Posted on Feb 27, 2018
Hitler Built a World War II Submarine That Was Revolutionary. It Ended Up a Total Failure.
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WWII World War Two
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Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Thanks for reminding us of a catastrophic failure of the Third Reich and its undersea arm of the Kriegsmarine PO1 Tony Holland
It is indeed remarkable that despite the massive bombing campaign, Germany was able to design and manufacture an engine, which was radical for its time, that allowed the undersea boat to operate primarily submerged.
"On May 4, 1945 one of the most advanced submarines in the world crept up to a British Royal Navy cruiser. U-2511 was one of Germany’s new Type XXI-class “wonder” submarines, and she was hunting for Allied ships.
More than 250 feet long and displacing 1,620 tons, the Type XXI packed six hydraulically-reloaded torpedo tubes capable of firing more than 23 stored torpedoes. This arsenal could turn a convoy into sinking, burning wreckage.
But the real improvement lay deep inside the U-boat’s bowels. There rested an advanced electric-drive engine that allowed the submersible to travel underwater at significantly higher speeds—and for longer periods—than any submarine that came before.
It was perhaps the world’s first truly modern undersea warship. The engine, which was radical for its time, allowed the boat to operate primarily submerged. This is in contrast to other war-era submersibles, which operated mainly on the surface and dived for short periods to attack or escape.
But for the fortunate crew of that British cruiser, the war in Europe had just ended. Adolf Hitler shot himself on April 30. Word of the European ceasefire had also just reached U-2511. The submarine did not fire its torpedoes at the cruiser, instead merely carrying out a mock practice attack.
Neither U-2511 nor its sister ship U-3008 ever fired a torpedo in anger during the war. But the Kriegsmarine—the Nazi navy—had put its hopes in winning the naval war on these Type XXI U-boats."
Images:
FYI 1945 U-Boat 3008 German Type XXI Submarine in harbor; 1945 U-Boat 3008 German Type XXI Submarine in open water; 1946 In the foreground from left to right U-2502, U-3514 and U-2518 and in the background U-2506, U-2511 and U-3041. U-3041 and U-2518 were assigned to the USSR and France.jpg
"What was Operation Deadlight?
Operation Deadlight was the code name for the scuttling of most of the unwanted German U-Boats which the Allies got their hands on after the end of World War Two (WWII).
This aspect of the U-Boat war has often been difficult to get clear view on, but it has now been explained in both context and detail in Derek Waller's recent article Operation Deadlight (7 Nov 2010).
The scuttling operations took place from Lisahally, Northern Ireland (30 boats) and Loch Ryan, Scotland (86 boats). 116 U-Boats were scuttled between November 1945 and February 1946 north west of Ireland. Whilst some of the U-Boats were sunk in the pre-selected location, many others sank en-route due to the very bad weather that hampered the Operation.
On 12 Feb 1946 at 1004hrs. the Type XXI boat U-3514 received the distinction of being the last U-Boat sunk during Operation Deadlight.
Out of the 156 German U-boats surrendered at the end of the war, were sunk in deep water near Ireland in 1945-1946 during Operation Deadlight. The 154 or so were used for various tasks and then sunk thereafter (like U-1105 sunk on explosives trial in the Potomac in 1948)."
https://uboat.net/fates/deadlight_hist.htm
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Orlando Illi Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price CPT Jack Durish Capt Tom Brown MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see) Sgt Albert Castro SSG David Andrews Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. CPL Dave Hoover SGT Mark Halmrast SPC Margaret Higgins SrA Christopher Wright
It is indeed remarkable that despite the massive bombing campaign, Germany was able to design and manufacture an engine, which was radical for its time, that allowed the undersea boat to operate primarily submerged.
"On May 4, 1945 one of the most advanced submarines in the world crept up to a British Royal Navy cruiser. U-2511 was one of Germany’s new Type XXI-class “wonder” submarines, and she was hunting for Allied ships.
More than 250 feet long and displacing 1,620 tons, the Type XXI packed six hydraulically-reloaded torpedo tubes capable of firing more than 23 stored torpedoes. This arsenal could turn a convoy into sinking, burning wreckage.
But the real improvement lay deep inside the U-boat’s bowels. There rested an advanced electric-drive engine that allowed the submersible to travel underwater at significantly higher speeds—and for longer periods—than any submarine that came before.
It was perhaps the world’s first truly modern undersea warship. The engine, which was radical for its time, allowed the boat to operate primarily submerged. This is in contrast to other war-era submersibles, which operated mainly on the surface and dived for short periods to attack or escape.
But for the fortunate crew of that British cruiser, the war in Europe had just ended. Adolf Hitler shot himself on April 30. Word of the European ceasefire had also just reached U-2511. The submarine did not fire its torpedoes at the cruiser, instead merely carrying out a mock practice attack.
Neither U-2511 nor its sister ship U-3008 ever fired a torpedo in anger during the war. But the Kriegsmarine—the Nazi navy—had put its hopes in winning the naval war on these Type XXI U-boats."
Images:
FYI 1945 U-Boat 3008 German Type XXI Submarine in harbor; 1945 U-Boat 3008 German Type XXI Submarine in open water; 1946 In the foreground from left to right U-2502, U-3514 and U-2518 and in the background U-2506, U-2511 and U-3041. U-3041 and U-2518 were assigned to the USSR and France.jpg
"What was Operation Deadlight?
Operation Deadlight was the code name for the scuttling of most of the unwanted German U-Boats which the Allies got their hands on after the end of World War Two (WWII).
This aspect of the U-Boat war has often been difficult to get clear view on, but it has now been explained in both context and detail in Derek Waller's recent article Operation Deadlight (7 Nov 2010).
The scuttling operations took place from Lisahally, Northern Ireland (30 boats) and Loch Ryan, Scotland (86 boats). 116 U-Boats were scuttled between November 1945 and February 1946 north west of Ireland. Whilst some of the U-Boats were sunk in the pre-selected location, many others sank en-route due to the very bad weather that hampered the Operation.
On 12 Feb 1946 at 1004hrs. the Type XXI boat U-3514 received the distinction of being the last U-Boat sunk during Operation Deadlight.
Out of the 156 German U-boats surrendered at the end of the war, were sunk in deep water near Ireland in 1945-1946 during Operation Deadlight. The 154 or so were used for various tasks and then sunk thereafter (like U-1105 sunk on explosives trial in the Potomac in 1948)."
https://uboat.net/fates/deadlight_hist.htm
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Orlando Illi Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price CPT Jack Durish Capt Tom Brown MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see) Sgt Albert Castro SSG David Andrews Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. CPL Dave Hoover SGT Mark Halmrast SPC Margaret Higgins SrA Christopher Wright
Operation Deadlight - Information - Fates - German U-boats of WWII - Kriegsmarine - uboat.net
The U-boat War in World War Two (Kriegsmarine, 1939-1945) and World War One (Kaiserliche Marine, 1914-1918) and the Allied efforts to counter the threat. Over 40.000 pages on the officers, the boats, technology and the Allied efforts to counter the U-boat threat.
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