Only by 1944 did the Allies manage to reduce the losses inflicted on their fleet by German submariners
The submarine U-47 returns to port on October 14, 1939 after a successful attack on the British battleship Royal Oak. Photo: U.S. Naval Historical Center
German submarines of World War II were a real nightmare for British and American sailors. They turned the Atlantic into a real hell, where, among the wreckage and burning fuel, they desperately cried out for the salvation of the victims of torpedo attacks...
Target - Britain
By the fall of 1939, Germany had a very modest in size, although technically advanced, navy. Against 22 English and French battleships and cruisers, she was able to field only two full-fledged battleships, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and three so-called “pocket” battleships, Deutschland. "Graf Spee" and "Admiral Scheer". The latter carried only six 280 mm caliber guns - despite the fact that at that time new battleships were armed with 8–12 305–406 mm caliber guns. Two more German battleships, future legends of World War II, Bismarck and Tirpitz - total displacement of 50,300 tons, speed of 30 knots, eight 380-mm guns - were completed and entered service after defeat of the allied army at Dunkirk. For a direct battle at sea with the mighty British fleet, this was, of course, not enough. This was confirmed two years later during the famous hunt for the Bismarck, when a German battleship with powerful weapons and a well-trained crew was simply hunted down by a numerically superior enemy. Therefore, Germany initially relied on a naval blockade of the British Isles and assigned its battleships the role of raiders - hunters of transport caravans and individual enemy warships.England was directly dependent on supplies of food and raw materials from the New World, especially the USA, which was its main “supplier” in both world wars. In addition, the blockade would cut off Britain from the reinforcements that were mobilized in the colonies, as well as prevent British landings on the continent. However, the successes of the German surface raiders were short-lived. Their enemy was not only the superior forces of the United Kingdom fleet, but also British aviation, against which the mighty ships were almost powerless. Regular air strikes on French bases forced Germany in 1941–42 to evacuate its battleships to northern ports, where they almost ingloriously died during the raids or stood in repair until the end of the war.
The main force that the Third Reich relied on in the battle at sea were submarines, less vulnerable to aircraft and capable of sneaking up on even a very strong enemy. And most importantly, building a submarine was several times cheaper, the submarine required less fuel, it was serviced by a small crew - despite the fact that it could be no less effective than the most powerful raider.
"Wolf Packs" by Admiral Dönitz
In the Second world Germany entered the war with only 57 submarines, of which only 26 were suitable for operations in the Atlantic. However, already in September 1939, the German submarine fleet (U-Bootwaffe) sank 41 ships with a total tonnage of 153,879 tons. Among them are the British liner Athenia (which became the first victim of German submarines in this war) and the aircraft carrier Coreyes. Another British aircraft carrier, the Arc Royal, survived only because the torpedoes with magnetic fuses fired at it by the U-39 boat detonated ahead of time. And on the night of October 13-14, 1939, the U-47 boat under the command of Lieutenant Commander Gunther Prien penetrated the British raid military base Scapa Flow (Orkney Islands) and sank the battleship Royal Oak.This forced Britain to urgently remove its aircraft carriers from the Atlantic and restrict the movement of battleships and other large warships, which were now carefully guarded by destroyers and other escort ships. The successes had an effect on Hitler: he changed his initially negative opinion about submarines, and on his orders their mass construction began. Over the next 5 years, the German fleet included 1,108 submarines.
True, taking into account the losses and the need to repair submarines damaged during the campaign, Germany could at one time put forward a limited number of submarines ready for the campaign - only by the middle of the war their number exceeded a hundred.
Karl Dönitz began his submarine career during World War I as chief mate on the U-39.
The main lobbyist for submarines as a type of weapon in the Third Reich was the commander of the submarine fleet (Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote) Admiral Karl Dönitz (1891–1981), who served on submarines already in the First World War. The Treaty of Versailles prohibited Germany from having a submarine fleet, and Dönitz had to retrain as a torpedo boat commander, then as an expert in the development of new weapons, a navigator, a commander of a destroyer flotilla, and a light cruiser captain...
In 1935, when Germany decided to recreate the submarine fleet, Dönitz was simultaneously appointed commander of the 1st U-boat Flotilla and received the strange title of “U-boat Führer.” This was a very successful appointment: the submarine fleet was essentially his brainchild, he created it from scratch and turned it into the most powerful fist of the Third Reich. Dönitz personally met each boat returning to base, attended the graduations of the submariner school, and created special sanatoriums for them. For all this, he enjoyed great respect from his subordinates, who nicknamed him “Papa Karl” (Vater Karl).
In 1935-38, the “underwater Fuhrer” developed new tactics for hunting enemy ships. Until this moment, submarines from all countries of the world operated alone. Dönitz, having served as commander of a destroyer flotilla that attacks the enemy in a group, decided to use group tactics in submarine warfare. First he proposes the "veil" method. A group of boats was walking, turning around in the sea in a chain. The boat that discovered the enemy sent a report and attacked him, and the other boats rushed to her aid.
The next idea was the "circle" tactic, where the boats were positioned around a specific area of the ocean. As soon as an enemy convoy or warship entered it, the boat, which noticed the enemy entering the circle, began to lead the target, maintaining contact with the others, and they began to approach the doomed targets from all sides.
But the most famous was the “wolf pack” method, directly developed for attacks on large transport caravans. The name fully corresponded to its essence - this is how wolves hunt their prey. After the convoy was discovered, a group of submarines was concentrated parallel to its course. Having carried out the first attack, she then overtook the convoy and turned into position for a new strike.
The best of the best
During World War II (until May 1945), German submariners sank 2,603 Allied warships and transport vessels with a total displacement of 13.5 million tons. These include 2 battleships, 6 aircraft carriers, 5 cruisers, 52 destroyers and more than 70 warships of other classes. In this case, about 100 thousand sailors of the military and merchant fleet died.
