German submarine U-444
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-444 |
| Ordered: | 13 April 1940 |
| Builder: | F. Schicau GmbH, Danzig |
| Yard number: | 1499 |
| Laid down: | 10 February 1941 |
| Launched: | 26 February 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 9 May 1942 |
| Fate: | Sunk by Allied warships in mid-Atlantic, March 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 (9 May–31 December 1942) 3rd U-boat Flotilla (1 January–11 March 1943) |
| Commanders: |
Oblt.z.S. Albert Langfeld (9 May 1942–11 March 1943) |
| Operations: |
1st patrol: 17 December 1942–3 February 1943 2nd patrol: 1–11 March 1943 |
| Victories: | None |
German submarine U-444 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.
She carried out two patrols. She sank no ships.
She was a member of three wolfpacks.
She was sunk by Allied warships in mid-Atlantic in March 1943.[1]
Service history
The submarine was laid down on 10 February 1941 at F. Schicau GmbH in Danzig (now Gdansk) as 'werk' 1499, launched on 26 February 1942 and commissioned on 9 May under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Albert Langfeld.
She served with the 8th U-boat Flotilla from 9 May 1942 for training and the 3rd flotilla from 1 January 1943 for operations.
1st patrol
U-432's first patrol began from Kiel in Germany on 17 December 1942. She headed for the Atlantic Ocean, via the 'gap' separating the Faroe and Shetland Islands. She arrived at La Pallice in occupied France on 3 February 1943.
2nd patrol and loss
U-444 left La Pallice on 1 March 1943; on the 11th she was sunk in mid-Atlantic by a combination of depth charges and ramming by the British destroyer HMS Harvester and the Free French corvette Aconit.
Forty-one men went down with U-444; there were four survivors.[3][4]
References
- Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kemp, Paul: U-Boats Destroyed - German Submarine Losses in the World Wars, 1997, Arms & Armour, ISBN 1-85409-515-3, p. 106
- ↑ "The Type VIIC boat U-444 - German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net". www.uboat.net. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
- ↑ http://uboat.net/boats/u444/htm
- ↑ Kemp, p. 106.
- Bibliography
See also
- List of German U-boats
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Coordinates: 51°14′N 29°18′W / 51.233°N 29.300°W