German submarine U-3509

German submarine U-3509
Career (Nazi Germany)
Name:	U-3509
Ordered:	6 November 1943
Builder:	Schichau-Werke, Danzig
Yard number:	1654
Laid down:	29 July 1944
Launched:	27 September 1944
Commissioned:	29 January 1945
Fate:	Scuttled on 3 May 1945
General characteristics
Class & type:	Type XXI submarine
Displacement:	1,621 t (1,595 long tons) surfaced 2,100 t (2,067 long tons) submerged
Length:	76.7 m (251 ft 8 in)
Beam:	8 m (26 ft 3 in)
Draught:	5.3 m (17 ft 5 in)
Propulsion:	Diesel/Electric 2 × MAN M6V40/46KBB supercharged 6-cylinder diesel engines, 4,000 PS (3,900 shp; 2,900 kW) 2 × SSW GU365/30 double-acting electric motors, 5,000 PS (4,900 shp; 3,700 kW) 2 × SSW GV232/28 silent running electric motors, 226 PS (223 shp; 166 kW)
Speed:	Surfaced: 15.6 knots (28.9 km/h; 18.0 mph) (diesel) 17.9 knots (33.2 km/h; 20.6 mph) (electric) Submerged: 17.2 knots (31.9 km/h; 19.8 mph) (electric) 6.1 knots (11.3 km/h; 7.0 mph) (silent running motors)
Range:	15,500 nmi (28,700 km; 17,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced 340 nmi (630 km; 390 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) submerged
Complement:	57 officers and men
Sensors and processing systems:	Type F432 D2 Radar Transmitter FuMB Ant 3 Bali Radar Detector
Armament:	6 × bow torpedo tubes 23 × 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedoes (or 17 × torpedoes and 12 × mines) 4 × 2 cm (0.8 in) AA guns

Service record
Part of:	5th U-boat Flotilla (Training) 29 January 1945 - 3 May 1945
Commanders:	K.Kapt. Hans Hornkohl August 1944 - November 1944 K.Kapt. Karl-Heinz Voswinkel 29 January 1945 – 14 March 1945 K.Kapt. Heinz Franke 15 March 1945 – 9 April 1945 Oblt.z.S. Wilhelm Neitzsch 15 April 1945 – 3 May 1945
Operations:	None
Victories:	None

German submarine U-3509 was a Type XXI U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The Elektroboote submarine was laid down on 29 July 1944 at the Schichau-Werke yard at Danzig, launched on 27 September 1944, and commissioned on 29 January 1945 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Hans Hornkohl.

U-3509 was a brand new, high technology electric boat which could run constantly submerged rather than having to surface to recharge her batteries every day the way submarines until that point had had to do. Unfortunately for the Germans, these advanced vessels were only introduced to the Kriegsmarine late in 1944, much too late to influence the Battle of the Atlantic, and too late for many of them to serve in an offensive capacity at all.

With the end of the war near, training on U-boats had dropped to a minimum due to lack of fuel, falling morale and the effectiveness of allied attacks on U-boat construction and preparation. The exception to this were the new Type XXI boats, which continued to train in the Baltic Sea.

Fate

U-3509 was damaged whilst under construction in September 1944 during an air raid, but she was eventually repaired and completed.

U-3509 was scuttled by her crew on 3 May 1945 in the River Weser estuary, Germany.

Bibliography

• Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999) (in German). Deutsche U-Boot-Verluste von September 1939 bis Mai 1945. IV. Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn: Mittler. ISBN 3-8132-0514-2. 
• Gröner, Erich (1985) (in German). U-Boote, Hilfskreuzer, Minenschiffe, Netzleger, Sperrbrecher. III. Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe. ISBN 3-7637-4802-4. 
• Sharpe, Peter (1998). U-Boat Fact File. Great Britain: Midland Publishing. ISBN 1-85780-072-9. 

External links

• Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type XXI boat U-3509". http://www.uboat.net/boats/u3509.htm. Retrieved 5 May 2015.