The German submarine was attacked by Allied aircraft. Photo: U.S. Army Center of Military History
To counteract this, the Allies concentrated over 3,000 combat and auxiliary ships, about 1,400 aircraft, and by the time of the Normandy landings they had dealt a crushing blow to the German submarine fleet, from which it could no longer recover. Despite the fact that the German industry increased the production of submarines, fewer and fewer crews returned from the campaign with success. And some did not return at all. If twenty-three submarines were lost in 1940, and thirty-six submarines in 1941, then in 1943 and 1944 the losses increased, respectively, to two hundred fifty and two hundred sixty-three submarines. In total, during the war, the losses of German submariners amounted to 789 submarines and 32,000 sailors. But this was still three times less than the number of enemy ships they sank, which proved the high efficiency of the submarine fleet.
Like any war, this one also had its aces. Gunther Prien became the first famous underwater corsair throughout Germany. He has thirty ships with a total displacement of 164,953 tons, including the aforementioned battleship). For this he became the first German officer to receive oak leaves for the Knight's Cross. The Reich Ministry of Propaganda promptly created a cult of him - and Prien began to receive whole bags of letters from enthusiastic fans. Perhaps he could have become the most successful German submariner, but on March 8, 1941, his boat was lost during an attack on a convoy.
After this, the list of German deep-sea aces was headed by Otto Kretschmer, who sank forty-four ships with a total displacement of 266,629 tons. He was followed by Wolfgang L?th - 43 ships with a total displacement of 225,712 tons, Erich Topp - 34 ships with a total displacement of 193,684 tons and the well-known Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock - 25 ships with a total of with a displacement of 183,253 tons, which, together with its U-96, became a character in the feature film "U-Boot" ("Submarine"). By the way, he did not die during the air raid. After the war, Lehmann-Willenbrock served as a captain in the merchant marine and distinguished himself in the rescue of the sinking Brazilian cargo ship Commandante Lira in 1959, and also became the commander of the first German ship with a nuclear reactor. His boat, after the unfortunate sinking right at the base, was raised, went on trips (but with a different crew), and after the war was turned into a technical museum.
Thus, the German submarine fleet turned out to be the most successful, although it did not have such impressive support from surface forces and naval aviation as the British one. Her Majesty's submariners accounted for only 70 combat and 368 German merchant ships with a total tonnage of 826,300 tons. Their American allies sank 1,178 ships with a total tonnage of 4.9 million tons in the Pacific theater of war. Fortune was not kind to the two hundred and sixty-seven Soviet submarines, which during the war torpedoed only 157 enemy warships and transports with a total displacement of 462,300 tons.
"Flying Dutchmen"
In 1983, German director Wolfgang Petersen made the film “Das U-Boot” based on the novel of the same name by Lothar-Günter Buchheim. A significant portion of the budget covered the cost of recreating historically accurate details. Photo: Bavaria Film
The submarine U-96, made famous in the film "U-Boot", belonged to the famous VII series, which formed the basis of the U-Bootwaffe. A total of seven hundred and eight units of various modifications were built. The “seven” traced its pedigree to the UB-III boat from the First World War, inheriting its pros and cons. On the one hand, the submarines of this series saved as much useful volume as possible, which resulted in terrible cramped conditions. On the other hand, they were distinguished by the extreme simplicity and reliability of their design, which more than once helped sailors to the rescue.
On January 16, 1935, Deutsche Werft received an order for the construction of the first six submarines of this series. Subsequently, its main parameters - 500 tons of displacement, cruising range of 6250 miles, diving depth of 100 meters - were improved several times. The basis of the boat was a durable hull divided into six compartments, welded from steel sheets, the thickness of which on the first model was 18-22 mm, and on modification VII-C (the most massive submarine in history, 674 units were produced) it already reached 28 mm in the central part and up to 22 mm at the extremities. Thus, the VII-C hull was designed for depths of up to 125-150 meters, but could dive to 250, which was unattainable for Allied submarines, which dived only to 100-150 meters. In addition, such a durable body could withstand hits from 20 and 37 mm shells. The cruising range of this model has increased to 8250 miles.
For diving, five ballast tanks were filled with water: bow, stern and two side light (outer) hulls and one located inside the durable one. A well-trained crew could “dive” underwater in just 25 seconds! At the same time, the side tanks could take an additional supply of fuel, and then the cruising range increased to 9,700 miles, and on the latest modifications - up to 12,400. But in addition to this, the boats could be refueled on the voyage from special tanker submarines (IXD series).
The heart of the boats - two six-cylinder diesel engines - together produced 2800 hp. and accelerated the ship on the surface to 17–18 knots. Underwater, the submarine ran on Siemens electric motors (2x375 hp) with a maximum speed of 7.6 knots. Of course, this was not enough to get away from destroyers, but it was quite enough to hunt slow-moving and clumsy transports. The main weapons of the “sevens” were five 533-mm torpedo tubes (four bow and one stern), which “fired” from a depth of up to 22 meters. The most frequently used “projectiles” were the G7a (steam-gas) and G7e (electric) torpedoes. The latter was significantly inferior in range (5 kilometers versus 12.5), but they did not leave a characteristic mark on the water, and their maximum speed was approximately the same - up to 30 knots.
To attack targets inside convoys, the Germans invented a special FAT maneuvering device, with which the torpedo made a “snake” or attacked with a turn of up to 130 degrees. The same torpedoes were used to fight off the destroyers that were pressing on the tail - fired from the stern apparatus, it came towards them “head to head”, and then turned sharply and hit the side.
In addition to traditional contact torpedoes, torpedoes could also be equipped with magnetic fuses - to detonate them as they passed under the bottom of the ship. And from the end of 1943, the T4 acoustic homing torpedo, which could be fired without aiming, came into service. True, in this case, the submarine itself had to stop the screws or quickly go to depth so that the torpedo did not return.
