German submarine U-547

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Career

Name:	U-547
Ordered:	5 June 1941
Builder:	Deutsche Werft, Hamburg
Laid down:	30 August 1942
Launched:	3 April 1943
Commissioned:	16 June 1943
Fate:	Mine damage in France, August 1944; possibly scuttled at Stettin, December 1944^[1]
General characteristics
Type:	Type IXC submarine
Displacement:	1,120 t (1,100 long tons) surfaced 1,232 t (1,213 long tons) submerged
Length:	76.8 m (252 ft 0 in) overall 58.7 m (192 ft 7 in) pressure hull
Beam:	6.8 m (22 ft 4 in) overall 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) pressure hull
Height:	9.4 m (30 ft 10 in)
Draft:	4.7 m (15 ft 5 in)
Propulsion:	2 × MAN M9V40/46 supercharged 9-cylinder diesel engines, 4,000 hp (2,983 kW) 2 × SSW GU345/34 double-acting electric motors, 1,000 hp (746 kW)
Speed:	18.2 knots (33.7 km/h) surfaced 7.3 knots (13.5 km/h) submerged
Range:	24,880 nmi (46,080 km; 28,630 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h) surfaced 117 nautical miles (217 km; 135 mi) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h) submerged
Test depth:	230 m (750 ft)
Complement:	48 to 56
Armament:	6 × torpedo tubes (four bow, two stern) 22 × 55 cm (22 in) torpedoes 1 × 10.5 cm SK C/32 naval gun^[2] (110 rounds)

Service record
Part of:	4th U-boat Flotilla (16 June–31 December 1943) 2nd U-boat Flotilla (1 January–30 September 1944) 33rd U-boat Flotilla (1 October–31 December 1944)
Commanders:	Frgkpt. Kurt Sturm (16 June 1943–18 April 1944) Oblt.z.S. Heinrich Niemeyer (18 April–31 December 1944)
Operations:	1st patrol: 25 December 1943–23 February 1944 2nd patrol: 30 April–11 August 1944 3rd patrol: 23 August–29 September 1944
Victories:	Two ships sunk, total 8,371 GRT; one auxilary warship of 750 GRT sunk

German submarine U-547 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

She was laid down at the Deutsche Werft (yard) in Hamburg as 'werk' 368 on 30 August 1942, launched on 3 April 1943 and commissioned on 16 June with Fregattenkapitän Kurt Sturm in command.

U-547 began her service career with training as part of the 4th U-boat Flotilla from 16 June 1943. She was re-assigned to the 2nd flotilla for operations on 1 January 1944, then the 33rd flotilla on 1 October.

She carried out three patrols and sank three ships; two of them totalled 8,371 GRT. She also sank an auxilary warship of 750 GRT. She was a member of four wolfpacks.

She was damaged by a mine in France in August 1944 and possibly scuttled at Stettin (the German name for what was then a city in Germany, but now is Szczecin in Poland), December 1944.^[3]

Operational career

1st patrol

U-547's first patrol began with her departure from Kiel on 25 December 1943. She passed through the 'gap' separating Iceland and the Faroe Islands before heading out into the Atlantic Ocean.

She entered Lorient, on the French Atlantic coast, on 23 February 1944.

2nd patrol

For her second foray, the boat headed for the west African coast. There, she sank the French ship Saint Basile off Liberia on 14 June 1944.

On 2 July, she sank the Dutch Bodegraven 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) south of Monrovia. The survivors were questioned, the master was taken prisoner.

She returned to France on 11 August 1944, but this time to Bordeaux.

3rd patrol and fate

U-547 was damaged by a mine on 13 August 1944 in the Gironde (where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge), near Pauillac in western France; she then retraced part of the route of her first patrol, arriving at Marviken in Kristiansand on 29 September and moving on to Flensburg on 4 October. She was taken out of service and possibly scuttled in Stettin (the German name for what was then a city in Germany, but now is Szczecin in Poland), on 31 December 1944.

Summary of Raiding Career

Date	Name	Nationality	Tonnage (GRT)	Fate^[4]
14 June 1944	HMS Birdlip	Royal Navy	750	Sunk
14 June 1944	Saint Basile	Free France	2,778	Sunk
2 July 1944	Bodegraven	Netherlands	5,593	Sunk

References

Notes

↑ Kemp, Paul: U-Boats Destroyed - German Submarine Losses in the World Wars, 1997, Arms & Armour, ISBN 1-85409-515-3, p. 210
↑ Campbell, John Naval Weapons of World War Two ISBN 0-87021-459-4 pp.248 and 249
↑ Kemp p. 210
↑ http://uboat.net/boats/successes/u547/html

External links

Uboat.net: U-547
ubootwaffe

v t e German Type IXC submarine

U-66 U-67 U-68 U-125 U-126 U-127 U-128 U-129 U-130 U-131 U-153 U-154 U-155 U-156 U-157 U-158 U-159 U-160 U-161 U-162 U-163 U-164 U-165 U-166 U-171 U-172 U-173 U-174 U-175 U-176 U-501 U-502 U-503 U-504 U-505 U-506 U-507 U-508 U-509 U-510 U-511 U-512 U-513 U-514 U-515 U-516 U-517 U-518 U-519 U-520 U-521 U-522 U-523 U-524 U-533

Preceded by: Type IXB Followed by: Type IXC/40

List of U-boats of Germany

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