Unterseeboot 238
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| U-238 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | VIIC
|
||
| Launch Date | January 7, 1943 | ||
| Commission Date | February 20, 1943 | ||
| Construction yard | Germaniawerft, Kiel | ||
| Patrols | |||
| Start Date | End Date | Assigned Unit | |
| No Patrols | 5th Flotilla | ||
| September 5, 1943 | October 8, 1943 | 1st Flotilla | |
| November 11, 1943 | December 12, 1944 | 1st Flotilla | |
| January 27, 1944 | February 9, 1944 | 1st Flotilla | |
| Commanders | |||
| February, 1943 | February, 1944 | Kptlt. Horst Hepp | |
| Successes | |||
| Type of Ship Sunk | Number of Ships Sunk | Gross Registered Tonnage | |
| Commercial Vessels | 4 | 23,048 | |
| Military Vessels | None | 0 | |
Unterseeboot 238 (usually abbreviated to U-238) was a German Type VIIC submarine of the Kriegsmarine built for service in the Second World War. She was built during 1942 by Germaniawerft of Kiel, and she was commissioned February 20, 1943, with Oberleutnant zur See Horst Hepp in command. Hepp commanded her for her entire career, receiving a promotions to Kapitänleutnant in the process.
She was a successful if short lived boat, sinking four freighters and damaging another during her operations again Allied convoys in the Second Battle of the Atlantic. She had the misfortune however, of serving at the turning point of the war, when allied countermeasures were taking a heavy toll on the U-boat force. She conducted three war patrols, beginning in September 1943, following her warm up trials in the Baltic Sea.
[edit] War Patrols
The first patrol of the U-238 was conducted from Trondheim in Norway as part of the 1st U-flotilla, and entailed the submarine exiting the North Sea via the Denmark Strait and operating against Allied shipping in the supposed "air cover gap" in the Central Atlantic, where Allied aircraft were unable to effectively operate against German U-boats. This first patrol was by far the most successful of U-238's patrols, as on the 20 September, it attacked a large convoy, sinking one 7,000-ton cargo ship and damaging another. This was followed by three more victims on the 23 September, when a two Norwegian ships and a British freighter were sunk from the same convoy.
The U-238's second patrol was less successful, as two weeks after leaving Brest, France she was attacked by Avenger aircraft from the escort carrier USS Bogue, whose rockets killed two crew and wounded five more, prompting the submarine to return to Brest with severe damage which put it out of service for a month. It was during this patrol that the submarine captured two British Royal Air Force personnel, whose Vickers Wellington bomber had been shot down by U-764.
U-238's third and last patrol began in January 1944, and lasted a fruitless month, until on the 9 February, when she was caught by the convoy escorts of Convoy SL.147 and Convoy MKS.38 270 miles off Cape Clear. She counter attacked unsuccessfully and was sunk with all 50 hands by the sloops HMS Magpie, HMS Starling and HMS Kite.
[edit] Raiding career
| Date | Ship | Nationality | Tonnage | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 September 1943 | SS Theo Dwight Weld | American | 7,176 | Sunk |
| 20 September 1943 | SS Fred Douglass | American | 7,176 | Damaged |
| 23 September 1943 | MV Oregon Express | Norwegian | 3,642 | Sunk |
| 23 September 1943 | SS Fort Jemseg | British | 7,134 | Sunk |
| 23 September 1943 | SS Skjelbred | Norwegian | 5,096 | Sunk |
[edit] References
- Sharpe, Peter, U-Boat Fact File, Midland Publishing, Great Britain: 1998. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.
- U-boat.net webpage for U-238
See Also: List of U-boats