The boats were armed with both bow 88-mm and stern 45-mm guns, and later a very useful 20-mm anti-aircraft gun, which protected them from the most terrible enemy - British Air Force patrol aircraft. Several "sevens" received FuMO30 radars, which detected air targets at a distance of up to 15 km and surface targets up to 8 km.
They drowned in the depths of the sea...
Wolfgang Petersen's film “Das U-Boot” shows how the life of submariners who sailed on Series VII submarines was organized. Photo: Bavaria Film
The romantic aura of the heroes on the one hand - and the gloomy reputation of drunkards and inhuman killers on the other. This is how German submariners were represented on the shore. However, they got completely drunk only once every two or three months, when they returned from a campaign. It was then that they were in front of the “public”, drawing hasty conclusions, after which they went to sleep in the barracks or sanatoriums, and then, in a completely sober state, prepared for a new campaign. But these rare libations were not so much a celebration of victories, but a way to relieve the terrible stress that submariners received on every trip. And even despite the fact that candidates for crew members also underwent psychological selection, on submarines there were cases of nervous breakdowns among individual sailors, who had to be calmed down by the whole crew, or even simply tied to a bed.
The first thing that submariners who had just gone to sea encountered was terrible cramped conditions. This especially affected the crews of series VII submarines, which, being already cramped in design, were also packed to capacity with everything necessary for long-distance voyages. The crew's sleeping places and all free corners were used to store boxes of provisions, so the crew had to rest and eat wherever they could. To take additional tons of fuel, it was pumped into tanks intended for fresh water (drinking and hygienic), thus sharply reducing its ration.
For the same reason, German submariners never rescued their victims desperately floundering in the middle of the ocean. After all, there was simply nowhere to place them - except perhaps to shove them into the vacant torpedo tube. Hence the reputation of inhuman monsters that stuck with submariners.
The feeling of mercy was dulled by constant fear for one’s own life. During the campaign we had to constantly be wary of minefields or enemy aircraft. But the most terrible thing was the enemy destroyers and anti-submarine ships, or rather, their depth charges, the close explosion of which could destroy the hull of the boat. In this case, one could only hope for a quick death. It was much more terrible to receive heavy injuries and fall irrevocably into the abyss, listening in horror to how the compressed hull of the boat was cracking, ready to break through with streams of water under pressure of several tens of atmospheres. Or worse, to lie aground forever and slowly suffocate, realizing at the same time that there will be no help...
More than 70 thousand dead sailors, 3.5 thousand lost civilian ships and 175 warships from the Allies, 783 sunken submarines with a total crew of 30 thousand people from Nazi Germany - the Battle of the Atlantic, which lasted six years, became the largest naval battle in the history of mankind . “Wolf packs” of German U-boats went hunting for Allied convoys from the grandiose structures erected in the 1940s on the Atlantic coast of Europe. Aviation in Great Britain and the United States tried unsuccessfully to destroy them for years, but even now these concrete colossi loom fearsomely in Norway, France and Germany. Onliner.by talks about the creation of bunkers where the submarines of the Third Reich once hid from bombers.
Germany entered World War II with only 57 submarines. A significant part of this fleet consisted of outdated Type II small boats, designed to patrol only coastal waters. It is obvious that at this moment the command of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) and the country's top leadership did not plan to launch a large-scale submarine war against their opponents. However, the policy was soon revised, and the personality of the commander of the submarine fleet of the Third Reich played no small role in this radical turn.
In October 1918, at the end of the First World War, during an attack on a guarded British convoy, the German submarine UB-68 was counterattacked and damaged by depth charges. Seven sailors were killed, the rest of the crew was captured. It included Chief Lieutenant Karl Doenitz. After his release from captivity, he made a brilliant career, rising to the rank of rear admiral and commander of the Kriegsmarine submarine forces by 1939. In the 1930s, he concentrated on developing tactics that would successfully combat the convoy system, of which he fell victim early in his service.
In 1939, Doenitz sent a memorandum to the commander of the Third Reich Navy, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, in which he proposed using the so-called Rudeltaktik, “wolf pack tactics,” to attack convoys. In accordance with it, it was planned to attack an enemy sea convoy with the maximum possible number of submarines concentrated in advance in the area where it passed. At the same time, the anti-submarine escort was dispersed, and this, in turn, increased the effectiveness of the attack and reduced possible casualties from the Kriegsmarine.
“Wolf packs,” according to Doenitz, were to play a significant role in the war with Great Britain, Germany’s main rival in Europe. To implement the tactics, the rear admiral assumed, it would be enough to form a fleet of 300 new type VII boats, capable, unlike their predecessors, of long ocean voyages. The Reich immediately launched a grand program for the construction of a submarine fleet.
The situation changed fundamentally in 1940. First, by the end of the year it became clear that the Battle of Britain, which was aimed at forcing the United Kingdom to surrender only through aerial bombing, was lost by the Nazis. Secondly, in the same 1940, Germany carried out a rapid occupation of Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and, most importantly, France, receiving at its disposal almost the entire Atlantic coast of continental Europe, and with it convenient military bases for raids across the ocean. Thirdly, the U-boat type VII required by Doenitz began to be introduced en masse into the fleet. Against this background, they acquired not just significant, but decisive importance in the effort to bring Britain to its knees. In 1940, the Third Reich entered into unrestricted submarine warfare and initially achieved phenomenal success in it.
The goal of the campaign, which was later called the “Battle of the Atlantic” at the instigation of Churchill, was to destroy the ocean communications that connected Great Britain with its allies overseas. Hitler and the Reich's military leadership were well aware of the extent of the United Kingdom's dependence on imported goods. The disruption of their supplies was rightly seen the most important factor to bring Britain out of the war, and the main role in this was to be played by the “wolf packs” of Admiral Doenitz.
For their concentration, the former Kriegsmarine naval bases on the territory of Germany proper with access to the Baltic and North Seas turned out to be not very convenient. But the territories of France and Norway allowed free access to the operational space of the Atlantic. The main problem was ensuring the safety of the submarines at their new bases, because they were within the reach of British (and later American) aviation. Of course, Doenitz was well aware that his fleet would immediately be subjected to intense aerial bombardment, survival of which became for the Germans a necessary guarantee of success in the Battle of the Atlantic.
