| German submarine U-204 | |
|---|---|
| Career |  |
| Name: | U-204 |
| Ordered: | 23 September 1939 |
| Yard number: | 663 |
| Laid down: | 22 April 1940 |
| Launched: | 23 January 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 8 March 1941 |
| Fate: | Sunk by British warships, 19 October 1941 |
| 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: |
8,500 nmi (15,700 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h) ↑ 80 nmi (150 km) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h) ↓ |
| 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/L45 deck gun (220 rounds) • Various AA guns |
| Service record[1][2] | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
1st U-boat Flotilla, Training (8 March–1 May 1941) 1st U-boat Flotilla, Front (Operational) Boat (1 May–19 October 1941) |
| Commanders: |
Kptlt. Walter Kell, (8 March–19 October 1941) |
| Operations: | Three patrols |
| Victories: |
Four commercial ships sunk (17,360 GRT) one warship sunk (1,060 tons) |
German submarine U-204 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 22 April 1940 by the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft yard at Kiel as 'werk' 633, launched on 23 January 1941 and commissioned on 8 March under the command of Oberleutnant Walter Kell. She was sunk in October 1941 by British warships.
Operational career[]
Part of the 1st U-boat Flotilla, U-204 carried out three patrols in the North Atlantic.
1st patrol[]
U-204's first patrol began when she left Kiel on 24 May 1941; she travelled through the 'gap' between Greenland and Iceland (the Denmark Strait) and sank the Icelandic fishing boat Holsteinn with gunfire, south of Iceland on 31 May - Kell did not want news of the U-boat's presence to be broadcast. She then sank the Mercier east of Newfoundland on 10 June. She docked at Brest in occupied France, on the 27th.
2nd patrol[]
Nearly a month passed before the boat sortied once again. On 2 August she spotted Allied convoy SL81 and called for support, when U-401 arrived the following day, they attacked together.[3] The U-boat sank HNoMS Bath about 400 mi (640 km) southwest of Ireland on 19 August 1941. Several survivors were killed, not by the ship's sinking, but by depth charges exploding when the vessel went down.
3rd patrol and loss[]
Having left Brest on 20 September 1941, she sank the Spanish sailing ship Aingeru Guardakoa with a single torpedo on 14 October, thinking she was a British submarine chaser. She then sank the Inverlee on the 19th. On the same day, she fell victim to a British anti-submarine sweep from Gibraltar. She was sunk by depth charges from the corvette HMS Mallow and the sloop HMS Rochester. Forty-six men died; there were no survivors.
Summary of raiding Career[]
| Date | Ship Name | Nationality | Tonnage (GRT) | Fate[4] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 May 1941 | Holsteinn |  Iceland |
16 | Sunk |
| 10 June 1941 | Mercier |  Belgium |
7,886 | Sunk |
| 9 August 1941 | HNoMS Bath |  Norway |
1,060 | Sunk |
| 14 October 1941 | Aingeru Guardakoa |  Spain |
300 | Sunk |
| 19 October 1941 | Inverlee |  Great Britain |
9,158 | Sunk |
References[]
- Notes
- ↑ "The Type VIIC boat U-204 - German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net". uboat.net. http://uboat.net/boats/u204.htm. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ↑ "War Patrols by German U-boat U-204 - Boats - uboat.net". uboat.net. http://uboat.net/boats/patrols/u204.html. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ↑ "HMS Wanderer (D74)". Naval-history.net. http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-09VW-Wanderer.htm. Retrieved 16 Jan 2013.
- ↑ http://uboat.net/boats/successes/u204/html
- Bibliography
External links[]
- U-204 at u-boot-archiv.de (German)
See also[]
Coordinates: 35°46′N 6°02′W / 35.767°N 6.033°W
The original article can be found at German submarine U-204 and the edit history here.