German submarine U-213

Career (Nazi Germany)
Name: U-213
Ordered: 16 February 1940
Builder: Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft, Kiel
Yard number: 645
Laid down: 1 October 1940
Launched: 24 July 1941
Commissioned: 30 August 1941
Fate: Sunk on 31 July 1942
General characteristics
Type: Type VIID submarine
Displacement: 965 long tons (980 t) surfaced
1,080 long tons (1,097 t) submerged
Length:

76.9 m (252 ft 4 in) o/a
59.8 m (196 ft 2 in) pressure

hull
Beam: 6.4 m (21 ft 0 in) o/a
4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) pressure hull
Draft: 5 m (16 ft 5 in)
Propulsion:

2 × supercharged Germaniawerft, 6-cylinder, 4-stroke F46 diesel engines totalling

2,800–3,200 bhp (2,100–2,400 kW). Max rpm: 470-490
2 × AEG GU 460/8-276 electric motors, totalling

750 shp (560 kW). Max rpm: 285
Speed: 16.7 knots (19.2 mph; 30.9 km/h) surfaced
7.9 knots (9.1 mph; 14.6 km/h) submerged
Range:

20,720 km (11,190 nmi) at 10 kn (19 km/h)

surfaced
130 km (70 nmi) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h) submerged
Test depth: 200 m (660 ft)
Crush depth: 220–240 m (720–790 ft)
Complement: 46–52 officers & ratings
Armament:

• 5 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 1 stern)
• 14 × torpedoes or 26

× TMA or 39 × TMB tube-launched mines
• 5 × vertical launchers with 15 SMA mines
• 1 × C35 88mm gun/L45

deck gun (220 rounds)
• 2 × C30 20 mm AA (4,380 rounds)

German submarine U-213 was a Type VIID mine-laying U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

Contents

Training

Laid down on 1 October 1940 by Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft, Kiel, the boat was commissioned on 30 August 1941 with Oberleutnant zur See Amelung von Varendorff in command.[1] She trained with the 5th U-boat Flotilla until 31 December 1941, and on 1 January 1942 U-213 was assigned to 1st U-boat Flotilla.[1] On 1 May 1942 she was assigned to the 9th U-boat Flotilla and spent the rest of her career with that unit.[1]

Service history

U-213 carried out three war patrols during her career, ranging into the North Atlantic. On 14 May 1942 she landed an Abwehr agent, Alfred Langbein, on the Canadian coast near St. Martins, New Brunswick.[1] The mission was termed Operation Grete, and Langbein was instructed to report on the sailing of convoys.[1] Langbein failed to accomplish this, and surrendered to the authorities in September 1944 after running out of money. He was released after the end of the war.[1] U-213 took part in three "wolfpacks" during the war, as part of Schlei from 1 February until 12 February 1942, Westwall from 2 March until 12 March 1942, and Pfadfinder from 21 May until 27 May 1942.[1] During this period she suffered two attacks, one on 7 February 1942 from the escorts of convoy ON-63, which U-213 was attempting to attack, and which left the U-boat slightly damaged by depth charges; and on 15 May 1942 when U-213 was surprised on the surface by a destroyer in bad weather in the Gulf of Maine, and was again slightly damaged by depth charges.[1]

U-213 was eventually sunk on 31 July 1942, while in the North Atlantic, east of the Azores, by a depth charge attack from the sloops HMS Erne, HMS Rochester and HMS Sandwich.[1] Her entire crew of 50 were lost with her.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Helgason. "U-213". http://www.uboat.net/boats/u213.htm. Retrieved 6 April 2010. 

References