The salvation for the U-boat was the experience of German bunker building, in which the Reich engineers knew a lot. It was clear to them that conventional bombs, which only the Allies possessed at the beginning of World War II, could not cause significant damage to a building reinforced with a sufficient layer of concrete. The problem with protecting submarines was solved in a costly, but quite simple way: ground bunkers began to be built for them.
Unlike similar structures designed for people, the U-Boot-Bunker was built on a Teutonic scale. A typical lair of “wolf packs” was a huge reinforced concrete parallelepiped 200-300 meters long, internally divided into several (up to 15) parallel compartments. In the latter, routine maintenance and repair of submarines was carried out.
Particular importance was attached to the design of the bunker roof. Its thickness, depending on the specific implementation, reached 8 meters, while the roof was not monolithic: concrete layers reinforced with metal reinforcement alternated with air layers. Such a multilayer “pie” made it possible to better dampen the energy of the shock wave in the event of a direct bomb hit on the building. Air defense systems were located on the roof.
In turn, thick concrete lintels between the internal compartments of the bunker limited possible damage even if a bomb did break through the roof. Each of these isolated “pencil cases” could contain up to four U-boats, and in the event of an explosion inside it, only they would become victims. Neighbors would suffer minimal or no harm at all.
First, relatively small bunkers for submarines began to be built in Germany at the old Kriegsmarine naval bases in Hamburg and Kiel, as well as on the Heligoland islands in the North Sea. But their construction gained real scope in France, which became the main location of Doenitz’s fleet. From the beginning of 1941 and over the next year and a half, giant colossi appeared on the Atlantic coast of the country in five ports at once, from which “wolf packs” began to hunt for Allied convoys.
The Breton city of Lorient in northwestern France became the Kriegsmarine's largest forward base. It was here that Karl Doenitz’s headquarters was located, here he personally met each submarine returning from a cruise, and here six U-Boot-Bunkers were erected for two flotillas - the 2nd and 10th.
Construction lasted a year, it was controlled by the Todt Organization, and a total of 15 thousand people, mostly French, participated in the process. The concrete complex in Lorient quickly showed its effectiveness: Allied aircraft were unable to inflict any significant damage on it. After this, the British and Americans decided to cut off communications through which the naval base was supplied. Over the course of a month, from January to February 1943, the Allies dropped tens of thousands of bombs on the city of Lorient itself, as a result of which it was 90% destroyed.
However, this did not help either. The last U-boat left Lorient only in September 1944, after the Allied landings in Normandy and the opening of a second front in Europe. After the end of World War II, the former Nazi base began to be successfully used by the French Navy.
Similar structures on a smaller scale also appeared in Saint-Nazaire, Brest and La Rochelle. The 1st and 9th Kriegsmarine submarine flotillas were located in Brest. The overall size of this base was smaller than the “headquarters” in Lorient, but the largest single bunker in France was built here. It was designed for 15 compartments and had dimensions of 300x175x18 meters.
The 6th and 7th flotillas were based in Saint-Nazaire. A 14-penal bunker, 300 meters long, 130 meters wide and 18 meters high, was built for them, using almost half a million cubic meters of concrete. 8 out of 14 compartments were also dry docks, which made it possible to carry out major renovation submarine
Only one, the 3rd, Kriegsmarine submarine flotilla was stationed in La Rochelle. A bunker of 10 “pencil cases” with dimensions of 192x165x19 meters was enough for her. The roof is made of two 3.5-meter concrete layers with an air gap, the walls are at least 2 meters thick - in total, 425 thousand cubic meters of concrete were spent on the building. It was here that the film Das Boot was filmed - probably the most famous movie about German submariners during the Second World War.
In this series, some stand apart naval base in Bordeaux. In 1940, a group of submarines, not German, but Italian, the main allies of the Nazis in Europe, was concentrated here. Nevertheless, here too, by order of Doenitz, the construction program protective structures carried out by the same “Organization Todt”. The Italian submariners could not boast of any particular success, and already in October 1942 they were supplemented by the specially formed 12th Kriegsmarine flotilla. And in September 1943, after Italy left the war on the side of the Axis, the base called BETASOM was completely occupied by the Germans, who remained here for almost another year.
In parallel with the construction in France, the command of the German Navy turned its attention to Norway. This Scandinavian country was of strategic importance for the Third Reich. Firstly, through the Norwegian port of Narvik, supplies vital for its economy were carried out to Germany. iron ore from the remaining neutral Sweden. Secondly, the organization of naval bases in Norway made it possible to control the North Atlantic, which became especially important in 1942 when the Allies began sending Arctic convoys with Lend-Lease goods to the Soviet Union. In addition, they planned to service the battleship Tirpitz, the flagship and pride of Germany, at these bases.
So much attention was paid to Norway that Hitler personally ordered the local city of Trondheim to be turned into one of the Reich's Festungen - "Citadels", special German quasi-colonies through which Germany could further control the occupied territories. For 300 thousand expatriates - settlers from the Reich, they planned to build a new town, which was to be called Nordstern (“North Star”). Responsibility for its design was assigned personally to the Fuhrer's favorite architect, Albert Speer.
It was in Trondheim that the main North Atlantic base for the deployment of the Kriegsmarine, including submarines and the Tirpitz, was created. Having begun the construction of another bunker here in the fall of 1941, the Germans unexpectedly encountered difficulties unprecedented in France. Steel had to be brought in; there was also nothing to produce concrete from on site. The extended supply chain was constantly disrupted by the efforts of the capricious Norwegian weather. In winter, construction was forced to stop due to snow drifts on the roads. In addition, it turned out that the local population was much less willing to work on the great construction site of the Reich than, for example, the French did. It was necessary to attract forced labor from specially organized nearby concentration camps.
