German submarine U-121 (1940)
| Career (Nazi Germany) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-121 |
| Ordered: | 28 September 1937 |
| Builder: | Flender Werke, Lübeck |
| Yard number: | 269 |
| Laid down: | 16 April 1938 |
| Launched: | 20 April 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 28 May 1940 |
| Fate: | Scuttled 2 May 1945 at Bremerhaven |
| Status: | Raised and scrapped, 1950 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type: | IIB |
| Type: | Coastal submarine |
| Displacement: | 279 t (275 long tons) surfaced 328 t (323 long tons) submerged |
| Length: | 42.70 m (140 ft 1 in) |
| Beam: | 4.08 m (13 ft 5 in) |
| Draft: | 3.90 m (12 ft 10 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × propeller shafts 2 × MWM four-stroke diesel engines, 700 shp (520 kW) 2 × Siemens-Schuckert electric motor, 360 shp (270 kW) |
| Speed: | 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) surfaced 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph) submerged |
| Range: | 1,800 nautical miles (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) surfaced 35–43 nmi (65–80 km; 40–49 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged |
| Test depth: | 80 m (260 ft) |
| Complement: | 3 officers, 22 men |
| Armament: |
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| Service record | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
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| Commanders: |
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| Operations: | No patrols |
| Victories: | No ships sunk or damaged |
German submarine U-121 was a long-lived Type IIB U-boat built during World War II for service in Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. U-121 spent the entire war as a training vessel and was scuttled at the end of the conflict.
U-121 was one of two Type II U-boats built at Flender Werke in Lübeck. Like her sister boat U-120 (also built in Lübeck), she was originally constructed for export to China. The advent of World War II and the increased training needs of the U-Boot-Waffe led the German high command to assign U-120 and U-121 to the training command instead.[2]
Built for China
The Chinese Nationalist Government used 10,000,000 Marks to order two Type IIB U-boats in 1937. They also dispatched 80 men to Germany for training in submarine operations. The Japanese Government complained over this transaction, so the Chinese took their money back and the pair of Type IIB submarines joined the Kriegsmarine after the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe. They were U-120 and U-121.
References
- ↑ Gröner 1985, p. 67.
- ↑ Blair (1996), 178-179.
Bibliography
- Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999). Deutsche U-Boot-Verluste von September 1939 bis Mai 1945. Der U-Boot-Krieg (in German) IV (Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn: Mittler). ISBN 3-8132-0514-2.
- Gröner, Erich (1985). U-Boote, Hilfskreuzer, Minenschiffe, Netzleger, Sperrbrecher. Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815-1945 (in German) III (Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe). ISBN 3-7637-4802-4.
- Blair, Clay (1996). Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939-1942. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-58839-8.
External links
- Hofmann, Markus. "U 121". Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 - u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 31 January 2015.
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type IIB boat U-121". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
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