German submarine U-21 (1936)
| Career (Nazi Germany) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-21 |
| Fate: | Stranded, March 1940 after running aground in southern Noorway |
| 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 nmi (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: |
|
| Service record | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
Kriegsmarine 1st U-boat Flotilla 3rd U-boat Flotilla 21st U-boat Flotilla 30th U-boat Flotilla |
| Commanders: |
|
| Operations: |
16; 1st patrol: 25 August–5 September 1939 2nd patrol: 9 September–1 October 1939 3rd patrol: 22 October–8 November 1939 4th patrol: 27 November–5 December 1939 5th patrol: 17–24 December 1939 6th patrol: 27 January–9 February 1940 7th patrol: 21–27 March 1940 |
| Victories: |
Five ships sunk for a total of 10,706 GRT one auxiliary warship sunk, of 605 GRT; one warship damaged of 11,500 tons |
German submarine U-21 was a Type IIB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Her keel was laid down 4 March 1936, by Germaniawerft of Kiel as yard number 551. She was commissioned on 3 August 1936. During World War II, she conducted operations against enemy shipping.
U-21 went on seven war patrols, sinking five ships, one auxiliary warship and damaging one warship.
Operational history
1st, 2nd and 3rd patrols
U-21 's first patrol was relatively uneventful.
On her second foray, the boat was attacked by the British submarine HMS Ursulawhich fired six torpedoes at her in the North Sea northeast of Berwick-Upon-Tweed [On the English/Scottish border] on 17 September 1939. These were the first submarine weapons launched by the Royal Navy in the Second World War. They all missed.
On her third patrol, the U-boat also had torpedoes fired at her in the central North Sea by another British submarine, HMS Sealion. The result was inconclusive as well.
4th and 5th patrols
The boat's first success with a torpedo came on 1 December 1939 when she sank the Finnish-registered Mercator about 12 nmi (22 km; 14 mi) southeast of Buchan Ness (near Peterhead). She also damaged the British cruiser HMS Belfast with a mine.
On her fifth sortie, she sank Mars on 21 December 1939 and Carl Henckel (both from Sweden), on the same day. She also sank the British boom defence vessel HMS Bayonet in the Firth of Forth,[2] again with a mine.
6th patrol
Patrol number six saw her sink the Danish Vidar 100 nmi (190 km; 120 mi) east of the Moray Firth[3] on 31 January 1940.
7th patrol
She sank the British Royal Archer with a mine on 26 February 1940, but then it all went horribly wrong on 27 March when she ran aground off Oldknuppen Island after a navigational error. The boat was towed to Mandal in Norway where she was interned. She was then towed to Kristiansand for repairs and released on 9 April after the German occupation of the Nordic country.
Fate
In July she was transferred to the 21st U-boat Flotilla in Kiel as a training boat, with whom she remained for the rest of the war. U-21 was scrapped in February 1945.[4]
Summary of raiding career
| Date | Name | Nationality | Tonnage (GRT) |
Fate[5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 November 1939 | HMS Belfast |  Royal Navy |
11,500 | Damaged (mine) |
| 1 December 1939 | Mercator |  Finland |
4,620 | Sunk |
| 21 December 1939 | Carl Henckel |  Sweden |
1,352 | Sunk |
| 21 December 1939 | HMS Bayonet | Royal Navy |
605 | Sunk (mine) |
| 21 December 1939 | Mars | Sweden |
1,475 | Sunk |
| 31 January 1940 | Vidar |  Denmark |
1,353 | Sunk |
| 24 February 1940 | Royal Archer |  United Kingdom |
2,266 | Sunk (mine) |
References
- ↑ Gröner 1985, p. 67.
- ↑ The Times Atlas of the World - Third edition, revised 1995, ISBN 0 7230 0809 4, p. 10
- ↑ The Times Atlas of the World, p. 10
- ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type II boat U-21". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-21". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
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 II boat U-21". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- ubootwaffe.net webpage about U-21
- Hofmann, Markus. "U 21". Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 - u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 2014-12-06.
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