The Dora bunker, measuring 153x105 meters into just five compartments, was completed with great difficulty only by the middle of 1943, when the successes of the “wolf packs” in the Atlantic began to quickly fade away. The 13th Kriegsmarine Flotilla with 16 Type VII U-boats was stationed here. Dora 2 remained unfinished, and Dora 3 was abandoned altogether.
In 1942, the Allies found another recipe for fighting the Dönitz Armada. Bombing bunkers with finished boats did not produce results, but shipyards, unlike naval bases, were much less protected. By the end of the year, thanks to this new goal, the pace of submarine construction slowed down significantly, and the artificial decline of the U-boat, which was increasingly accelerated by the efforts of the Allies, was no longer replenished. In response, German engineers seemingly offered a way out.
In unprotected factories scattered throughout the country, it was now planned to produce only individual sections of boats. Their final assembly, testing and launching were carried out at a special plant, which was nothing more than the same familiar bunker for submarines. They decided to build the first such assembly plant on the Weser River near Bremen.
By the spring of 1945, with the help of 10 thousand construction workers - prisoners of concentration camps (6 thousand of whom died in the process), the largest of all U-Boot-Bunkers of the Third Reich appeared on the Weser. The huge building (426×97×27 meters) with a roof thickness of up to 7 meters inside was divided into 13 rooms. In 12 of them, a sequential conveyor assembly of the submarine from ready-made elements was carried out, and in the 13th, the already completed submarine was launched into the water.
It was assumed that the plant, called Valentin, would produce not just a U-boat, but a new generation U-boat - Type XXI, another miracle weapon that was supposed to save Nazi Germany from imminent defeat. More powerful, faster, covered with rubber to impede the operation of enemy radars, with the latest sonar system, which made it possible to attack convoys without visual contact with them - it was the first truly underwater a boat that could spend the entire military campaign without a single rise to the surface.
However, it did not help the Reich. Until the end of the war, only 6 of the 330 submarines that were under construction and in varying degrees of readiness were launched, and only two of them managed to go on a combat mission. The Valentin plant was never completed, suffering a series of bomb attacks in March 1945. The Allies had their own answer to the German miracle weapon, also unprecedented - seismic bombs.
Seismic bombs were a pre-war invention of the British engineer Barnes Wallace, which found its application only in 1944. Conventional bombs, exploding next to the bunker or on its roof, could not cause serious damage to it. Wallace's bombs were based on a different principle. The most powerful 8-10-ton shells were dropped from the highest possible height. Thanks to this and the special shape of the hull, they developed supersonic speed in flight, which allowed them to go deep into the ground or pierce even thick concrete roofs submarine shelters. Once deep within the structure, the bombs exploded, in the process producing small local earthquakes sufficient to cause significant damage to even the most fortified bunker.
Due to the high altitude of their release from the bomber, accuracy was reduced, but in March 1945, two of these Grand Slam bombs hit the Valentin plant. Having penetrated four meters into the concrete of the roof, they detonated and led to the collapse of significant fragments of the building's structure. The “cure” for the Doenitz bunkers was found, but Germany was already doomed.
At the beginning of 1943, the “happy times” of successful hunting by “wolf packs” on allied convoys came to an end. The development of new radars by the Americans and the British, the decryption of Enigma - the main German encryption machine installed on each of their submarines, and the strengthening of convoy escorts led to a strategic turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic. U-boats began to die in dozens. In May 1943 alone, the Kriegsmarine lost 43 of them.
The Battle of the Atlantic was the largest and longest naval battle in human history. In six years, from 1939 to 1945, Germany sank 3.5 thousand civilian and 175 warships of the Allies. In turn, the Germans lost 783 submarines and three-quarters of all the crews of their submarine fleet.
Only with the Doenitz bunkers the Allies were unable to do anything. Weapons that could destroy these structures appeared only at the end of the war, when almost all of them had already been abandoned. But even after the end of World War II, it was not possible to get rid of them: too much effort and expense would have been required to demolish these grandiose structures. They still stand in Lorient and La Rochelle, in Trondheim and on the banks of the Weser, in Brest and Saint-Nazaire. Somewhere they are abandoned, somewhere they are turned into museums, somewhere they are occupied industrial enterprises. But for us, the descendants of the soldiers of that war, these bunkers have, above all, a symbolic meaning.
Submarines dictate the rules in naval warfare and force everyone to meekly follow the routine.
An ambulance awaits those stubborn people who dare to ignore the rules of the game. painful death in the cold water, among floating debris and oil stains. Boats, regardless of flag, remain the most dangerous combat vehicles, capable of crushing any enemy.
I present to your attention short story about the seven most successful submarine projects of the war years.
Boats type T (Triton-class), UK
The number of submarines built is 53.
Surface displacement - 1290 tons; underwater - 1560 tons.
Crew - 59…61 people.
Working immersion depth - 90 m (riveted hull), 106 m (welded hull).
Full surface speed - 15.5 knots; in underwater - 9 knots.
A fuel reserve of 131 tons provided a surface cruising range of 8,000 miles.
Weapons:
- 11 torpedo tubes of 533 mm caliber (on boats of subseries II and III), ammunition - 17 torpedoes;
- 1 x 102 mm universal gun, 1 x 20 mm anti-aircraft "Oerlikon".
HMS Traveler
A British underwater Terminator capable of knocking the crap out of any enemy's head with a bow-launched 8-torpedo salvo. The T-type boats had no equal in destructive power among all the submarines of the WWII period - this explains their ferocious appearance with a bizarre bow superstructure, where additional torpedo tubes were located.
The notorious British conservatism is a thing of the past - the British were among the first to equip their boats with ASDIC sonars. Alas, despite its powerful weapons and modern means detection, the T-type open sea boats did not become the most effective among the British submarines of World War II. Nevertheless, they went through an exciting battle path and achieved a number of remarkable victories. “Tritons” were actively used in the Atlantic, in the Mediterranean Sea, destroyed Japanese communications in the Pacific Ocean, and were spotted several times in the frozen waters of the Arctic.
