U 973
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U 973 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 42 381 |
| Shipyard: | Blohm + Voss , Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | June 5, 1941 |
| Build number: | 173 |
| Keel laying: | June 26, 1942 |
| Launch: | March 10, 1943 |
| Commissioning: | April 15, 1943 |
| Commanders: |
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| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | 2 activities |
| Sinkings: |
no |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk by air raid in the European Arctic Ocean on March 6, 1944 |
U 973 was a German submarine from the Type VII C , a so-called "Atlantic Boat" that of the former German Navy during the submarine war in the Second World War in the Norwegian Sea to the Arctic convoys of World War II the Allies was used.
construction
It was manufactured at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg . The keel was laid on June 26, 1942, the commissioning took place on April 15, 1943 under Oberleutnant zur See Klaus Paepenmöller.
The boat completed two operations during its service. From January 22, 1944 to February 12, 1944 it was used in the European Arctic Ocean and was involved in the attack on two Arctic convoys , namely JW 56B and RA 56 . In March 1944 U 973 was patrolling the sea area northwest of Narvik. U 973 did not sink or damage any ships during its missions .
Sinking
Commander Paepenmüller decided, despite bad weather, on March 6, 1944, to appear during the attack on the Northern Sea Convoy RA 57 with U 973 . The boat was discovered by a Swordfish double-decker aircraft belonging to the British escort aircraft carrier HMS Chaser from a distance of 12 nm and attacked immediately. The Swordfish dropped a dozen rocket bombs in this attack, at least one of which hit the submarine and caused an ingress of water that could not be stopped. Commander Paepenmöller then ordered the boat to be abandoned and the entire crew disembarked. Only two crew members survived in the 4 ° C cold water: the chief engineer and a corporal . 51 seamen were killed, among them Commander Klaus Paepenmöller. The two survivors were rescued by the Canadian corvette Queen Budega after swimming for two hours . Franz Rudolph, the chief engineer, assumed in retrospect that he and the Corporal Sailor were saved by the fact that they were both forced to exercise constantly - since, unlike most of their comrades, they had no life jackets, and so on were saved from freezing. The boat is northwest of Narvik in position 70 ° 40 ' N , 5 ° 48' O .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , pp. 109–110.
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , p. 534.
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 4: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1999, ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 .
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