Unterseeboot 2323

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

U-2323
Type		XXIII
Launch Date		May 31, 1944
Commission Date		July 18, 1944
Construction yard		Deutsche Werft, Hamburg
Patrols
Start Date	End Date	Assigned Unit
No Patrols		4th Flotilla
Commanders
April, 1944	July, 1944	Kptlt. Walter Angermann
April, 1945	May, 1945	Kptlt. Diedrich Schultze
Successes
Type of Ship Sunk	Number of Ships Sunk	Gross Registered Tonnage
Commercial Vessels	None	0
Military Vessels	None	0

Unterseeboot 2323 (usually abbreviated to U-2323) was probably the shortest lived German U-boat during the whole of the Second World War. Constructed at Hamburg during the spring of 1944, she was a modern German Type XXIII submarine, completed on the 18 July and given to Kptlt. Walter Angermann to command. A fast high-technology coastal boat, U-2323 was expected to be the new war-winning weapon in the Kriegsmarine's arsenal.

The seas around the German coastline were subject to very heavy allied attack during the final two years of the war, as the Royal Air Force sought to restrict German movement around their coasts by sowing thouasnds of air-dropped naval mines, thus delaying the production and training of new boats, disrupting coastal shipping and destroying several boats before they could become involved in the Second Battle of the Atlantic.

The U-2323 was a victim of this campaign, when on the 26 July, at just eight days old, she was sunk off Moltenort at the entrance to Kiel harbour on her maiden voyage. Two of her crew were killed in the blast, although the survivors managed to safely reach the shore. They were then transferred to other units. The holed boat was raised in the spring of 1945, but was still undergoing repairs in Kiel at the time of the German surrender. It was broken up in situ post-war.