In August 1941, the submarines "Tygris" and "Trident" arrived in Murmansk. British submariners demonstrated a master class to their Soviet colleagues: in two trips, 4 enemy ships were sunk, incl. "Bahia Laura" and "Donau II" with thousands of soldiers of the 6th Mountain Division. Thus, the sailors prevented the third German attack on Murmansk.
Other famous T-boat trophies include the German light cruiser Karlsruhe and the Japanese heavy cruiser Ashigara. The samurai were “lucky” to get acquainted with a full 8-torpedo salvo of the Trenchent submarine - having received 4 torpedoes on board (+ another one from the stern tube), the cruiser quickly capsized and sank.
After the war, the powerful and sophisticated Tritons remained in service with the Royal Navy for another quarter of a century.
It is noteworthy that three boats of this type were acquired by Israel in the late 1960s - one of them, INS Dakar (formerly HMS Totem) was lost in 1968 in the Mediterranean Sea under unclear circumstances.
Boats of the "Cruising" type XIV series, Soviet Union
The number of submarines built is 11.
Surface displacement - 1500 tons; underwater - 2100 tons.
Crew - 62…65 people.
Full surface speed - 22.5 knots; in underwater - 10 knots.
Surface cruising range 16,500 miles (9 knots)
Submerged cruising range - 175 miles (3 knots)
Weapons:
- 2 x 100 mm universal guns, 2 x 45 mm anti-aircraft semi-automatic guns;
- up to 20 minutes of barrage.
...December 3, 1941, German hunters UJ-1708, UJ-1416 and UJ-1403 bombed Soviet boat, which attempted to attack the convoy at Bustad Sund.
Hans, can you hear this creature?
- Nain. After a series of explosions, the Russians lay low - I detected three impacts on the ground...
-Can you determine where they are now?
- Donnerwetter! They are blown away. They probably decided to surface and surrender.
The German sailors were wrong. From the depths of the sea, a MONSTER rose to the surface - the cruising submarine K-3 series XIV, unleashing a barrage of artillery fire on the enemy. With the fifth salvo, Soviet sailors managed to sink U-1708. The second hunter, having received two direct hits, began to smoke and turned to the side - his 20 mm anti-aircraft guns could not compete with the “hundreds” of the secular submarine cruiser. Scattering the Germans like puppies, K-3 quickly disappeared over the horizon at 20 knots.
The Soviet Katyusha was a phenomenal boat for its time. Welded hull, powerful artillery and mine-torpedo weapons, powerful diesel engines (2 x 4200 hp!), high surface speed of 22-23 knots. Huge autonomy in terms of fuel reserves. Remote control of ballast tank valves. A radio station capable of transmitting signals from the Baltic to the Far East. An exceptional level of comfort: shower cabins, refrigerated tanks, two seawater desalinators, an electric galley... Two boats (K-3 and K-22) were equipped with Lend-Lease ASDIC sonars.
But, oddly enough, neither the high characteristics nor the most powerful weapons made the Katyusha effective - in addition to the dark K-21 attack on the Tirpitz, during the war years the XIV series boats accounted for only 5 successful torpedo attacks and 27 thousand brigades. reg. tons of sunk tonnage. Most of the victories were achieved with the help of mines. Moreover, its own losses amounted to five cruising boats.
K-21, Severomorsk, today
The reasons for the failures lie in the tactics of using Katyushas - the powerful submarine cruisers, created for the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, had to “tread water” in the shallow Baltic “puddle”. When operating at depths of 30-40 meters, a huge 97-meter boat could hit the ground with its bow while its stern was still sticking out on the surface. It was not much easier for the North Sea sailors - as practice has shown, the effectiveness of the combat use of Katyushas was complicated by the poor training of personnel and the lack of initiative of the command.
It's a pity. These boats were designed for more.
“Baby”, Soviet Union
Series VI and VI bis - 50 built.
Series XII - 46 built.
Series XV - 57 built (4 took part in combat operations).
Performance characteristics of boats type M series XII:
Surface displacement - 206 tons; underwater - 258 tons.
Autonomy - 10 days.
Working immersion depth - 50 m, maximum - 60 m.
Full surface speed - 14 knots; in underwater - 8 knots.
Cruising range on the surface is 3,380 miles (8.6 knots).
Submerged cruising range is 108 miles (3 knots).
Weapons:
- 2 torpedo tubes of 533 mm caliber, ammunition - 2 torpedoes;
- 1 x 45 mm anti-aircraft semi-automatic.
Baby!
Mini-submarine project to quickly strengthen the Pacific Fleet - main feature M-type boats now have the ability to be transported by rail in a fully assembled form.
In the pursuit of compactness, many had to be sacrificed - service on the Malyutka turned into a grueling and dangerous undertaking. Heavy living conditions, a strong “bumpiness” - the waves mercilessly threw the 200-ton “float”, risking breaking it into pieces. Shallow diving depth and weak weapons. But the main concern of the sailors was the reliability of the submarine - one shaft, one diesel engine, one electric motor - the tiny “Malyutka” left no chance for the careless crew, the slightest malfunction on board threatened death for the submarine.
The little ones quickly evolved - the performance characteristics of each new series were several times different from the previous project: the contours were improved, the electrical equipment and detection equipment were updated, the dive time was reduced, and the autonomy increased. The “babies” of the XV series no longer resembled their predecessors of the VI and XII series: one-and-a-half-hull design - the ballast tanks were moved outside the durable hull; The power plant received a standard two-shaft layout with two diesel engines and underwater electric motors. The number of torpedo tubes increased to four. Alas, Series XV appeared too late - the “Little Ones” of Series VI and XII bore the brunt of the war.
