| Career (Nazi Germany) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-470 |
| Ordered: | 20 January 1941 |
| Builder: | Deutsche Werke, Kiel |
| Yard number: | 301 |
| Laid down: | 11 October 1941 |
| Launched: | 8 August 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 7 January 1943 |
| Fate: | Sunk by aircraft, 16 October 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 (7 January–30 June 1943) 7th U-boat Flotilla (1 July–16 October 1943) |
| Commanders: | Oblt. Günther-Paul Grave (January–October 1943) |
| Operations: | 1st patrol: 28 September–16 October 1943 |
| Victories: | None |
German submarine U-470 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine built for service in the Second World War. She was a very short-lived boat, being commissioned in the months following the turning point of the Atlantic campaign and thus into a time in which many U-boats were being lost. The demise of U-470 was especially notable as she was sunk with two of her sisters in a brief melee in the waters of the Western Approaches.
Built by the Deutsche Werke shipyards in Kiel, U-470 took a long time to complete, not being ready for initial working-up operations until a year after her construction began. She was given to Oberleutnant Günther-Paul Grave, a highly experienced submarine officer, who lead her through her training and mechanical trials and readied the boat for her active career, a difficult six month process.[1]
U-470's only war patrol was an unlucky affair.[2] After a difficult passage round the British Isles, U-470 received orders to join with U-844 and U-964 to form a wolfpack to attack Convoy ON-206 in the Western Approaches to the English Channel. On 16 October, just 18 days after leaving Bergen, Norway, a patrolling aircraft spotted U-470 with her sister boats whilst still a long distance from their targets. The aircraft radioed back to base, and soon a whole swarm of British Royal Air Force Consolidated Liberator bombers from 59 Squadron and 120 Squadron had descended on the trio, who decided to battle it out on the surface rather than dive, which would have made them easy targets for depth charges as they dived and maneuvered to escape.
Over the course of the next several hours, the Liberators attacked the U-boats again and again, losing two of their number to anti-aircraft fire, one with all aboard and the other with two fatalities from the crew. The submarines however were suffering much worse, and gradually all three were sunk, U-470 sinking with 46 hands including the captain, only two later being picked off rafts by allied ships. The aircraft had reported 20 survivors in the water, but many of them did not find buoyancy supports and drowned over the next few hours.