| German submarine U-569 | |
|---|---|
| Career |  |
| Name: | U-569 |
| Ordered: | 24 October 1939 |
| Builder: | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |
| Yard number: | 545 |
| Laid down: | 21 May 1940 |
| Launched: | 20 March 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 8 May 1941 |
| Fate: | Scuttled, May 1943, after damage inflicted by US aircraft[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| 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 |
| Draft: | 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion: |
2 × supercharged Germaniawerft 6-cylinder 4-stroke M6V 40/46 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 (20.4 mph; 32.8 km/h) surfaced 7.6 knots (8.7 mph; 14.1 km/h) submerged |
| Range: |
15,170 km (8,190 nmi) at 10 kn (19 km/h) surfaced 150 km (81 nmi) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h) submerged |
| Test depth: |
230 m (750 ft) Crush depth: 250–295 m (820–968 ft) |
| Complement: | 44–52 officers and ratings |
| Armament: |
• 5 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes (four bow, one stern) • 14 × G7e torpedoes or 26 TMA mines • 1 × C35 88mm gun/L45 deck gun (220 rounds) • Various AA guns |
| Service record[2] | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
3rd U-boat Flotilla (8 May–1 August 1941) 3rd U-boat Flotilla (1 August 1941–22 May 1943) |
| Commanders: |
Kptlt. Hans-Petr Hinsch (8 May 1941–6 February 1943) Oblt.(R) Hans Johansen (3 February–22 May 1943) |
| Operations: |
1st patrol: 11 August–21 October 1941 2nd patrol: 12 October–12 November 1941 3rd patrol: 10–23 December 1941 4th patrol: 26 February–2 April 1942 5th patrol: 5 May–28 June 1942 6th patrol: 4 August–8 October 1942 7th patrol 25 November–28 December 1942 8th patrol: 7 February–13 March 1943 9th patrol: 19 April–22 May 1943 |
| Victories: |
One ship sunk, 984 GRT; one ship damaged - 4,458 GRT |
German submarine U-569 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.
She carried out nine patrols, sank one ship of 984 GRT and damaged one other of 4,458 GRT.
She was a member of 15 wolfpacks.
She was scuttled following damage inflicted by US carrier-borne aircraft in mid-Atlantic, in May 1943.
Service history[]
The submarine was laid down on 21 May 1940 at Blohm & Voss, Hamburg as 'werk' 545, launched on 20 March 1941 and commissioned on 8 May under the command of Kapitänleutnant Hans-Peter Hinsch.
She served with the 3rd U-boat Flotilla from 1 August 1941 for training and stayed with that organization for operations until her loss from 1 August 1941 to 22 May 1943.
1st and 2nd patrols[]
U-432's first patrol was from Trondheim in Norway, she headed for the Atlantic Ocean via the 'gap' separating Iceland and the Faroe Islands. She arrived at St. Nazaire in occupied France, on 21 September 1941.
Having left St. Nazaire on 12 October 1941, U-569 made for the Newfoundland and Labrador coast. She returned to her French base on 12 November.
3rd patrol[]
The submarine was attacked by a Fairey Swordfish west of Gibraltar on 16 December 1941. She, along with four other U-boats, was to have operated in the Mediterranean, but the damage was such that she had to return to St. Nazaire.[3][4]
4th and 5th patrols[]
U-569 sank the Hengist on 8 March 1942 northwest of Cape Wrath (Scotland)[5] and returned to France (La Pallice), on 2 April 1943.
On her fifth sortie, she damaged the Pontypridd northeast of St. Johns, Newfoundland, on 11 June 1942 and took the master prisoner. She returned to La Pallice on the 28th.
6th and 7th patrols[]
The boat was attacked by the Norwegian corvette HNoMS Potentilla on 25 August 1942. The warship lost the element of surprise and her intention to ram when her 4 in gun opened fire prematurely. Several hits were scored on the conning tower by 20mm AA guns, but the larger weapon failed to register in the encounter in mid-Atlantic.
The boat's seventh patrol was relatively peaceful with no contacts.
8th patrol[]
U-569 was attacked by the escorts of Convoy UC-1 on 23 February 1943 and seriously damaged. She had departed La Pallice on 7 February 1943 and returned there on 13 March.
9th patrol and loss[]
The boat was badly damaged by depth charges dropped by two TBM Avengers from the escort carrier USS Bogue on 22 May 1943. She was scuttled in mid-Atlantic on 22 May 1943.
Twenty-one men died with U-569; there were 25 survivors.
Summary of raiding history[]
| Date | Name | Nationality | Tonnage (GRT) |
Fate[6] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 March 1942 | Hengist |  United Kingdom |
984 | Sunk |
| 11 June 1942 | Pontypridd | United Kingdom |
4,458 | Damaged |
References[]
- Notes
- ↑ Kemp, Paul: U-Boats Destroyed - German Submarine Losses in the World Wars, 1997, Arms & Armour, ISBN 1-85409-515-3, p. 120
- ↑ "The Type VIIC boat U-569 - German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net". www.uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/boats/u569.htm. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
- ↑ http://uboat.net/boats/u.../htm
- ↑ Paterson, Lawrence - U-Boats in the Mediterranean 1941-1944, 2007, Chatham Publishing, ISBN 13: 9781861762900, p. 94
- ↑ The Times Atlas of the World - Third edition, revised 1995, ISBN 0 7230 0809 4, p. 10
- ↑ http://uboat.net/boats/successes/u569/html
- Bibliography
See also[]
The original article can be found at German submarine U-569 and the edit history here.