German submarine U-422
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-422 |
| Ordered: | 10 April 1941 |
| Builder: | Danziger Werft, Danzig |
| Yard number: | 123 |
| Laid down: | 11 February 1942 |
| Launched: | 10 October 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 10 February 1943 |
| Fate: | Sunk by an American aircraft north of the Azores, October 1943[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 × 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 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 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: |
8th U-boat Flotilla (10 February–31 July 1943) 1st U-boat Flotilla (1 August–4 October 1943) |
| Commanders: |
Oblt.z.S. Wolfgang Poeschel (10 February 1943–4 October 1943) |
| Operations: | 8 September–4 October 1943 |
| Victories: | None |
German submarine U-422 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.
She carried out one patrol. She was a member of one wolfpack. She did not sink or damage any ships.
She was sunk by an American aircraft north of the Azores in October 1943.[3][4]
Service history
The submarine was laid down on 11 February 1942 at the Danziger Werft (yard) at Danzig (now Gdansk), as 'werk' 123, launched on 10 October and commissioned on 10 February under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Wolfgang Poeschel.
She served with the 8th U-boat Flotilla from 10 February 1943 and the 1st flotilla from 1 August 1943.
Patrol and loss
The boat's only patrol was preceded by a trip from Kiel in Germany to Bergen in Norway. U-422 then left Bergen on 8 September 1943 and headed for the Atlantic Ocean via the 'gap' between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. U-422 was depth charged and strafed by what was reported as a Handley Page Halifax on the 23rd. Three men were wounded, two of them seriously. Medical assistance could only be given when the submarine rendezvoused with U-460, a 'milch cow' supply vessel.
On 4 October, she was attacked and sunk by a FIDO homing torpedo dropped by an American TBM Avenger which was accompanied by a F4F Wildcat. Both aircraft had come from the escort carrier USS Card.
Forty-nine men went down with the U-boat; there were no survivors.
References
- Notes
- ↑ Kemp, Paul: U-Boats Destroyed - German Submarine Losses in the World Wars, 1997, Arms & Armour, ISBN 1-85409-515-3, p. 148
- ↑ "The Type VIIC boat U-422 - German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net". www.uboat.net. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
- ↑ http://uboat.net/boats/u422/htm
- ↑ Kemp, p. 148
- Bibliography
See also
- List of German U-boats
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||