Despite their modest size and only 2 torpedoes on board, the tiny fish were simply distinguished by their terrifying “gluttony”: in just the years of World War II, Soviet M-type submarines sank 61 enemy ships with a total tonnage of 135.5 thousand gross tons, destroyed 10 warships, and also damaged 8 transports.
The little ones, originally intended only for operations in the coastal zone, have learned to fight effectively in open sea areas. They, along with larger boats, cut enemy communications, patrolled at the exits of enemy bases and fjords, deftly overcame anti-submarine barriers and blew up transports right at the piers inside protected enemy harbors. It’s simply amazing how the Red Navy were able to fight on these flimsy ships! But they fought. And we won!
Boats of the “Medium” type, series IX-bis, Soviet Union
The number of submarines built is 41.
Surface displacement - 840 tons; underwater - 1070 tons.
Crew - 36…46 people.
Working immersion depth - 80 m, maximum - 100 m.
Full surface speed - 19.5 knots; submerged - 8.8 knots.
Surface cruising range 8,000 miles (10 knots).
Submerged cruising range 148 miles (3 knots).
“Six torpedo tubes and the same number of spare torpedoes on racks convenient for reloading. Two cannons with large ammunition, machine guns, explosive equipment... In a word, there is something to fight with. And 20 knots surface speed! It allows you to overtake almost any convoy and attack it again. The technique is good...”
- opinion of the S-56 commander, Hero Soviet Union G.I. Shchedrin
The Eskis were distinguished by their rational layout and balanced design, powerful armament, and excellent performance and seaworthiness. Initially a German project from the Deshimag company, modified to meet Soviet requirements. But don’t rush to clap your hands and remember the Mistral. After the start of serial construction of the IX series in Soviet shipyards, the German project was revised with the goal of a complete transition to Soviet equipment: 1D diesel engines, weapons, radio stations, a noise direction finder, a gyrocompass... - there were none in the boats designated “series IX-bis”. foreign made bolt!
The problems with the combat use of "Medium" type boats, in general, were similar to the K-type cruising boats - locked in mine-infested shallow water, they were never able to realize their high combat qualities. Things were much better in the Northern Fleet - during the war, the S-56 boat under the command of G.I. Shchedrina made the transition through the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, moving from Vladivostok to Polyarny, subsequently becoming the most productive boat of the USSR Navy.
An equally fantastic story is connected with the S-101 “bomb catcher” - during the war years, the Germans and Allies dropped over 1000 depth charges on the boat, but each time the S-101 returned safely to Polyarny.
Finally, it was on the S-13 that Alexander Marinesko achieved his famous victories.
S-56 torpedo compartment
“Cruel alterations in which the ship found itself, bombings and explosions, depths far exceeding the official limit. The boat protected us from everything..."
- from the memoirs of G.I. Shchedrin
Gato type boats, USA
The number of submarines built is 77.
Surface displacement - 1525 tons; underwater - 2420 tons.
Crew - 60 people.
Working immersion depth - 90 m.
Full surface speed - 21 knots; submerged - 9 knots.
Cruising range on the surface is 11,000 miles (10 knots).
Submerged cruising range 96 miles (2 knots).
Weapons:
- 10 torpedo tubes of 533 mm caliber, ammunition - 24 torpedoes;
- 1 x 76 mm universal gun, 1 x 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun, 1 x 20 mm Oerlikon;
- one of the boats, USS Barb, was equipped with a multiple launch rocket system for shelling the coast.
Ocean-going submarine cruisers of the Getou class appeared at the height of the war in the Pacific Ocean and became one of the most effective tools of the US Navy. They tightly blocked all strategic straits and approaches to the atolls, cut all supply lines, leaving Japanese garrisons without reinforcements, and Japanese industry without raw materials and oil. In fights with "Getow" Imperial Navy lost two heavy aircraft carriers, lost four cruisers and a damn dozen destroyers.
High speed, lethal torpedo weapons, the most modern radio equipment for detecting the enemy - radar, direction finder, sonar. The cruising range allows for combat patrols off the coast of Japan when operating from a base in Hawaii. Increased comfort on board. But the main thing is the excellent training of the crews and the weakness of Japanese anti-submarine weapons. As a result, the "Getow" mercilessly destroyed everything - it was they who brought victory in the Pacific Ocean from the blue depths of the sea.
...One of the main achievements of the Getow boats, which changed the whole world, is considered to be the event of September 2, 1944. On that day, the Finback submarine detected a distress signal from a falling plane and, after many hours of searching, found a frightened and already desperate pilot in the ocean . The one who was saved was one George Herbert Bush.
The cabin of the submarine "Flasher", memorial in Groton.
The list of Flasher trophies sounds like a naval joke: 9 tankers, 10 transports, 2 patrol ships with a total tonnage of 100,231 GRT! And for a snack, the boat grabbed a Japanese cruiser and a destroyer. Lucky damn thing!
Electric robots type XXI, Germany
By April 1945, the Germans managed to launch 118 submarines of the XXI series. However, only two of them were able to achieve operational readiness and go to sea in last days war.
Surface displacement - 1620 tons; underwater - 1820 tons.
Crew - 57 people.
Working depth of immersion is 135 m, maximum depth is 200+ meters.
Full speed in the surface position is 15.6 knots, in the submerged position - 17 knots.
Cruising range on the surface is 15,500 miles (10 knots).
Submerged cruising range 340 miles (5 knots).
Weapons:
- 6 torpedo tubes of 533 mm caliber, ammunition - 17 torpedoes;
- 2 Flak anti-aircraft guns of 20 mm caliber.
U-2540 "Wilhelm Bauer" permanently moored in Bremerhaven, present day
Our allies were very lucky that all the forces of Germany were sent to the Eastern Front - the Krauts did not have enough resources to release a flock of fantastic “Electric Boats” into the sea. If they appeared a year earlier, that would be it! Another turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic.
