German submarine U-449
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-449 |
| Ordered: | 21 November 1940 |
| Builder: | F. Schicau GmbH, Danzig |
| Yard number: | 1520 |
| Laid down: | 13 June 1941 |
| Launched: | 13 June 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 22 August 1942 |
| Fate: | Sunk by British warships northwest of Cape Ortegal, June 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 (22 August 1942–30 April 1943) 7th U-boat Flotilla (1 May–24 June 1943) |
| Commanders: |
Oblt.z.S. Hermann Otto (22 August 1942–24 June 1943) |
| Operations: | 1–24 June 1943 |
| Victories: | None |
German submarine U-449 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.
She carried out one patrol. She sank no ships.
She was sunk by British warships northwest of Cape Ortegal, Spain in June 1943.[3]
Service history
The submarine was laid down on 17 July 1941 at F. Schicau GmbH in Danzig (now Gdansk) as 'werk' 1520, launched on 13 June 1942 and commissioned on 22 August under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Hermann Otto.
She served with the 8th U-boat Flotilla from 22 August 1942 for training and the 7th flotilla from 1 May 1943 for operations.
Patrol and loss
U-432's only patrol began with her departure from Kiel in Germany on 1 June 1942. She headed for the Atlantic Ocean, via the 'gap' separating Iceland and the Faroe Islands. On the 14th, she was attacked in mid-Atlantic by a British B-24 Liberator of No. 120 Squadron RAF. The damage caused was slight.
On 24 June, no less than four British sloops were responsible for her doom. HMS Wren, Woodpecker, Kite and Wild Goose dropped a relentless wave of depth charges which sealed the U-boat's fate.
Forty-nine men went down with U-449; there were no 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, p. 127
- ↑ "The Type VIIC boat U-449 - German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net". www.uboat.net. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
- ↑ Kemp, p. 127
- ↑ http://uboat.net/boats/u449/htm
- ↑ Kemp, p. 127.
- Bibliography
See also
- List of German U-boats
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates: 45°00′N 11°59′W / 45.000°N 11.983°W