German submarine U-439
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-439 |
| Ordered: | 5 January 1940 |
| Builder: | F. Schicau GmbH, Danzig |
| Yard number: | 1490 |
| Laid down: | 1 April 1940 |
| Launched: | 11 October 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 20 December 1941 |
| Fate: | Sunk after a collision with another U-boat, May 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: |
5th U-boat Flotilla (20 December 1941–31 October 1942) 1st U-boat Flotilla (1 November 1942–4 May 1943) |
| Commanders: |
Kptlt. Wolfgang Sporn (20 December 1941–17 February 1943) Oberleutnant zur See Helmut von Tippelskirch (18 February–4 May 1943) |
| Operations: |
1st patrol: 12 November–24 December 1942 2nd patrol: 28 January–2 February 1943 3rd patrol: 22 February–28 March 1943 4th patrol: 27 April–4 May 1943 |
| Victories: | None |
German submarine U-439 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.
She carried out four patrols. She sank no ships.
She was a member of six wolfpacks.
She was sunk after a collision with another U-boat in May 1943.
Service history
The submarine was laid down on 1 October 1940 at F. Schicau GmbH in Danzig (now Gdansk) as 'werk' 1490, launched on 11 October 1941 and commissioned on 2 December under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Wolfgang Sporn.
She served with the 5th U-boat Flotilla from 20 December 1941 for training and the 1st flotilla from 1 November 1942 for operations.
1st patrol
U-432's first patrol was from Kiel in Germany. She headed for the Atlantic Ocean, via the 'gap' separating the Faroe and Shetland Islands. She arrived at Brest in occupied France on 24 December.
2nd and 3rd patrols
For her second sortie, she barely got out of the Bay of Biscay.
Her third foray took her into the middle of the North Atlantic.
4th patrol and loss
Having left Brest on 27 April 1943, she, along with U-659, were both shadowing a southbound convoy on 5 May in preparation for an attack on the surface when the two U-boats collided. Both boats sank.[3]
Forty men went down with U-439; there were nine survivors.[4][5]
References
- Notes
- ↑ Kemp, Paul: U-Boats Destroyed - German Submarine Losses in the World Wars, 1997, Arms & Armour, ISBN 1-85409-515-3, pp. 112-113
- ↑ "The Type VIIC boat U-439 - German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net". www.uboat.net. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
- ↑ Paterson, Lawrence - U-Boats in the Mediterranean 1941-1944, 2007, Chatham Publishing, ISBN 13: 9781861762900, p. 136.
- ↑ http://uboat.net/boats/u439/htm
- ↑ Kemp, pp. 112 and 113.
- Bibliography
See also
- List of German U-boats
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