attack . During a daytime raid by the United States Army Air Forces , the boat was hit again by bombs on August 6, 1944 and sunk. The boat was canceled in 1947. Commander Dobbert later took over U 2546 .

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 three. German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945 , Verlag ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg a. a. 2001, ISBN 3 8132 0513 4 , page 309
  3. ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes-Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 , page 219

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 .