German submarine U-196
| Career (Nazi Germany) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-196 |
| Ordered: | 4 November 1940 |
| Builder: | AG Weser, Bremen |
| Yard number: | 1042 |
| Laid down: | 10 June 1941 |
| Launched: | 24 April 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 11 September 1942 |
| Fate: | Unknown; listed as missing ~ 12 December 1944 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type: | Type IXD2 submarine |
| Displacement: | 1,616 t (1,590 long tons) surfaced 1,804 t (1,776 long tons) submerged |
| Length: | Overall: 87.60 m (287.4 ft) Pressure hull: 68.50 m (224.7 ft) |
| Beam: | Overall: 7.50 m (24.6 ft) Pressure hull: 4.40 m (14.4 ft) |
| Draught: | 5.40 m (17.7 ft) |
| Propulsion: | surfaced 4,400 hp submerged 1,000 hp |
| Speed: | surfaced 19.2 knots (35.6 km/h; 22.1 mph) submerged 6.9 knots (12.8 km/h; 7.9 mph) |
| Range: | surfaced 12,750 nmi (23,610 km; 14,670 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) submerged 57 nmi (106 km; 66 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) |
| Test depth: | Calculated crush depth: 230 m (750 ft) |
| Complement: | 65 |
| Armament: |
|
| Service record[2][3] | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
4th U-boat Flotilla (11 September 1942–31 March 1943) 12th U-boat Flotilla (1 April 1943–30 September 1944) 33rd U-boat Flotilla (1 October–1 December 1944) |
| Commanders: |
|
| Operations: |
Three 1st patrol: 13 March–23 October 1943 2nd patrol: 16 March–10 August 1944 3rd patrol: 30 November–~12 December 1944 |
| Victories: | Three commercial ships sunk (17,739 GRT) |
German submarine U-196 was a Type IXD2 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 10 June 1941 at the AG Weser yard in Bremen, launched on 24 April 1942, and commissioned on 11 September 1942 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat. After training with the 4th U-boat Flotilla at Stettin, U-196 was transferred to the 12th flotilla for front-line service on 1 April 1943.[2]
Service history
1st patrol
Under Kentrat's command she completed the longest patrol made by a submarine during World War II, leaving Kiel on 13 March 1943, and returning to Bordeaux on 23 October 1943, spending 225 days at sea.[2] During that time she sailed all the way around the coast of South Africa and sank two British merchant ships in the Indian Ocean.[4]
2nd patrol
U-196 sailed from Bordeaux on 16 March 1944 along with U-181 for service in the Far East.[5] En route she sank a British freighter in the Indian Ocean. U-196 arrived at Penang on 10 August 1944.[6]
3rd patrol
U-196 was transferred to the 33rd U-boat Flotilla on 1 October 1944.[2] On 30 November, U-196 left Batavia (Java, in Indonesia), now commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Werner Striegler.[3] After departure U-196 was reassigned to refuel a sister U-boat in the Indian Ocean, but the rendezvous never took place. Efforts to contact U-196 during early December 1944 failed to elicit a response.
When she failed to return to Jakarta and failed repeatedly to signal her position, she was listed as missing in the Sunda Straits south of Java, effective from 12 December 1944.[7]
Her wreck has never been found, the cause of U-196 's sinking remain unknown. It has been suggested that she struck an Allied mine laid by the British submarine HMS Porpoise. However, Porpoise did not lay the mines until 9 December 1944.
Oberleutnant zur See Dr. Ing. Heinz Haake of U-196 is buried in a graveyard at Bogor, Java with members of the World War I German East Asia Squadron at Arca Domas, on the slopes of Mount Pangrango, Java. His date of death is listed on a memorial as 30 November 1944, the day U-196 sailed on her last voyage.[8]
Summary of raiding career
| Date | Name | Nationality | Tonnage (GRT) |
Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 May 1943 | Nailsea Meadow[9] |  United Kingdom |
4,962 | Sunk |
| 3 August 1943 | City of Oran[10] | United Kingdom |
7,323 | Sunk |
| 9 July 1944 | Shahzada[11] | United Kingdom |
5,454 | Sunk |
References
- ↑ Gröner 1985, pp. 105-7.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type IXD2 boat U-196". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Helgason, Guðmundur. "War Patrols by German U-boat U-196". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol of U-boat U-196 from 13 March 1943 to 23 October 1943". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ↑ James E., Wise; Otto Giese (2003). Shooting the War: The Memoir and Photographs of a U-Boat Officer in World War II. Naval Institute Press. p. 179. ISBN 1-59114-298-9.
- ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol of U-boat U-196 from 16 March 1944 to 10 August 1944". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ↑ Niestlé, Axel (1998). German U-boat Losses During World War II: Details of Destruction. Naval Institute Press. p. 239. ISBN 1-55750-641-8.
- ↑ Bennett, Geoffrey (2006). The Pepper Trader: True Tales of the German East Asia Squadron and the Man who Cast Them in Stone. Equinox Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 979-3780-26-6.
- ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Nailsea Meadow (Steam merchant)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "City of Oran (Steam merchant)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Shahzada (Steam merchant)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
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.
External links
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type IXD boat U-196". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
- U-196 at ubootwaffe.net
- Hofmann, Markus. "U 196". Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 - u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 7 December 2014.
- U-Historia
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