The Germans were the first to guess: everything that shipbuilders in other countries are proud of - large ammunition, powerful artillery, high surface speed of 20+ knots - is of little importance. The key parameters that determine the combat effectiveness of a submarine are its speed and cruising range when submerged.
Unlike its peers, “Electrobot” was focused on being constantly under water: a maximally streamlined body without heavy artillery, fences and platforms - all for the sake of minimizing underwater resistance. Snorkel, six groups of batteries (3 times more than on conventional boats!), powerful electric. engines full speed, quiet and economical electric. "sneak" engines.
The stern of U-2511, sunk at a depth of 68 meters
The Germans calculated everything - the entire Elektrobot campaign moved at periscope depth under the RDP, remaining difficult to detect for enemy anti-submarine weapons. On great depth its advantage became even more shocking: 2-3 times the cruising range, at twice the speed, than any of the wartime submarines! High stealth and impressive underwater skills, homing torpedoes, a set of the most advanced detection means... “Electrobots” opened a new milestone in the history of the submarine fleet, defining the vector of development of submarines in the post-war years.
The Allies were not prepared to face such a threat - as post-war tests showed, the “Electrobots” were several times superior in mutual hydroacoustic detection range to the American and British destroyers guarding the convoys.
Type VII boats, Germany
The number of submarines built is 703.
Surface displacement - 769 tons; underwater - 871 tons.
Crew - 45 people.
Working immersion depth - 100 m, maximum - 220 meters
Full surface speed - 17.7 knots; submerged - 7.6 knots.
Cruising range on the surface is 8,500 miles (10 knots).
Submerged cruising range 80 miles (4 knots).
Weapons:
- 5 torpedo tubes of 533 mm caliber, ammunition - 14 torpedoes;
- 1 x 88 mm universal gun (until 1942), eight options for superstructures with 20 and 37 mm anti-aircraft mounts.
* the given performance characteristics correspond to boats of the VIIC subseries
The most effective warships of all who have ever plowed the world's oceans.
A relatively simple, cheap, mass-produced, but at the same time well-armed and deadly weapon for total underwater terror.
703 submarines. 10 MILLION tons of sunk tonnage! Battleships, cruisers, aircraft carriers, destroyers, corvettes and enemy submarines, oil tankers, transports with aircraft, tanks, cars, rubber, ore, machine tools, ammunition, uniforms and food... The damage from the actions of German submariners exceeded all reasonable limits - if only Without the inexhaustible industrial potential of the United States, capable of compensating for any losses of the allies, German U-bots had every chance to “strangle” Great Britain and change the course of world history.
U-995. Graceful underwater killer
The successes of the Sevens are often associated with the “prosperous times” of 1939-41. - allegedly, when the Allies appeared the convoy system and Asdik sonars, the successes of the German submariners ended. A completely populist statement based on a misinterpretation of “prosperous times.”
The situation was simple: at the beginning of the war, when for every German boat there was one Allied anti-submarine ship, the “sevens” felt like invulnerable masters of the Atlantic. It was then that the legendary aces appeared, sinking 40 enemy ships. The Germans already held victory in their hands when the Allies suddenly deployed 10 anti-submarine ships and 10 aircraft for each active Kriegsmarine boat!
Beginning in the spring of 1943, the Yankees and British began to methodically overwhelm the Kriegsmarine with anti-submarine equipment and soon achieved an excellent loss ratio of 1:1. They fought like that until the end of the war. The Germans ran out of ships faster than their opponents.
The whole history of the German “sevens” is a formidable warning from the past: what threat does the submarine pose and how high are the costs of creating effective system countering the underwater threat.
A funny American poster of those years. "Hit the weak points! Come serve in the submarine fleet - we account for 77% of the sunk tonnage!" Comments, as they say, are unnecessary
The article uses materials from the book “Soviet Submarine Shipbuilding”, V. I. Dmitriev, Voenizdat, 1990.
This term has other meanings, see 5th Kriegsmarine Flotilla. 5th Kriegsmarine destroyer flotilla 5. Torpedoboots Flottille Years of existence 1938 1945 Country Third Reich Included in the Kriegsmarine Type ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see 6th Kriegsmarine Flotilla. 6th Kriegsmarine destroyer flotilla 6. Torpedoboots Flottille Years of existence 1938 1944 Country Third Reich Included in the Kriegsmarine Type ... Wikipedia
1. Torpedoboots Flottille Years of existence October 1939 August 1941 Country Third Reich Member of the Kriegsmarine Type Military navy... Wikipedia
13th Kriegsmarine U-boat Flotilla 13. Unterseebootflottille. Years of existence June 1943 May 1945 Country Third Reich Part of the Kriegsmarine ... Wikipedia
2. Torpedoboots Flottille Years of existence October 1939 May 1945 Country Third Reich Part of the Kriegsmarine Type Navy ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see 10th Kriegsmarine Flotilla. 10th Kriegsmarine destroyer flotilla 10. Torpedoboots Flottille Years of existence 1944 1945 Country Third Reich Included in the Kriegsmarine Type ... Wikipedia
11. Unterseebootflottille. Years of existence May 15, 1942 May 1945 Country Third Reich Part of ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see 3rd flotilla. 3rd Kriegsmarine destroyer flotilla 3. Torpedoboots Flottille Years of existence 1941 1945 Country Third Reich Included in the Kriegsmarine Type ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see 4th flotilla. 4th Kriegsmarine destroyer flotilla 4. Torpedoboots Flottille Years of existence 1943 1944 Country Third Reich Included in the Kriegsmarine Type ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see 7th Kriegsmarine Flotilla. 7th Kriegsmarine destroyer flotilla 7. Torpedoboots Flottille Years of existence 1940 Country Third Reich Included in the Kriegsmarine Type ... Wikipedia
Books
- Kriegsmarine. Appearance
- Kriegsmarine. Appearance, V. B. Ulyanov. Materials for historians, collectors, film studios and those simply interested in the military symbols of states that participated in the Second World War. The book covers the main insignia and awards...