German submarine U-804

Career (Nazi Germany)
Name:	U-804
Ordered:	7 December 1940[1]
Builder:	Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG, Bremen[1]
Laid down:	1 December 1942[1]
Launched:	1 April 1943[1]
Commissioned:	4 December 1943[1]
Fate:	Sunk 9 April 1945 in the Skagerrak west of Göteborg, Sweden by rockets from RAF Mosquito aircraft (Sqdn 143 & 235). 55 dead (all hands lost).[2]
General characteristics
Class & type:	Type IXC/40 submarine
Displacement:	1,120 t (1,100 long tons) surfaced 1,232 t (1,213 long tons) submerged
Length:	76.8 m (252 ft) overall 58.7 m (192 ft 7 in) pressure hull
Beam:	6.9 m (22 ft 8 in) overall 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) pressure hull
Height:	9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draft:	4.7 m (15 ft 5 in)
Propulsion:	2 × MAN M9V40/46 supercharged 9-cylinder diesel engines, 4,400 hp (3,300 kW) 2 × SSW GU345/34 double-acting electric motors, 1,000 hp (740 kW)
Speed:	19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) surfaced 7.3 knots (13.5 km/h; 8.4 mph) submerged
Range:	25,620 nmi (47,450 km; 29,480 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced 117 nautical miles (217 km; 135 mi) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth:	230 m (750 ft)
Complement:	48 to 56
Armament:	6 × 55 cm (22 in) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 2 stern) 22 × torpedoes 1 × Utof 105 mm (4.1 in)/45 deck gun with 110 rounds

German submarine U-804 was a Type IXC/41 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. U-804 was ordered on 7 December 1940, and was laid down on 1 December 1942 at Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG, Bremen as 'werk 362'. She was launched on 1 April 1943 and commissioned under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Herbert Meyer on 4 December of that year.^[2][3]

Service Record

Training

U-804 began training exercises with the 4th U-boat Flotilla on 4 December 1943, and finished her sea trials on 30 June 1944. On 16 June 1944, U-804 was attacked by a Norwegian Mosquito aircraft from No. 333 Squadron RAF, but succeeded in shooting down its attacker at the cost of eight crew members wounded; only minor damage was inflicted on the submarine. The two-man crew of the Mosquito was picked up by U-1000 on 18 June, and taken to occupied Norway.^[2]

First patrol

U-804 began her first war patrol on 19 June 1944 (while still undergoing training) with the 10th U-boat Flotilla. She left Bergen and headed into the North Sea, passing north of the British Isles into the North Atlantic, where she remained for 116 days. On 2 August, during a special hunt for several submarines known to be transmitting weather information from stations in the central and north Atlantic (of which effort U-804 was a part), two American destroyer escorts, USS Fiske and Douglas L. Howard, were detached from the task group to investigate the whereabouts of U-804, which both had made contact with. Upon sighting the destroyers, the U-boat quickly dived, but the two escorts detected her on their sonar and began their attack approach. Suddenly, USS Fiske was torpedoed on her starboard side by U-804, and within 10 minutes, she broke in two. Thirty-three of her men were killed and 50 were wounded, but all the survivors were rescued by USS Farquhar. Amidst the confusion following the sinking of USS Fiske, U-804 slipped away and returned to her patrol.^[4][5]

Second patrol

On 12 October 1944, U-804 returned to the port of Flensburg after 116 days at sea. Five days later she left Flensburg for Kiel, where she remained until 4 April 1945 before leaving for occupied Norway. While en route in company with another of the flotilla's boats, U-1065, the two submarines were detected and attacked in the Skagerrak strait on 9 April 1945 by over 30 Mosquito aircraft from three Royal Air Force squadrons based at Banff. U-1065 succeeded in shooting down one of the attacking aircraft before being hit by several rockets fired by 10 Mosquitos from 143 and 235 Squadrons; she exploded and sank with the loss of her crew of 45 men.

U-804 suffered the same fate - after being hit by rockets from the attacking Mosquitos she also exploded and sank at 57.58N, 11.15E, with no survivors from her crew of 55 men.^[2][4]

See also

• List of German U-boats
• Battle of the Atlantic (1939–1945)
• Kriegsmarine

References