| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-852 |
| Ordered: | 20 January 1941 |
| Builder: | AG Weser, Bremen |
| Yard number: | 1058 |
| Laid down: | 15 April 1942 |
| Launched: | 28 January 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 15 June 1943 |
| Fate: | Scuttled, 3 May 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Type IXD2 submarine |
| Displacement: | 1,610 t (1,580 long tons) surfaced 1,799 t (1,771 long tons) submerged |
| Length: | 87.6 m (287 ft 5 in) o/a 68.5 m (224 ft 9 in) pressure hull |
| Beam: | 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in) o/a 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) pressure hull |
| Height: | 10.2 m (33 ft 6 in) |
| Draft: | 5.4 m (17 ft 9 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × MAN M9V40/46 supercharged 9-cylinder diesel engines, 4,400 hp (3,281 kW) 2 × SSW GU345/34 double-acting electric motors, 1,000 hp (746 kW) |
| Speed: | 20.8 knots (38.5 km/h) surfaced 6.9 knots (12.8 km/h) submerged |
| Range: | 12,750 nmi (23,610 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) surfaced 213 nmi (394 km) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h) submerged |
| Test depth: | 230 m (750 ft) |
| Complement: | 55 to 63 |
| Armament: | • 6 × torpedo tubes (4 bow, 2 stern) • 22 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedoes • 1 × Utof 105 mm/45 deck gun (110 rounds) • AA guns |
| Aircraft carried: | Fa 330 Bachstelze rotor kite |
| Service record[1][2] | |
| Part of: | 4th U-boat Flotilla (15 June 1943–31 January 1944) 12th U-boat Flotilla (1 February–3 May 1944) |
| Commanders: | Kptlt. Heinz-Wilhelm Eck (15 June 1943–3 May 1944) |
| Operations: | 1st patrol: 18 January–3 May 1944 |
| Victories: | 2 commercial ships sunk (9,972 GRT) |
German submarine U-852 was a German Type IXD2 U-boat built during World War II. She became notorious for having the only German Navy (Kriegsmarine) U-boat crew to be accused, prosecuted and convicted during the Nuremberg Trials of war crimes.
Built in Bremen and completed in June 1943, the boat was of the Type IX, which possessed long range cruising capabilities as well as six torpedo tubes (four bow, two stern). She was commanded throughout her brief lifespan by Captain Lieutenant (Kapitänleutnant) Heinz-Wilhelm Eck, who led her through her sea trials and out onto her first war patrol on 18 January 1944.
Contents |
Her mission was to disrupt Allied communications in the Indian Ocean by attacking sea lanes there; this involved a high level of secrecy and so she had to avoid conflict on her passage. This plan was jeopardized when, on 13 March on the latitude of Freetown, she spotted the lone Greek steamer SS Peleus. Despite his mission, Eck decided to attack her, and, after stalking her till night-fall, sank her with two torpedoes. What followed has been the subject of much dispute.
The sinking Peleus left a large debris field, amongst which was a number of survivors clinging to rafts and wreckage. This field would have betrayed the presence of the U-852 to aircraft and shipping patrolling the area, so Eck then controversially decided to destroy the wreckage with the use of hand grenades and automatic weapons.
Eck ordered his junior officers to fire into the wreckage. These junior officers were:
Eck was present during the incident, while the remaining crew were below decks. Eck was also executed in 1945. As a result of this action, all but three of Peleus's crew perished.
The submarine was able to evade pursuit, and two weeks later encountered and sank the British cargo ship SS Dahomian, off Cape Town on 1 April. This time U-852 hastily left the scene rather than pausing.
A few weeks later, on 30 April 1944, U-852 was in the Indian Ocean.[3] There she was spotted by a Vickers Wellington bomber, flying from Aden, which managed to damage her with depth charges, thus preventing her from diving. Knowing all was lost, Eck made for the Somali coast, where his ship was beached on a coral reef while under extensive air attack from six bombers of 621 Squadron Royal Air Force (). 58 of Eck's crew made it to shore and on 13 March they were captured by the Somaliland Camel Corps and local militia. Seven of the crew had been killed by the constant air attacks. The survivors were sent to various prison camps to wait out the end of the war.
A British boarding party examined the wrecked U-boat and retrieved Eck's Kriegstagebuch ("War Diary"), which would be crucial in framing the case against him and his men.[4] Also of great interest was the Fa 330 Bachstelze rotor kite, a towed aerial observation platform.[1]
| Date | Ship | Nationality | Tonnage | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 March 1944 | SS Peleus | Greek | 4,695 | Sunk |
| 1 April 1944 | SS Dahomian | British | 5,277 | Sunk |
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