German submarine U-1226

Career (Nazi Germany)
Name: U-1226
Ordered: 25 August 1941
Builder: Deutsche Werft AG, Hamburg
Yard number: 389
Laid down: 11 January 1943
Launched: 21 August 1943
Commissioned: 24 November 1943
Fate: Lost on, or shortly after, 23 October 1944
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:Type IXC/40 submarine
Displacement:1,144 t (1,126 long tons) surfaced
1,257 t (1,237 long tons) submerged
Length:76.76 m (251 ft 10 in) o/a
58.75 m (192 ft 9 in) pressure hull
Beam:6.86 m (22 ft 6 in) o/a 4.44 m (14 ft 7 in) pressure hull
Height:9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draft:4.67 m (15 ft 4 in)
Propulsion:2 × MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged 9-cylinder diesel engines, 4,400 hp (3,281 kW)
2 × SSW 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors, 1,000 hp (746 kW)
Speed:19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) surfaced
7.3 knots (13.5 km/h; 8.4 mph) submerged
Range:13,850 nmi (25,650 km; 15,940 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced
63 nautical miles (117 km; 72 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth:230 m (750 ft)
Complement:4 officers, 44 enlisted
Armament:
  • 6 × torpedo tubes (four bow, two stern)
  • 22 × 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedoes
  • various anti-aircraft guns
Service record[2][3]
Part of: 31st U-boat Flotilla
(24 November 1943–31 July 1944)
2nd U-boat Flotilla
(1 August–30 September 1944)
33rd U-boat Flotilla
(1–28 October 1944)
Commanders: Oblt.z.S. August-Wilhelm Claussen
(24 November 1943–28 October 1944)
Operations: 1 war patrol
(30 September–23 October 1944)
Victories: None

German submarine U-1226 was a Type IXC/40 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

The U-boat, built for service in the Battle of the Atlantic, was completed in Hamburg in November 1943, and placed under the command of Oberleutnant zur See August-Wilhem Claussen (Crew X/37), whose brother Emil had been killed on board U-469 the previous year. She underwent working up cruises in the Baltic Sea before embarking on her only operational patrol from Horten in Norway during September 1944.

Service history

This patrol was uneventful for the first three weeks during the Atlantic crossing as she deliberately avoided the highly-effective allied countermeasures. The last contact with the boat was on 23 October 1944 reporting trouble with its Schnorchel underwater-breathing apparatus after which nothing more was heard from her. It is possible she was sunk in an unrecorded encounter with an Allied ship or aircraft, or more likely she suffered some unknown catastrophic accident which claimed the boat and all its crew.[4]

Whatever the cause, she was given up for lost in mid-November. Her remains were claimed to have been found east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1993 however, this identification is unlikely. The vessels last radio contact instructed the submarine to maintain its faulty snorkel in the upright position and return to base, giving U-1226‍ '​s position as 327 nmi (605 km) south of Iceland at 56°30′N 20°00′W / 56.500°N 20.000°WCoordinates: 56°30′N 20°00′W / 56.500°N 20.000°W.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Gröner 1985, pp. 105-7.
  2. ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type IXC/40 boat U-1226". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  3. ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "War Patrols by German U-boat U-1226". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  4. ↑ A large number of German U-boats had been lost to snorkel defects, and its possible this was the cause of the loss of U-1226
  5. ↑ U-Boat Didn't Sink in Waters Off Cape Cod New York Times 21 July 1993

Bibliography

External links