German submarine U-843

Career
Name:	U-843
Ordered:	20 January 1941
Builder:	AG Weser, Bremen
Yard number:	1049
Laid down:	21 April 1942
Launched:	15 December 1942
Commissioned:	24 March 1943
Fate:	Sunk, 9 April 1945
General characteristics
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 0 in) o/a 58.7 m (192 ft 7 in) pressure hull
Beam:	6.9 m (22 ft 8 in) o/a 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 (3,281 kW) 2 × SSW GU345/34 double-acting electric motors, 1,000 hp (746 kW)
Speed:	19 knots (35 km/h) surfaced 7.3 knots (13.5 km/h) submerged
Range:	25,620 nmi (47,450 km; 29,480 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 (4 bow, 2 stern) 22 × 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedoes 1 × Utof 105 mm/45 deck gun (110 rounds) AA guns

German submarine U-843 was a Type IXC/40 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 21 April 1942 at the AG Weser yard in Bremen, launched on 15 December 1942, and commissioned on 24 March 1943 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Oskar Herwartz. After training with 4th U-boat Flotilla in the Baltic Sea, U-843 was transferred to 2nd U-boat Flotilla on 1 November 1943 for front-line service, and was transferred to 33rd U-boat Flotilla on 1 October 1944. She carried out three war patrols, sinking one ship, and was sunk by a British aircraft in April 1945. In 1958 the wreck was raised, and then broken up at Gothenburg.^[1]

Service history

1st patrol

U-843 first sailed from Kiel on 7 October 1943, arriving at Trondheim, Norway, on the 12th.^[2] She commenced her first war patrol on 15 October, and headed out into the northern Atlantic. However, she had no successes, and finally arrived at Lorient, France, on 15 December after a voyage lasting 62 days.^[3]

2nd patrol

The U-boat left Lorient on 19 February 1944, bound for the Indian Ocean.^[4] En route, on 8 April, she torpedoed and sank the unescorted 8,261 ton British merchant ship Nebraska, dispersed from Convoy OS-71, south-west of Ascension Island. Two crew members were lost, while the master, 55 crewmen, eight gunners, and two stowaways were rescued.^[5] Oskar Herwarts surfaced U-843 and offered assistance to the three lifeboats launched from the Nebraska. This included charts torn from a chart atlas and gave position and course to steer to Brazil. Two lifeboats made landfall close to Recife months later. A third boat was rescued by a British warship after several weeks.

An American B-24 bomber of US Navy Squadron VB-107 attacked the U-boat on 10 April, damaging its stern torpedo tubes. The U-boat abandoned its planned operations off Cape Town and continued into the Indian Ocean. U-843 arrived at the Japanese-controlled port of Batavia, Dutch East Indies, on 11 June after 114 days at sea.^[4] The U-boat then sailed to Singapore on 13–15 June, remaining there until 1 November, before returning to Batavia.^[2]

3rd patrol

U-843 departed Batavia on 10 December 1944 with a cargo of zinc,^[6] and sailed back across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape, and up through the Atlantic, arriving back in Bergen, Norway, on 3 April 1945.^[7]

Leaving Bergen on 6 April,^[2] the U-843 was sunk on the 9 April, in the Kattegat, west of Gothenburg, in position 57°32′N 11°23′E / 57.533°N 11.383°E / 57.533; 11.383Coordinates: 57°32′N 11°23′E / 57.533°N 11.383°E / 57.533; 11.383, by rockets from a British Mosquito fighter-bomber of No. 235 Squadron RAF. Of the U-boat's crew of 56, only 12 survived.^[1]

References

Notes

Bibliography

• U-843 at uboat.net
• U-843 at ubootwaffe.net
• Bishop, C. Kriegsmarine U-Boats, 1939-45. Amber Books, 2006.

See also

• List of German U-boats