| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-176 |
| Ordered: | 23 December 1939 |
| Builder: | AG Weser, Bremen |
| Yard number: | 1016 |
| Laid down: | 6 February 1941 |
| Launched: | 12 September 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 15 December 1941 |
| Homeport: | Lorient, France |
| Fate: | Sunk, 15 May 1943 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Type IXC submarine |
| Displacement: | 1,120 t (1,100 long tons) surfaced 1,232 t (1,213 long tons) submerged |
| Length: | 76.8 m (252 ft 0 in) overall 58.7 m (192 ft 7 in) pressure hull |
| Beam: | 6.8 m (22 ft 4 in) overall 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) pressure hull |
| Height: | 9.4 m (30 ft 10 in) |
| Draft: | 4.7 m (15 ft 5 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: | 18.2 knots (33.7 km/h) surfaced 7.3 knots (13.5 km/h) submerged |
| Range: | 24,880 nmi (46,080 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) surfaced 117 nmi (217 km) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h) submerged |
| Test depth: | 230 m (750 ft) |
| Complement: | 48-56 |
| Armament: | • 6 × torpedo tubes (4 bow, 2 stern) • 22 × 55 cm (22 in) torpedoes • 1 × Utof 105 mm/45 deck gun (110 rounds) • AA guns |
| Service record[1][2] | |
| Part of: | 4th U-boat Flotilla (15 December 1941–31 July 1942) 10th U-boat Flotilla (1 August 1942–15 May 1943) |
| Commanders: | KrvKpt. Reiner Dierksen (15 December 1941–15 May 1943) |
| Operations: | 1st patrol: 21 July–2 October 1942 2nd patrol: 9 November 1942–18 February 1943 3rd patrol: 6 April–15 May 1943 |
| Victories: | 11 commercial ships sunk (53,307 GRT) |
German submarine U-176 was a Type IXC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine built for service during World War II.
Built at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen, U-176 was laid down on 6 February 1941, launched on 12 September 1941, and commissioned on 15 December 1941, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Reiner Dierksen.
U-176 served with 4th U-boat Flotilla (U-boat flotilla) while training, and from 1 August 1942 with 10th U-boat Flotilla, a long-range operations unit. U-176 completed three patrols, sinking 11 ships totalling 53,307 gross register tons (GRT) before she was sunk off Cuba on 15 May 1943.
Contents |
On 21 July 1942 U-176 sailed from Kiel, around the British Isles, and into the north Atlantic Ocean. She made her first kill on 4 August, sinking the unescorted 7,798 ton British merchantman Richmond Castle with two torpedoes.[3]
On 7 August she joined five other U-boats in reinforcing the eight boats of wolfpack Steinbrinck in a series of attacks on Convoy SC 94.[4] On 8 August U-176 fired two salvoes of two torpedoes each at the convoy, sinking two British cargo ships, the 4,817 ton Trehata and the 3,956 ton Kelso, and the 7,914 ton Greek cargo ship Mount Kassion. The next day she also sank another British ship, the 3,701 ton Radchurch, which had been abandoned.[4] The convoy escort was then reinforced by the Polish destroyer Błyskawica and the British destroyer leader Broke, both equipped with HF/DF, which managed to keep the U-boats at bay until morning.[4]
U-176 sank the 7,457 ton British cargo ship Empire Breeze, part of Convoy ON 122, on 25 August, with two torpedoes[5] and ended the patrol after 74 days at sea, at Lorient on 2 October 1942.[6] The day after her return her captain was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class.[7]
U-176 departed Lorient on 9 November 1942 and headed into the south Atlantic. On 27 November 1942 she sank the 5,922 ton Dutch merchant ship Polydorus after a 50-hour pursuit, the longest recorded by any U-boat in the Second World War.[8]
Off Cape San Roque, Brazil, on 13 December 1942 the crew of U-176 boarded the 1,629 ton Swedish cargo ship Scania, and sank her with scuttling charges after the crew had abandoned ship.[9] On 16 December she sank the unescorted 5,881 ton British cargo ship Observer with two torpedoes.[10]
U-176 arrived back at Lorient on 18 February 1943 after a patrol lasting 102 days.[11]
Prior to the sinking of the Scania a young seaman, Gottfrid Sundberg, furtively photographed U-176 from the Scania.[12][13][14]
U-176 sailed for her third and final patrol on 6 April 1943 from Lorient, and sailed across the Atlantic and into the Caribbean Sea. On 1 May 1943 her commander was notified of his promotion to Korvettenkapitän.[7]
On 13 May 1943 U-176 attacked Convoy NC 18 only five miles off the northern coast of Cuba, and sank the 2,249 ton American tanker Nickeliner, loaded with 3,400 tons of ammonia water,[15] and the 1,983 ton Cuban molasses tanker Mambí.[16]
On 15 May, the Cuban merchant ship Camagüey, and the Honduran Hanks, both loaded with sugar, sailed from Sagua La Grande, bound for Havana, escorted by the Cuban submarine chasers CS-11, CS-12, and CS-13. At 17:15 hours, a U.S. Navy Kingfisher from squadron VS-62 operating from Cuba spotted U-176 at and dropped a smoke float to mark her position about one and a half miles astern the convoy. CS-13 located the U-boat with her sonar, attacked with depth charges, and sank U-176.[17]
On 7 January 1944 KrvKpt. Reiner Dierksen was posthumously awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold.[7]
CS-13 was commanded by the Cuban Navy Alférez de Fragata Mario Ramirez Delgado,[18] the only Cuban national to sink a U-boat during World War II.[19] In 1946, Delgado, promoted to Lieutenant, was awarded the Orden del Mérito Naval con Distintivo Rojo (Meritorious Naval Service Order with Red Badge). Rear Admiral Samuel E. Morison, official historian of the US Navy, recognized his success in his work History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, where he also praised the ability and efficiency of the Cuban seamen.[20]
| “ | The CS-13 patrol boat, commanded by Second Lieutenant Mario Ramirez Delgado, turned toward the gas, made good contact through the sonar and launched two perfect attacks with deep charges which annihilated the U-176. This was the only successful attack against a submarine done by a surface unit smaller than a PCE of 180 feet, thus, the sinking is properly considered with great pride by the small but efficient Cuban Navy. | ” |
| Date[21] | Name | Tons | Nat. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 August 1942 | Richmond Castle | 7,798 | |
| 8 August 1942 | Kelso | 3,956 | |
| Mount Kassion | 7,914 | ||
| Trehata | 4,817 | ||
| 9 August 1942 | Radchurch | 3,701 | |
| 25 August 1942 | Empire Breeze | 7,457 | |
| 27 November 1942 | Polydorus | 5,922 | |
| 13 December 1942 | Scania | 1,629 | |
| 16 December 1942 | Observer | 5,881 | |
| 13 May 1943 | Mambí | 1,983 | |
| Nickeliner | 2,249 |
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