German submarine U-249
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-249 |
| Ordered: | 5 June 1941 |
| Builder: | Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft, Kiel |
| Yard number: | 683 |
| Laid down: | 23 January 1943 |
| Launched: | 23 October 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 20 November 1943 |
| Fate: | Surrendered, May 1945; sunk as part of Operation Deadlight in December |
| 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 F46 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 (32.8 km/h; 20.4 mph) surfaced 7.6 knots (14.1 km/h; 8.7 mph) submerged |
| Range: |
15,170 km (8,190 nmi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced 150 km (81 nmi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged |
| Test depth: |
230 m (750 ft) Crush depth: 250–295 m (820–968 ft) |
| Complement: | 44–52 officers and ratings |
| Armament: |
5 × 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes (four bow, one stern) 14 × G7e torpedoes or 26 TMA mines 1 × 8.8 cm (3.46 in) deck gun(220 rounds) Various AA guns |
| Service record[1] | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
5th U-boat Flotilla (20 November 1943–1 January 1944) 5th U-boat Flotilla (17 July–9 May 1945) |
| Commanders: |
Oblt.z.S. Rolf Lindschau (20 November 1943–16 July 1944) Oblt.z.S. Uwe Kock (17 July 1943–9 May 1945) |
| Operations: |
Two patrols: 7 March–16 March 1945 3 April–10 May 1945 |
| Victories: | None |
German submarine U-249 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 23 January 1943 at the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft yard at Kiel as 'werk' 683, launched on 23 October 1943 and commissioned on 20 November under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Rolf Lindschau.[1]
In two patrols, she sank no ships.
She surrendered in May 1945 and was sunk in December as part of Operation Deadlight.
Service history
After training with the 5th U-boat Flotilla at Kiel, U-249 remained with that organization for front-line service from 1 January 1945.
1st patrol
The boat's first patrol was preceded by a pair of short trips between Kiel in Germany, and Kristiansand and Bergen in Norway. Her first sortie proper started with her departure from Bergen on 7 March 1945. It finished in the same port on 16 March. While sailing on another non-classifiable voyage, she shot a Mosquito of No. 235 Squadron RAF down. The pilot was captured.
2nd patrol and surrender
She left Bergen on 3 April 1945[citation needed] and arrived at Portland, UK, flying the black flag of surrender on 10 May.[2]
She was then briefly used by the British as the research ship N 86 before being transferred to Loch Ryan in Scotland for Operation Deadlight. She was sunk on 13 December 1945.[3]
In May 2013 her official visitors' book, and Captain Kock's fixed-focus Zeiss binoculars, taken as spoils of war by the British officer who commanded her prize crew, were shown on the BBC television series Antiques Roadshow by the officer's son, himself a former submarine captain, who used the binoculars during his career.[2]
See also
- List of German U-boats
References
- Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Type VIIC boat U-249 - German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net". uboat.net.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Chepstow Racecourse 1". Antiques Roadshow. Series 35. Episode 22. 2013-05-05. BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00zjmx6. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
- ↑ http://uboat.net/boats/u249/htm
- Bibliography
External links
- U-249 at u-boot-archiv.de (German)
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