German submarine U-227

Career
Name: U-227
Ordered: 7 December 1940
Builder: Germaniawerft, Kiel
Yard number: 657
Laid down: 8 November 1941
Launched: 30 July 1942
Commissioned: 22 August 1942
Fate: Sunk by aircraft, 30 April 1943
General characteristics
Type: Type VIIC submarine
Displacement: 769 tonnes (757 long tons) surfaced
871 t (857 long tons) submerged
Length: 67.1 m (220 ft 2 in) o/a
50.5 m (165 ft 8 in) pressure hull
Beam: 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in) o/a
4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) pressure hull
Draft: 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in)
Propulsion: 2 × supercharged Germaniawerft 6-cylinder 4-stroke M6V 40/46 diesel engines, totalling 2,800–3,200 bhp (2,100–2,400 kW). Max rpm: 470-490
2 × electric motors, totalling 750 shp (560 kW) and max rpm: 296
Speed: 17.7 knots (20.4 mph; 32.8 km/h) surfaced
7.6 knots (8.7 mph; 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)
Crush depth: 250–295 m (820–968 ft)
Complement: 44–52 officers & ratings
Armament: • 5 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 1 stern)
• 14 × torpedoes or 26 TMA mines
• 1 × C35 88mm gun/L45 deck gun (220 rounds)
• Various AA guns
Service record
Part of: 5th U-boat Flotilla
(August 1942–April 1943)
7th U-boat Flotilla
(April 1943)
Commanders: Kptlt. Jürgen Kuntze
(August 1942–April 1943)
Operations: 1st patrol: 24–30 April 1943
Victories: None

German submarine U-227 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine built for service in the Battle of the Atlantic, which was cursed with repeated bad luck during her brief service life. Her commander was Kapitänleutnant Jürgen Kuntze, an officer with just five months U-boat experience at the time of his promotion.

Contents

Construction

U-227 was built during 1941 and 1942 by the Germaniawerft shipyards in the fleet base of Kiel, and was completed in August 1942, in preparation for operations over the coming winter. During the initial working-up period disaster struck one month into the program, when U-227 ran onto a Royal Air Force mine dropped by aircraft into Danzig Bay. The crippled boat survived without any serious injuries, but only just managed to limp into port still afloat. The mining of coastal waters was a new tactic for the RAF, but one which would reap dividends amongst the port-based German Navy. The repairs on the boat following this disaster meant that she was not completed until the following April, when Kuntze, having worked his crew hard, embarked on his only war patrol.

War patrol

The U-227 lasted a mere six days on her first operational patrol, when she was ordered to proceed with all haste for the North Atlantic Ocean to interdict Canadian convoys. Passing in the large gap between the Faroe Islands and Iceland, U-227 was spotted despite bad weather by a Hampden bomber of No. 455 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, which swooped low onto the submarine and dropped a bomb right onto it. U-227 went into an uncontrolled dive following the attack and never resurfaced, presumably hitting the sea floor hundreds of feet below, where she still lies with all 49 of her crew.

See also

References