German submarine U-424
| Career (Nazi Germany) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-424 |
| Ordered: | 10 April 1941 |
| Builder: | Danziger Werft, Danzig |
| Yard number: | 125 |
| Laid down: | 16 April 1942 |
| Launched: | 28 November 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 7 April 1943 |
| Fate: | Sunk by British warships southwest of Ireland, February 1944[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[3] | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
8th U-boat Flotilla (7 April–30 September 1943) 1st U-boat Flotilla (1 October–11 February 1944) |
| Commanders: |
Oblt.z.S. Günter Lüders (7 April 1943–11 February 1944) |
| Operations: |
1st patrol: 22 October–15 December 1943 2nd patrol: 29 January–11 February 1944 |
| Victories: | None |
German submarine U-424 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.
She carried out two patrols. She was a member of four wolfpacks. She not sink or damage any ships.
She was sunk by British warships southwest of Ireland in February 1944.[1][3]
Service history
The submarine was laid down on 16 April 1942 at the Danziger Werft (yard) at Danzig (now Gdansk), as yard number 125, launched on 28 November and commissioned on 7 April 1943 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Günter Lüders.
She served with the 8th U-boat Flotilla from 7 April 1942 and the 1st flotilla from 1 October 1943.
Patrols and loss
The boat's first patrol was preceded by a trip from Kiel in Germany to Trondheim in Norway. U-424 then left Trondheim on 22 October 1943 and headed for the Atlantic Ocean via the gap between Iceland and the Faroe Islands, arriving in Brest in occupied France on 15 December.
Her second sortie began on 29 January 1944. On 11 February, she was attacked and sunk by depth charges dropped by the British sloops HMS Wild Goose and HMS Woodpecker .
Fifty men went down with the U-boat; there were no survivors.
Wolfpacks
U-424 took part in four wolfpacks, namely.
- Eisenhart 2 (9–15 November 1943)
- Schill 3 (18–22 November 1943)
- Weddigen (22 November - 7 December 1943)
- Igel 2 (3–11 February 1944)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kemp 1999, p. 169.
- ↑ Gröner 1985, pp. 72-74.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-424". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
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.
- Kemp, Paul (1999). U-Boats Destroyed - German Submarine Losses in the World Wars. London: Arms & Armour. ISBN 1-85409-515-3.
External links
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-424". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- U-424 at ubootwaffe.net