German submarine U-425
| Career (Nazi Germany) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-425 |
| Ordered: | 5 June 1941 |
| Builder: | Danziger Werft, Danzig |
| Yard number: | 126 |
| Laid down: | 23 May 1942 |
| Launched: | 19 December 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 21 April 1943 |
| Fate: | Sunk by British warships, near Murmansk, February 1945[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 (21 April–31 October 1943) 9th U-boat Flotilla (1 November–31 December 1943) 11th U-boat Flotilla (1 January–28 September 1944) 13th U-boat Flotilla (15 September–17 February 1945) |
| Commanders: |
Kptlt. Heinz Bentzien (21 April 1943–17 February 1945) |
| Operations: |
1st patrol: 20–25 November 1943 2nd patrol: 28 December 1943–2 February 1944 3rd patrol: 6–29 February 1944 4th patrol: 11 May–7 June 1944 5th patrol: 18 July–8 August 1944 6th patrol: a. 21–23 August 1944 b. 29 August–5 September 1944 c. 6–8 September 1944 7th patrol: a. 11–13 September 1944 b. 14 September–3 October 1944 8th patrol: a. 15–24 October 1944 b. 24 October–12 November 1944 9th patrol: 6–17 February 1945 |
| Victories: | None |
German submarine U-425 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.
She carried out nine patrols. She sank no ships.
She was a member of eight wolfpacks.
She was sunk by British warships, near Murmansk in February 1945.
Service history
The submarine was laid down on 23 May 1941 at the Danziger Werft at Danzig (now Gdansk) as yard number 126, launched on 19 December 1942 and commissioned on 21 April 1943 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Heinz Bentzien.
She served with the 8th U-boat Flotilla from 21 April 1943 for training and the 9th flotilla from 1 November for operations. She was reassigned to the 11th flotilla on 1 January 1944, then the 13th flotilla on 15 September of that year.
1st patrol
U-425 's first patrol began with her departure from Kiel on 20 November 1943. Having cleared the Kattegat and Skagerrak, the boat followed the Norwegian coast to Bergen; arriving there on the 25th.
2nd patrol
The submarine criss-crossed the Norwegian and Barents Seas between the North Cape and Bear Island before docking in Hammerfest on 2 February 1944.
3rd and 4th patrols
The boat's third and fourth patrols were relatively uneventful; the latter following short trips from Hammerfest to Bergen, to Narvik. The patrol itself was carried out between Jan Mayen and Bear Islands.
6th, 7th, 8th and 9th patrols and loss
A regular pattern then emerged between Hammerfest and Narvik. Part of her sixth sortie took U-425 as far north and east as the southern end of Novaya Zemlya in the Pechoskoye More.[4]
The boat was sunk by depth charges dropped by the British sloop HMS Lark and the corvette HMS Alnwick Castle near Murmansk on 17 February 1945.
Wolfpacks
U-425 took part in eight wolfpacks, namely.
- Isegrim (1–27 January 1944)
- Werwolf (29 January - 1 February 1944)
- Werwolf (7–27 February 1944)
- Trutz (13 May - 6 June 1944)
- Dachs (31 August - 3 September 1944)
- Grimm (15 September - 1 October 1944)
- Panther (17 October - 10 November 1944)
- Rasmus (6–13 February 1945)
References
- ↑ Kemp 1999, pp. 232-3.
- ↑ Gröner 1985, pp. 72-74.
- ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-425". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
- ↑ The Times Atlas of the World - Third edition, revised 1995, ISBN 0 7230 0809 4, p. 20
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-425". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- U-425 at ubootwaffe.net