Unterseeboot 2511

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Unterseeboot 2511 (U-2511) was a Type XXI U-boat of the Kriegsmarine.

Her keel was laid down 7 July 1944 by Blohm + Voss, of Hamburg. She was commissioned 29 September 1944 with Korvettenkapitän Adalbert Schnee in command. Schnee commanded her until May 1945 when he was ordered to surrender.

According to the commander of U-977, Heinz Schaeffer, Captain Schnee was in port in Denmark taking on stores when he started bragging about the wonders of the boat. After an extended period, Cpt. Schaeffer lost his temper and bet him a cask of champagne that he would reach Norway before Schnee. The bet was taken, Schnee believing that he would win easily. On the way to Norway, U-977 was having trouble with their schnorkel while dived: the exhaust from the diesels kept filtering into the rest of the boat, the schnorkel head would shut as it dipped beneath the waves, and all the air would be sucked out of the boat. So the captain ordered the boat to surface. After airing it out, Schaeffer decided to continue on surfaced to Norway. His resoning was that no U-boats had been seen on the surface in those waters in some time, and he doubted the allies would strain themselves carrying out extra checks now that the war was basically over. He beat Schnee by two days.^{[citation needed]}

U-2511 conducted one patrol. On the evening of 30 April (coincidentally the date of Hitler's death), U-2511 set out from Bergen, Norway for the Caribbean, but on 4 May Schnee received the end-of-the-war cease-fire order.

A few hours after receiving the cease-fire order, U-2511 spotted a group of British warships. Schnee approached to within 500 meters of the British cruiser HMS Norfolk without being detected. Schnee had a U-boat commander's dream shot lined up, but left the scene without attacking and headed back to base. U-2511 reached Bergen on 5 May 1945 and surrendered as ordered. The commander spoke with officers of Norfolk a few days later, who found it unbelievable that U-2511 was able to get so close without any sonar contact.

This widely cited episode which, if it happened, would have been the closest approach to combat by any Type XXI U-boat during the war. However, some research suggests that it is probably a myth. An investigation carried out in 1998 came to the conclusion that, on the basis of the spatiotemporal data, this encounter could not have taken place. Other research suggests that it cannot be ruled out (see link below).

On 14 June 1945, U-2511 was transferred from Bergen, and arrived at Lisahally, Ireland on 21 June for Operation Deadlight. The boat was scuttled on 7 January 1946 at 7:40pm. U-2511 suffered no casualties to her crew.

See Also: List of U-boats