| Career (Nazi Germany) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-961 |
| Ordered: | 5 June 1941 |
| Builder: | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |
| Laid down: | 7 April 1942 |
| Launched: | 17 December 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 4 February 1943 |
| Fate: | Sunk 29 March 1944 |
| 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 |
| Commanders: | Kptlt. Klaus Fischer |
| Operations: | Sunk 7 days into her first patrol |
| Victories: | None |
German submarine U-961 was a Type VIIC U-boat built during World War II. U-961 was constructed at Hamburg during 1942 and 1943, completing her working-up cruises in the Baltic Sea in the spring of 1944. Due to extensive modifications and shortages of supplies during her construction and training, U-961 took nearly two years to be ready for active service, an exceptionally long time.
U-961 departed on her only war patrol on the 23 March 1944, under the command of Kptlt. Klaus Fischer, a veteran submariner. After leaving Marviken at Kristiansand in Norway, U-961 headed directly for the North Atlantic Ocean, the main battleground of the Battle of the Atlantic. By 1944 however, the region had become a U-boat graveyard, as drastic improvements in submarine detection and destruction had been made, both by surface shipping and by allied aircraft.
The patrol lasted just seven days, ending suddenly and brutally during an attack on convoy JW 58 150 miles north of the Faroe Islands on the 29 March. As U-961 approached the convoy, she was discovered underwater by the detection equipment on the convoy escorts HMS Starling and HMS Wild Goose and immediately destroyed with depth charges. The boat never even managed to surface, sinking to the bottom with all 49 sailors on board.