German submarine U-386

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Career
Name: U-386
Ordered: 15 August 1940
Builder: Howaldtswerke, Kiel
Yard number: 17
Launched: 19 August 1942
Commissioned: 10 October 1942
Fate: Sunk by a British warship in February 1944[1]
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 × GL RP 137/c 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[2]
Part of: 5th U-boat Flotilla
(10 October 194230 April 1943)
6th U-boat Flotilla
(1 May19 February 1944)
Commanders: Oblt.z.S.. Hans-Albrecht Kandler
(10 October 194210 June 1943)
Oblt.z.S. Fritz Albrecht
(10 June 194319 February 1944)
Operations: Four patrols:
15 April11 May 1943
29 June11 May 1943
29 August8 October 1943
26 December 194319 February 1944
Victories: One ship of 1,997 GRT

German submarine U-386 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

She carried out four patrols. She sank one ship.

She was a member of five wolf packs.

She was sunk by a British warship in mid-Atlantic in February 1944.[3]

Service history

The submarine was laid down on 16 May 1941 at the Howaldtswerke yard at Kiel as 'werk' 17, launched on 19 August 1942 and commissioned on 10 October under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Albrecht Kandler.

She served with the 5th U-boat Flotilla from 10 October 1942 and the 6th flotilla from 1 May 1943 until her loss.

1st patrol

U-386's first patrol took her from Kiel in Germany to St. Nazaire in occupied France via the 'gap' between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. She sank the Rosenborg which went down in 30 seconds. Two survivors were picked up.
The boat was attacked by the escorts of Convoy ON (S) 5 on 28 April 1943. Severe damage was caused.

2nd and 3rd patrols

The submarine's second sortie was relatively uneventful, but her third, which commenced on 29 August 1943, included a surprise attack by an unidentified aircraft off Cape Finisterre on 6 September. The boat was caught unaware due to the malfunctioning of the Wanze detector. Wanze means 'bug' in German.
She was also attacked by a British B-24 Liberator of No. 120 Squadron RAF on the 20th. The aircraft dropped a homing torpedo which caused no damage.

U-386 was forced into breaking off an attack a day later after being heavily depth charged.

4th patrol and loss

Survivors from U-406 and U-386 being brought ashore from HMS SPEY at Liverpool.

The boat had departed St. Nazaire on 26 December 1943. Exactly a month later (26 January 1944), she was off the west coast of Scotland, north of the island of Islay.[4] She was sunk by depth charges dropped by the British frigate HMS Spey on 19 February 1944.

Thirty-three men died from the U-boat; there were 16 survivors.[3]

Summary of Raiding Career

Date Ship Name Nationality Displacement Fate[5]
25 April 1943 Rosenborg  United Kingdom 1,997 Sunk

References

Notes
  1. Kemp, Paul: U-Boats Destroyed - German Submarine Losses in the World Wars, 1997, Arms & Armour, ISBN 1-85409-515-3, pp. 170-171
  2. "The Type VIIC boat U-386 - German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net". www.uboat.net. Retrieved 7 September 2012. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 http://uboat.net/boats/u386/htm
  4. The Times Atlas of the World - Third edition, revised 1995, ISBN 0 7230 0809 4, p. 8.
  5. http://uboat.net/boats/successes/u386/html
Bibliography

See also

  • List of German U-boats


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