U 989
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U 989 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 53 631 |
| Shipyard: | Blohm & Voss , Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | August 25, 1941 |
| Build number: | 189 |
| Keel laying: | October 17, 1942 |
| Launch: | June 16, 1943 |
| Commissioning: | July 22, 1943 |
| Commanders: |
First Lieutenant Hardo Rodler von Roithberg |
| Flotilla: |
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| Calls: | 7 patrols |
| Sinkings: |
1 merchant ship (1791 GRT ) |
| Whereabouts: | in the February 14, 1945 Faroe Islands sunk |
U 989 was a German type VII C submarine , a so-called "Atlantic boat ". It was used by the Kriegsmarine during the submarine war .
Technical specifications
A VII C-boat had a length of 67 m and a displacement of 865 m³ under water. It had two diesel engines that enabled a speed of 17 knots over water . During the underwater journey, two electric motors propelled the boat to a speed of 7 knots. The armament consisted of a 8.8 cm cannon and a 2.0 cm flak on deck, as well as four bow torpedo tubes and a stern torpedo tube until 1944 . Usually a VII C-boat carried 14 torpedoes with it.
commander
- June 22, 1943 to February 14, 1945
Hardo Rodler von Roithberg was born in Vienna on February 14, 1918 and joined the Navy in 1937. He initially drove as an officer on watch on the destroyer Karl Galster . As of October 1939, as a company officer, he trained prospective Navy officers in formal service at the 4th Ship Mastery Department in Wilhelmshaven . He held this post until the beginning of his submarine training in the summer of 1940. Subsequently, Hardo Rodler von Roithberg initially drove as 2nd watch officer on the U 96 , made famous by the novel "Das Boot" , under Lieutenant Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock . In August, Rodler von Roithberg took command of U 24 . This command lasted until May 1942, when the boat was finally transferred to the Black Sea . Hardo Rodler von Roithberg was given command of the U 71 in June of the same year , which he kept until May 1943. Following the building instruction at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Oberleutnant zur See Rodler von Roithberg took command of the U 989 , which he held until the boat was sunk in the spring of 1945.
Commitment and history
When it went into service, U 989 was initially subordinate to the 5th U-Flotilla, which had its base in Kiel . The first patrol led the boat from there into the operating area north-west of Ireland and ended in Brest , where U 989 of the local 9th U-boat Flotilla was assumed. From Brest, the boat took part in the attack on the Allied invasion fleet . U 989 was transferred to Norway in August 1944 . The boat was placed under the 33rd submarine flotilla . This was followed by trips to Flensburg , where there was a submarine base in Kielseng , later to Kiel and finally to Horten .
Fighting
During the attack on the Allied fleet in the course of the invasion, U 989 was attacked by several aircraft - a Vickers Wellington , a B-24 Liberator and some mosquitos . The commander was from the bullets of the on-board weapons wounded in the leg, and the boat had to Brest run back. However, just one day later, on June 8th, U 989 ran out again.
Sinkings
On the transfer trip to Norway, the lookout from U 989 spotted the American steamer Louis Kossuth and attacked him with a triple torpedo shot - a so-called "triple fan" - with torpedoes independent of the position . Through the periscope, Commander Rodler von Roithberg was able to observe that the freighter stopped after a detonation but did not sink.
- August 23, 1944, a ship damaged: American cargo steamer Louis Kossuth
Three days later, on the same voyage, U 989 attacked a British freighter and sank it.
Sinking
On February 7, U 989 left the Horten base on its last voyage. The North Atlantic was intended as an operational area, the boat should operate near the Faroe Islands. A week later U 989 was tracked down by ships of the British 10th Escort Group ( location ). This British hunting association had taken fuel in Scapa Flow and had only recently returned to the area. HMS Bayntun located U 989 on February 14th with ASDIC signals and then began to attack the boat with depth charges and grenade launchers together with the frigates HMS Loch Eck , HMS Braithwaite and HMS Loch Dunvegan . Only two survivors, one of whom was the commander, managed to reach the surface of the water after U 989 burst under the sea . Both were recovered by the British frigates, but died after a short time because they had apparently disembarked at too great a depth without a diving rescuer.
literature
- Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume 2: The Hunted, 1942–1945. Heyne, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
- Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg a. a. 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 .
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