German submarine U-53 (1939) | |
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Career (Nazi Germany) | ![]() |
Name: | U-53 |
Ordered: | 15 May 1937 |
Builder: | Germaniawerft, Kiel |
Cost: | 4,439,000 Reichsmark |
Yard number: | 588 |
Laid down: | 13 March 1937 |
Launched: | 6 May 1939 |
Commissioned: | 24 June 1939 |
Fate: | Sunk by HMS Gurkha 23 February 1940 near the Orkney Islands |
General characteristics | |
Class & type: | Type VIIB U-boat |
Displacement: |
753 t (741 long tons) ↑ 857 t (843 long tons) ↓ |
Length: |
66.5 m (218 ft 2 in) o/a 48.8 m (160 ft 1 in) pressure hull |
Beam: |
6.2 m (20 ft 4 in) overall 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) pressure hull |
Draught: | 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in) |
Propulsion: |
2 × supercharged MAN 6 cylinder, 4-stroke M 6 V 40/46 diesel engines totalling 2,800–3,200 bhp (2,100–2,400 kW) Max rpm 470-490 ↑ 2 × AEG GU 460/8-276 electric engines totalling 750 shp (560 kW) ↓ |
Speed: |
17.9 kn (33.2 km/h) 8 kn (15 km/h) |
Range: |
8,700 nmi (16,112 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)↑ 90 nmi (170 km) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h) |
Test depth: | 230 m (750 ft). Calculated crush depth: 250–295 m (820–968 ft) |
Complement: | 44 to 48 officers and ratings |
Armament: |
|
Service record | |
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Part of: |
7th U-boat Flotilla (24 June 1939 – 23 February 1940) |
Commanders: |
Oblt.z.S. Dietrich Knorr (15 January–23 February 1940) |
Operations: |
Three: 1st patrol: 29 August–30 September 1939 2nd patrol: 21 October–30 November 1939 3rd patrol: 2–23 February 1940 |
Victories: | Seven ships sunk for a total of 27,316 GRT; one ship damaged, 8,022 GRT |
German submarine U-53 was a Type VIIB U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was laid down on 13 March 1937 at Krupp Germaniawerft in Kiel and went into service on 24 June 1939 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See (Oblt.z.S.) Dietrich Knorr.[1]
1st patrol[]
U-53 began her first patrol on 29 August 1939, just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, under the command of Ernst-Günter Heinicke. Also aboard was Ernst Sobe, the commander of the 7th ("Wegener") Flotilla.[2] U-53 sank two British ships on this patrol: the tanker SS Cheyenne and the freighter SS Kafiristan.[3]
2nd patrol[]
A second patrol under Heinicke, beginning on 21 October produced no results. U-53, along with U-25 and U-26, was to penetrate the Strait of Gibraltar and raid Allied shipping in the Mediterranean Sea. Daunted by the strong British forces at the straits, Heinicke did not attempt to force them and was transferred to the merchant raider German auxiliary cruiser Widder on his return to Germany.[4][5]
3rd patrol[]
Harald Grosse replaced Heinicke for U-53's third and final war patrol, which began on 2 February 1940. Grosse sank six ships for 21,230 GRT, including the Spanish neutral Banderas, whose sinking strained relations between Germany and Spain. On 23[6] or 24[7] February (sources vary), U-53 was engaged and sunk by depth charges dropped by the British destroyer HMS Gurkha west of the Orkney Islands with the loss of all hands, (42 dead).
In popular culture[]
In the film The Cruel Sea (1953) U53 was the last (and only) submarine the crew of the fictitious frigate HMS Saltash Castle sank.
Summary of raiding career[]
Date[8] | Ship | Nationality | Tonnage | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|
15 September 1939 | SS Cheyenne | 8,825 | Sunk | |
17 September 1939 | SS Kafiristan | 5,193 | Sunk | |
11 February 1940 | MV Imperial Transport | 8,022 | Damaged | |
11 February 1940 | SS Snestad | 4,114 | Sunk | |
12 February 1940 | SS Dalarö | ![]() |
3,927 | Sunk |
13 February 1940 | SS Norna | ![]() |
1,022 | Sunk |
14 February 1940 | SS Martin Goldschmidt | ![]() |
2,095 | Sunk |
18 February 1940 | SS Banderas | ![]() |
2,140 | Sunk |
See also[]
Sources[]
- ↑ "U-53 Type VIIB". ubootwaffe.net. http://ubootwaffe.net/ops/boat.cgi?boat=53. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
- ↑ Blair (1996), 56.
- ↑ Blair (1996), 90; 94.
- ↑ Blair (1996), 115–119.
- ↑ "Korvettenkapitän Ernst-Günter Heinicke". uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/men/commanders/444.html. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
- ↑ Blair (1996), pp. 140–141.
- ↑ Kemp, Paul: U-Boats Destroyed, German Submarine Losses in the World Wars. 1997. p. 64. Arms and Armour. ISBN 1-85409-515-3
- ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-53". WWII U-boat successes. Uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/boats/successes/u53.html. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
- Blair, Clay (1996). Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939–1942. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-58839-8.
External links[]
Coordinates: 60°32′00″N 6°14′00″W / 60.533333°N 6.233333°W
The original article can be found at German submarine U-53 (1939) and the edit history here.