German submarine U-957

Career
Name: U-957
Ordered: 10 April 1941
Builder: Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
Yard number: 157
Laid down: 11 March 1942
Launched: 21 November 1942
Commissioned: 7 January 1943
Decommissioned: 21 October 1944
Fate: Scrapped, 1945
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–31 July 1943)
3rd U-boat Flotilla
(1 August–31 December 1943)
11th U-boat Flotilla
(1 January–30 September 1944)
13th U-boat Flotilla
(1–21 October 1944)
Commanders: Oblt. Franz Saar
(7 January–20 March 1943)
Oblt. Gerhard Schaar
(1 April 1943–21 October 1944)
Operations: 1st patrol: 14 December 1943–12 January 1944
2nd patrol: 24 January–2 February 1944
3rd patrol: 6–20 February 1944
4th patrol: 26 February–4 March 1944
5th patrol: 11 May–8 June 1944
6th patrol: 23 July–3 September 1944
7th patrol: 7 September–3 October 1944
Victories: 2 commercial vessels sunk (7,564 GRT)
2 military vessels sunk (604 GRT)

German submarine U-957 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

Laid down by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, on 11 March 1942, the U-boat was launched on 21 November 1942, and commissioned on 7 January 1943, by Leutnant Franz Saar.

Under the command of Oberleutnant Gerhard Schaar U-957 carried out seven war patrols between December 1943 and October 1944, sinking two commercial vessels; the British Fort Bellingham and the Soviet Nord; and two military vessels, the American submarine chaser USS PTC-38, and the Soviet corvette Brilliant.

Her combat career ended on 19 October 1944 at Lofoten, Norway, when she collided with a German steamer. On 21 October 1944 she was taken out of service in Trondheim.

On 29 May 1945 she was taken to England where she was broken up.[1]

Raiding career

Date Ship[2] Nationality Tonnage Fate
26 January 1944 Fort Bellingham  UK 7,153 Sunk
USS PTC-38  USA 54 Sunk
26 August 1944 Nord  USSR 411 Sunk
23 September 1944 Brilliant  USSR 550 Sunk

References

Notes
Bibliography

See also