German submarine U-57 (1938)
| Career (Nazi Germany) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-58 |
| Ordered: | 17 June 1937 |
| Builder: | Deutsche Werke, Kiel |
| Laid down: | 14 September 1937 |
| Launched: | 3 September 1938 |
| Commissioned: | 29 December 1938 |
| Fate: |
Sunk in a collision, September 1940; raised and repaired, scuttled, May 1945 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type: | IIC |
| Type: | Coastal submarine |
| Displacement: | 291 t (286 long tons) surfaced 341 t (336 long tons) submerged |
| Length: | 43.90 m (144 ft 0 in) |
| Beam: | 4.08 m (13 ft 5 in) |
| Draft: | 3.82 m (12 ft 6 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × propeller shafts 2 × MWM four-stroke diesel engines, 700 shp (520 kW) 2 × Siemens-Schuckert electric motor, 410 shp (310 kW) |
| Speed: | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) surfaced 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph) submerged |
| Range: | 1,900 nautical miles (3,500 km; 2,200 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) surfaced 35–42 nmi (65–78 km; 40–48 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: |
5th U-boat Flotilla 1st U-boat Flotilla 22nd U-boat Flotilla 19th U-boat Flotilla[2] |
| Commanders: |
|
| Operations: |
Eleven: 1st patrol: 3–5 September 1939 2nd patrol: 5–18 September 1939 3rd patrol: 25 October–5 November 1939 4th patrol: 12–23 November 1939 5th patrol: 7–16 December 1939 6th patrol: 16–25 January 1940 7th patrol: 8–25 February 1940 8th patrol: 14–29 March 1940 9th patrol: 4 April– 7 May 1940 10th patrol: a. 15–20 July 1940 b. 22 July–7 August 1940 11th patrol: 14 August–3 September 1940 |
| Victories: |
Eleven ships sunk, total 48,053 GRT; one auxiliary warship sunk 8,240 GRT; two ships damaged, total 10,403 GRT; one ship declared a total loss[3] |
German submarine U-57 was a Type IIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that served in the Second World War. She was built by Deutsche Werke in Kiel as yard number 256. Ordered on 17 June 1937, she was laid down on 14 September, launched on 3 September 1938 and commissioned on 29 December under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Claus Korth.
U-56 was initially part of the 5th U-boat Flotilla during her training period, until 31 December 1939, when she was reassigned to the 1st U-boat Flotilla for operations. She carried out eleven war patrols, sinking eleven ships for a total 48,053 gross register tons (GRT) and one auxiliary warship of 8,240 GRT; she also damaged two vessels totalling 10,403 GRT; one ship was declared a total loss (10,191 GRT).
Service history
1st, 2nd and 3rd patrols
The boat's first patrol was brief and passed without incident. For her second sortie, she departed Kiel on 5 September 1939, but went no further than the Kattegat. Her third effort was as far as the waters separating Orkney and Shetland, but success continued to elude her.
4th and 5th patrols
It was more of the same for her fourth and fifth patrols, although her activity was centred more in the southern North Sea.
6th and 7th patrols
The submarine's luck changed for the better on her sixth foray, when she sank the Miranda about 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) northwest of Peterhead in Scotland on 20 January 1940.
Sally number seven began with the boat's departure from Wilhelmshaven on 8 February 1940. On the 14th, she attacked the Gretafield southeast of Noss Head. The burnt-out ship, which had been abandoned, drifted ashore at Dunbeath in Caithness. She broke in two and was declared a total loss.
U-57 was one of six U-boats that took part in Operation Nordmark; carrying out reconnaissance in the area of the Orkney and Shetland Islands for a subsequently unsuccessful sortie by the German capital ships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Admiral Hipper between 18 and 20 February 1940.
8th and 9th patrols
On her eighth patrol, also executed in the vicinity of Orkney, she sank the Daghestan 9 nautical miles (17 km; 10 mi) east of Copinsay, Orkney, on 25 March 1940.
Patrol number nine saw the boat sweeping the area of the North Sea off the English/Scottish borders, Orkney and Shetland and all points east, with no result.
10th patrol
U-57 had moved to Bergen in Norway; HMS Tetrarch, a British submarine, fired three torpedoes at the U-boat in the entrance to Kors fjord on 15 July 1940: they missed. On the 17th, she sank the O.A. Brodin 15 nautical miles (28 km; 17 mi) northwest of Noup Head in the Orkney Islands. She also successfully attacked the Manipur 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi) northwest of Cape Wrath, (on the northern Scottish mainland). Her next victim was the Atos which went to the bottom in three minutes about 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) north of Malin Head (in Ireland)[4] on 3 August.
She then docked at the recently captured port of Lorient on the French Atlantic coast on 7 August.
11th patrol and loss
Although her base had changed, the boat's area of operations had not. She damaged the Havildar 25 nautical miles (46 km; 29 mi) northeast of Malin Head on 24 August 1940 and sank the Cumberland but was unsuccessfully attacked by British warships the next day. As sort of a farewell gift, she sank the Pecten in the evening of the 25th; the ship went down in 90 seconds.
Returning to Germany, she was relegated to duties as a training boat and sunk after a collision with the Norwegian ship Rona at Brunsbüttel (northwest of Hamburg).[5] She was raised, repaired and returned to service in January 1941.
With the end of the war in sight, she was scuttled on 3 May 1945 at Kiel.
Summary of raiding history
| Date | Ship | Nationality | Tonnage | Fate[6] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 November 1939 | Kaunas | .svg.png){kind=small} Lithuania |
1,566 | Sunk |
| 19 November 1939 | Stanbrook |  United Kingdom |
1,383 | Sunk |
| 13 December 1939 | Mina |  Estonia |
1,173 | Sunk |
| 20 January 1940 | Miranda |  Norway |
1,328 | Sunk |
| 26 January 1940 | HMS Durham Castle |  Royal Navy |
8,240 | Sunk (mine) |
| 14 February 1940 | Gretafield | United Kingdom |
10,191 | Total loss |
| 21 February 1940 | Loch Maddy | United Kingdom |
4,996 | Damaged |
| 25 March 1940 | Daghestan | United Kingdom |
5,742 | Sunk |
| 17 July 1940 | Manipur | United Kingdom |
8,652 | Sunk |
| 17 July 1940 | O.A. Brodin |  Sweden |
1,960 | Sunk |
| 3 August 1940 | Atos | Sweden |
2,161 | Sunk |
| 24 August 1940 | Cumberland | United Kingdom |
10,939 | Sunk |
| 24 August 1940 | Havildar | United Kingdom |
5,407 | Damaged |
| 24 August 1940 | Saint Dunstan | United Kingdom |
5,681 | Sunk |
| 25 August 1940 | Pecten | United Kingdom |
7,468 | Sunk |
References
- ↑ Gröner 1985, p. 67.
- ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type IIC boat U-57". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
- ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-57". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ↑ The Times Atlas of the World - Third edition, revised 1995, ISBN 0 7230 0809 4, p. 10
- ↑ The Times Atlas of the World, p. 13
- ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-57". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 7 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 IIC boat U-57". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
- Hofmann, Markus. "U 57". Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 - u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 2014-12-06.
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