German submarine U-448
| Career (Nazi Germany) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-448 |
| Ordered: | 6 August 1940 |
| Builder: | Schichau-Werke, Danzig |
| Yard number: | 1508 |
| Laid down: | 1 July 1941 |
| Launched: | 23 May 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 1 August 1942 |
| Fate: | Sunk by Allied warships, northeast of the Azores, April 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 (1 August 1942–31 January 1943) 7th U-boat Flotilla (1 February 1943–14 April 1944) |
| Commanders: |
Oblt.z.S. Helmut Dauter (1 August 1942–14 April 1944) |
| Operations: |
1st patrol: a. 30 January–4 February 1943 b. 6 February–25 March 1943 2nd patrol: 17 April–26 May 1943 3rd patrol: a. 6 September–12 September 1943 b. 14 September–3 November 1943 4th patrol: 14 February–14 April 1944 |
| Victories: | None |
German submarine U-448 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.
She carried out four patrols. She sank no ships.
She was a member of ten wolfpacks.
She was sunk by Allied warships, northeast of the Azores, in April 1944.[1]
Service history
The submarine was laid down on 1 July 1941 at Schichau-Werke in Danzig (now Gdansk) as yard number 1508, launched on 23 May 1942 and commissioned on 1 August under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Helmut Dauter.
She served with the 8th U-boat Flotilla from 1 August 1942 for training and the 7th flotilla from 1 February 1943 for operations.
1st patrol
U-432 's first patrol was split in two and started with her departure from Kiel in Germany. She docked in Bergen in Norway at the end of the first part on 4 February 1943.
Part two began from Bergen on 6 February; she headed for the Atlantic Ocean via the gap separating the Iceland and Faroe. She arrived at St. Nazaire in occupied France on 25 March.
2nd and 3rd patrols
For her second sortie, she covered the area northwest of the Azores.
On her third foray, she was attacked southwest of Iceland by a Canadian Sunderland flying boat of No. 422 Squadron RCAF. The aircraft was also fired-at on its first run by U-281; the depth charges fell short. The aircraft crashed, five men died. U448 also suffered casualties - one dead and two men wounded. Due to the damage sustained, the boat was compelled to abort the patrol.
4th patrol and loss
Having left St. Nazaire on 14 February 1943, she travelled as far as the Denmark Strait (between Greenland and Iceland). The submarine's fourth sally was, at 61 days, her longest. On 14 April, she was northeast of the Azores when she was sunk by depth charges from the Canadian frigate HMCS Swansea and the British sloop HMS Pelican.
Nine men went down with U-448; there were forty-two survivors.[1][3]
Wolfpacks
U-448 took part in ten wolfpacks, namely.
- Neptun (18–28 February 1943)
- Wildfang (28 February - 5 March 1943)
- Westmark (6–7 March 1943)
- Amsel (22 April - 3 May 1943)
- Amsel 3 (3–6 May 1943)
- Rhein (7–10 May 1943)
- Elbe 2 (10–14 May 1943)
- Rossbach (24 September - 9 October 1943)
- Schlieffen (14–18 October 1943)
- Preussen (22 February - 14 March 1944)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kemp 1999, p. 183.
- ↑ Gröner 1985, pp. 72-74.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-448". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 22 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
- Hofmann, Markus. "U 448". Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 - u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-448". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- U-448 at ubootwaffe.net