Unterseeboot 961
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Unterseeboot 961 |
| Builder: | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |
| Launched: | 17 December 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 4 February 1943 |
| Fate: | Sunk 29 March 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Type VIIC U-boat |
| Displacement: | 769 tons (surfaced) 871 tons (submerged) |
| Length: | 67.1 m (220 ft 2 in) overall 50.5 m (165 ft 8 in) pressure hull |
| Beam: | 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in) overall 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) pressure hull |
| Propulsion: | Surfaced: 2 × Germaniawerft supercharged 6-cylinder, 4-stroke M6V 40/46 diesels 2,800–3,200 bhp (2,400 kW). Maximum rpm: 470-490 Submerged: 2 × electric motors, 750 shp |
| Speed: | 17.7 knots (32.8 km/h) (surfaced) 7.6 knots (14.1 km/h) (submerged) |
| Range: | 15,170 km (8,190 nmi) at 10 kn (19 km/h) (surfaced) 150 km (81 nmi) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h) (submerged) |
| Test depth: | 230 m (750 ft) Calculated crush depth: 250 m (820 ft)–295 m (970 ft) |
| Complement: | 44-52 officers & ratings |
| Armament: | 5 × 53.3 cm (1.75 ft) torpedo tubes: 4 bow, 1 stern 14 torpedoes or 26 TMA or 39 TMB mines 1 × C35 88 mm (3.5 in)/L45 deck gun with 220 rounds Various anti-aircraft weapons |
| Service record | |
| Part of | 5th Flotilla |
| Commanders | Kptlt. Klaus Fischer |
| Operations | Sunk 7 days into her first patrol |
| Victories | None |
Unterseeboot 961 (usually abbreviated to U-961) was a German U-boat built during World War II. A type VIIC submarine, U-961 was constructed at Hamburg during 1942 and 1943, completing her working-up cruises in the Baltic Sea in the spring of 1944. Due to extensive modifications and shortages of supplies during her construction and training, U-961 took nearly two years to be ready for active service, an exceptionally long time.
[edit] War patrol
U-961 departed on her only war patrol on the 23 March 1944, under the command of Kptlt. Klaus Fischer, a veteran submariner. After leaving Marviken at Kristiansand in Norway, U-961 headed directly for the North Atlantic Ocean, the main battleground of the Second Battle of the Atlantic. By 1944 however, the region had become a U-boat graveyard, as drastic improvements in submarine detection and destruction had been made, both by surface shipping and by allied aircraft.
The patrol lasted just seven days, ending suddenly and brutally during an attack on Convoy JW-58 150 miles north of the Faroe Islands on the 29 March. As U-961 approached the convoy, she was discovered underwater by the detection equipment on the convoy escorts HMS Starling and HMS Wild Goose and immediately destroyed with depth charges. The boat never even managed to surface, sinking to the bottom with all 49 sailors on board.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Sharpe, Peter, U-Boat Fact File, Midland Publishing, Great Britain: 1998. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.
- U-boat.net webpage for U-961
