| Career (Nazi Germany) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-214 |
| Ordered: | 16 February 1940 |
| Builder: | Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft, Kiel |
| Yard number: | 646 |
| Laid down: | 5 October 1940 |
| Launched: | 18 September 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 1 November 1941 |
| Fate: | Sunk, 26 July 1944 |
| 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) |
| Service record[1][2] | |
| Part of: | 5th U-boat Flotilla (1 November 1941–30 April 1942) 9th U-boat Flotilla |
| Commanders: | Kptlt. Günther Reeder (1 November 1941–10 May 1943) Oblt./Kptlt. Rupprecht Stock (7 May 1943–July 1944) Oblt. Gerhard Conrad (July 1944–26 July 1944) |
| Operations: | 1st patrol: 18 May–4 June 1942 2nd patrol: 13–17 June 1942 3rd patrol: 9 August–9 October 1942 4th patrol: 30 November 1942–24 February 1943 5th patrol: 4–10 May 1943 6th patrol: 18 May–26 June 1943 7th patrol: 22 August–30 November 1943 8th patrol: 19 February–29 April 1944 9th patrol: 11 June–2 July 1944 10th patrol: 22–26 July 1944 |
| Victories: | 3 commercial ships sunk (18,266 GRT) 1 warship sunk (1,525 GRT) 1 commercial ship damaged (6,507 GRT) 1 auxiliary warship damaged (10,552 GRT) |
German submarine U-214 was a Type VIID mine-laying U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II.
Laid down on 5 October 1940 by Germaniawerft in Kiel, the boat was commissioned on 1 November 1941 with Kapitänleutnant Günther Reeder in command. She trained with the 5th U-boat Flotilla from 1 November 1941 until 30 April 1942, and was then assigned to the 9th U-boat Flotilla from 1 May 1942 until her sinking on 26 July 1944.
The wreck of U214 was found by the archaeologist Innes McCartney in 2006 at the location reported by the Allies after the war.
Contents |
U-214 sailed from Kiel on 18 May 1942, arriving at Kristiansand on the 20th. She sailed the next day, heading for Brest. On 22 May while in the North Sea, she was attacked by an aircraft, and slightly damaged by three bombs. The U-boat arrived at Lorient on 2 June, and sailed to Brest the next day.[1]
Her second patrol began on 13 June,[2] but on 16 June at 03:44, she was strafed, and three depth charges were dropped by a Leigh light-equipped aircraft in the Bay of Biscay. A second attack was fought off with flak, but the U-boat sustained damage which forced her to return to Lorient on 17 June.[1]
Not until her third patrol did U-214 score a victory. On 9 August 1942 she sailed from Brest, and on 18 August attacked Convoy SL-118, west of Portugal, and sank the 6,318 ton Dutch cargo ship Balingkar, and the 7,522 ton British cargo ship Hatarana, as well as damaging the armed merchant cruiser HMS Cheshire (F18). She returned to Brest on 9 October after 62 days at sea.[3]
U-214's fourth patrol took her to the Caribbean Sea were she struck the 4,426 ton unescorted Polish merchant ship Paderewski with torpedoes 40 miles off Trinidad, before sinking her by gunfire. The U-boat returned to her homeport on 24 February 1943 after a voyage of 87 days.[4]
U-214's fifth patrol was cut short when she was attacked on 7 May 1943 by a British Halifax bomber of 58 Squadron in the Bay of Biscay, after only three days at sea. The U-boat crash-dived, suffering only minor damage, but her commander Kptlt. Günther Reeder was severely wounded, and first Officer Oberleutnant Rupprecht Stock brought the U-boat safely back to base.[5]
Now under the command of Oblt. Stock, U-214 sailed from Brest on 18 May 1943, and headed for the coast of West Africa. There, on 20 June, the American 6,507 ton merchant ship Santa Maria struck a mine laid by U-214 five miles west of Dakar, blowing off her bows. After abandoning ship, she was later re-boarded by her crew, and towed to Dakar for repairs.[6] The U-boat arrived back at Brest on 26 June.[7]
U-214's seventh patrol took her to the waters off Panama. While outbound on 9 September, 92 miles south-west of Santa Maria, Azores, she was attacked by an American Avenger aircraft from the escort carrier Croatan (CVE-25). The aircraft approached by radar and dropped four depth charges, but was damaged in the air intake and the bomb bay by the U-boat's flak. One depth charge hit the U-boat, but bounced off and exploded without damaging her.[1]
On 8 October, five miles off Colón, U-214 laid a minefield of 15 mines. One of these may have sunk the United States Navy submarine USS Dorado (SS-248) on or about 14 October. On 12 October the U-214 was attacked twice, but not damaged, by an aircraft of US Navy Patrol Squadron 210. U-214 returned home on 30 November after 101 days at sea.[8] [9]
U-214's next patrol, from 19 February–29 April 1944, took her south to the west African coast, but without success. The U-boat was then fitted with a schnorkel before returning to active service. U-214 headed north into the shallow waters of the English Channel on 11 June, under the command of the newly-promoted Kapitänleutnant Stock, however she had no successes[2], and the patrol was curtailed after the U-boat was attacked by a British B-24 Liberator of 224 Squadron, sustaining damage which forced her to return to Brest on 2 July.[1]
U-214 sailed from Brest on 22 July 1944 under the command of 21-year old Oblt. Gerhard Conrad, one of the youngest U-boat commanders of World War II.[10] After only five days, on 26 July 1944, the U-boat was sunk in the English Channel at by depth charges from the Captain-class frigate HMS Cooke. All 48 hands were lost.
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