German submarine U-426
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-426 |
| Ordered: | 5 June 1941 |
| Builder: | Danziger Werft, Danzig |
| Yard number: | 127 |
| Laid down: | 20 June 1942 |
| Launched: | 6 February 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 12 May 1943 |
| Fate: | Sunk by an Australian aircraft, January 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 × 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 (12 May–30 September 1943) 11th U-boat Flotilla (1–31 October 1943) 1st U-boat Flotilla (1 November 1943–8 January 1944) |
| Commanders: |
Kptlt. Christian Reich (12 May 1943–8 January 1944) |
| Operations: |
1st patrol: 5 October–29 November 1943 2nd patrol: 3–8 January 1944 |
| Victories: | One ship sunk; 6,625 GRT |
German submarine U-426 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.
She carried out two patrols. She was a member of seven wolfpacks. She sank one ship.
She was sunk by an Australian aircraft in January 1944[3][4]
Service history
The submarine was laid down on 20 June 1942 at the Danziger Werft (yard) at Danzig (now Gdansk), as 'werk' 127, launched on 6 February 1943 and commissioned on 12 May under the command of Kapitänleutnant Christian Reich.
She served with the 8th U-boat Flotilla from 12 May 1943 and the 11th flotilla from 1 October of that year.
Patrols and loss
The boat's first patrol was preceded by a trip from Kiel in Germany to Bergen in Norway. U-426 then left Bergen on 5 October 1943 and headed for the Atlantic Ocean via the 'gap' between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. She sank the British ship Essex Lance on 15 October 408 nautical miles (756 km; 470 mi) east of Cape Farewell (Greenland). The submarine arrived in Brest in occupied France on 29 November.
Her second sortie began on 3 January 1944. On the 8th, she was attacked and sunk by depth charges dropped by an Australian Sunderland flying boat of No. 10 Squadron RAAF.
Fifty-one men went down with the U-boat; there were no survivors.
Summary of Raiding Career
| Date | Name | Nationality | Tonnage (GRT) |
Fate[5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 October 1943 | Essex Lance |  United Kingdom |
6,625 | Sunk |
References
- Notes
- ↑ Kemp, Paul: U-Boats Destroyed - German Submarine Losses in the World Wars, 1997, Arms & Armour, ISBN 1-85409-515-3, p. 163
- ↑ "The Type VIIC boat U-426 - German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net". www.uboat.net. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
- ↑ http://uboat.net/boats/u426/htm
- ↑ Kemp, p. 163
- ↑ uboat.net/successes/u426.html
- Bibliography
See also
- List of German U-boats
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