German submarine U-346
| Career (Nazi Germany) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-346 |
| Ordered: | 10 April 1941 |
| Builder: | Nordseewerke, Emden |
| Yard number: | 218 |
| Laid down: | 28 October 1942 |
| Launched: | 13 April 1943[1] |
| Commissioned: | 7 June 1943[1] |
| Fate: | Sunk in an accident, 20 September 1943[1] |
| General characteristics [2] | |
| Class and type: | Type VIIC submarine |
| Displacement: | 769 tonnes (757 long tons) surfaced 871 t (857 long tons) submerged |
| Length: | 67.1 m (220 ft 2 in) o/a 50.5 m (165 ft 8 in) pressure hull |
| Beam: | 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in) o/a 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) pressure hull |
| Height: | 9.6 m (31 ft 6 in) |
| Draft: | 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × supercharged Germaniawerft 6-cylinder 4-stroke F46 diesel engines, totalling 2,800–3,200 bhp (2,100–2,400 kW). Max rpm: 470-490 2 × electric motors, totalling 750 shp (560 kW) and max rpm: 296 |
| Speed: | 17.7 knots (32.8 km/h; 20.4 mph) surfaced 7.6 knots (14.1 km/h; 8.7 mph) submerged |
| Range: | 8,500 nmi (15,700 km; 9,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced 80 nmi (150 km; 92 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged |
| Test depth: | 230 m (750 ft) Crush depth: 250–295 m (820–968 ft) |
| Complement: | 44–52 officers and ratings |
| Armament: |
|
| Service record | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
8th U-boat Flotilla (7 June–20 September 1943) |
| Commanders: |
Kptlt. Arno Leisten (7 June–20 September 1943) |
| Operations: | None |
| Victories: | None |
German submarine U-346 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was laid down at the Nordseewerke in Emden as werk 218 on 28 October 1942, launched on 13 April 1943 and commissioned on 7 June of the same year under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Arno Leisten. She had been built for operations during the Battle of the Atlantic, but was the victim of an accident before she started operations.
On 20 September 1943, the boat was undergoing diving trials as part of the 8th U-boat flotilla in Danzig Bay in the Baltic Sea; an unknown mechanical fault occurred, sending the submarine into a crash dive from which she never recovered, descending to the bottom of the bay, where she and her crew remain to this day. 37 people died on U-346, but unfortunately for the Kriegsmarine, the personnel aboard the boat were not regular U-boat crew, but a combination of the ship's officers (who were all killed), and dockyard experts on submarine operating systems (six of whom escaped the wreck), whose loss was far more severe than the loss of the boat of its crew, had they been aboard.
References
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.
- Sharpe, Peter (1998). U-Boat Fact File. Great Britain: Midland Publishing. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.
- Kemp, Paul (1999). U-Boats Destroyed - German Submarine Losses in the World Wars. London: Arms & Armour. ISBN 1-85409-515-3.
External links
- Hofmann, Markus. "U 346". Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 - u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-346". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 26 December 2014.