U 992
|
U 992 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
|
|---|---|
| Type : | VII C |
| Field Post Number : | 54 132 |
| Shipyard: | Blohm & Voss , Hamburg |
| Construction contract: | August 25, 1941 |
| Build number: | 192 |
| Keel laying: | October 30, 1942 |
| Launch: | June 24, 1943 |
| Commissioning: | August 2, 1943 |
| Commanders: |
Hans Falke |
| Flotilla: |
|
| Calls: | 8 activities |
| Sinkings: |
1 mine destroyer sunk |
| Whereabouts: | sunk by torpedo on December 16, 1945 as part of Operation Deadlight |
U 992 was a German submarine of the type VII C , a so-called "Atlantic boat ". It was used by the German Navy during the submarine war in the North Sea against allied convoys of the North Sea .
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. Like most boats of its time, the U 922 also had a boat-specific emblem, which arose from suggestions from the ranks of the crew and was worn by the crew on uniform caps and boats . It was a falling bird of prey with a torpedo in its talons in front of a large red "U".
Commitment and history
After commissioning, U 992 was initially subordinated to the 5th U-Flotilla and stationed in Kiel . During this time, Commander Falke undertook training trips in the Baltic Sea to train the crew and to retract the boat. In March, the boat came as a front boat to the 3rd U-Flotilla, which was stationed in La Rochelle on the northern French Atlantic coast. By June, Oberleutnant zur See Falke completed an extensive operation in the North Sea with U 992 , during which several bases in Norway, u. a. Stavanger and Bergen , called and patrolled Jan Mayen .
On Bear Island
In November 1944 the Navy had set up a weather station on Bear Island . The station had the code name '' Taaget '' and was operated by two collaborators: a Ukrainian and a Norwegian. After setting up the station with the help of U 1163 , however, contact with '' Taaget '' was broken. Therefore, towards the end of the year, Falke was commissioned to visit Bear Island and, if possible, to support the two residents in getting it back into operation. For this purpose, U 992 took two new batteries and two motor generators on board, which were made available by the Air Force . In addition, the crew member Hermann Friedrich, the chief electrician of the boat, received training on the structure and functioning of the Taaget power supply . U 992 left the base in Narvik on January 14, 1945 and reached Bear Island on January 25. Falke announced the arrival of his boat to the station crew by firing the deck cannon and had Friedrich translated with three men and the materials they had brought with them. Friedrich met one of the two collaborators on the high plateau and noticed that numerous petrol cans and large parts of the equipment unloaded by U 1163 , as well as plenty of provisions, were still unsecured on the plateau in the snow. When the crew members of U 922 reached the weather station, they also met the other station member. Friedrich found that the two of them could not communicate, did not seem to have much interest in it and, moreover - as was evident from the unusable gasoline stoves - had not had a hot meal for a long time. The inoperability of Taaget was due to empty batteries, which could not be remedied from the station's own resources, because the motor- generators did not work either. After three days, Friedrich repaired the generators and recharged the batteries. U 922 left Bear Island on January 28th .
Walter on Jan Mayen
To collect the weather data in the Arctic, the Wehrmacht used not only manned but also automatic weather stations that could independently collect and transmit data. The Kriegsmarine's Land Weather Radio (WFL) consisted of several modules that were designed to be transported by submarines. In addition to an antenna and a mast with an anemometer and a wind vane, the WFL consisted of eight round canisters wired together that fit exactly into the torpedo tubes of a submarine. On August 25, 1944, U 992 brought such a WFL with the code name "Walter" to Jan Mayen . Commandant Falke had already explored the island on a previous operation in June. Walter was installed by crew members and two weather service employees on the Krossbukta, the northern bay at the foot of the Beerenberg . "Walter" was found on March 12, 1945 by a Norwegian reconnaissance team and partially damaged. At the end of the month, the weather radio was recovered by the crew of the submarine hunter KNM Namsos and brought to Reykjavik .
Mines in the Barents Sea
On August 29, U 992 ran from Hammerfest to a mining company. The boat drove along the Norwegian coast in the Barents Sea up to the level of the Russian island of Kolgujew . A minefield code-named Sprat was laid there on September 4th . During the same period, several mining operations by German submarines took place in the sea area. The U 956 (mine barrier Butt ), 636 (mine barrier trout ) and U 968 (mine barrier salmon ) were involved. U 992 entered Narvik on September 7th .
"Rasmus" against JW 64
The German submarine command put together a submarine group for the attack on the Northern Sea Convoy JW 64 , which consisted of 64 ships that had gathered in the Scottish River Clyde and left on February 2, 1945. U 992 was assigned to the Rasmus group, which consisted of eight boats that were supposed to track down and attack JW 64 according to the pack tactics developed by Karl Dönitz . Commander Falke attacked two escort ships, one of which, the US minesweeper T-116 , sank immediately. The attack on the corvette Denbigh Castle was also successful, but the ship did not sink, but could be recovered by the HMS Bluebell and towed to Kola Bay . Here the British corvette was beached. The Denbigh Castle is considered a total loss.
End of the boat
Commander Falke surrendered with U 922 in Narvik at the beginning of May. The boat was brought to Scotland . On May 19, the boat reached the Scottish fjord Loch Eriboll . From here it was brought to Northern Ireland, to the port of Londonderry , where it remained until September. Eventually U 922 came back to Scotland and anchored in Loch Ryan , from where it was towed out to sea in mid-December.
On December 16 at 12:00 noon, U 922 was sunk with a torpedo by the T-class boat HMS Tantivy as part of Operation Deadlight .
Notes and individual references
- ^ Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Malings German submarines 1939-1945. 5th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , p. 160
- ↑ Narvik was the base of the 14th U-Flotilla , and the office of the FdU Nordmeer , Reinhard "Teddy" Suhren , was located here
- ^ Franz Selinger: From "Nanok" to "Eismitte": Meteorological ventures in the Arctic 1940–1945. Convent Verlag, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-934613-12-8 , page 300
- ↑ Uwe Schnall (Ed.): Writings of the Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum Volume 53 Franz Selinger: "From 'Nanok' to 'Eismitte'. Meteorological ventures in the Arctic 1940-1945" Convent Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-934613-12- 8 , Apage 342 - page 343
- ↑ Eckard Wetzel: U-Boats before Murmansk , Ullstein Verlag Edition Maritim, 4th edition, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-548-26810-1 , page 129
- ↑ R. Busch, H.-J. Röll: The Submarine War 1939–1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 . P. 312
- ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 3: The German submarine losses. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1998, ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 , page 384
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 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
Map with all coordinates: