| German submarine U-57 (1938) | |
|---|---|
| Career (Nazi Germany) |  |
| Name: | U-58 |
| Ordered: | 17 June 1937 |
| Builder: | Deutsche Werke AG, Kiel |
| Laid down: | 14 September 1937 |
| Launched: | 3 September 1938 |
| Commissioned: | 29 December 1938 |
| Fate: |
Sunk in a collision, September 1940; raised and repaired, scuttled, May 1945 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Type IIC U-boat |
| Displacement: |
291 long tons (296 t) surfaced 341 long tons (346 t) submerged 435 long tons (442 t) total |
| Length: |
43.9 m (144 ft 0 in) o/a 29.6 m (97 ft 1 in) pressure hull |
| Beam: |
4.1 m (13 ft 5 in) o/a 4 m (13 ft 1 in) pressure hull |
| Height: | 8.4 m (27 ft 7 in) |
| Draught: | 3.8 m (12 ft 6 in) |
| Propulsion: |
2 × MWM RS127S 6-cylinder diesel engines, 700 hp (522 kW) 2 × SSW PGVV322/26 double-acting electric motors, 402 hp (300 kW) |
| Speed: |
12 knots (14 mph; 22 km/h) surfaced 7 knots (8.1 mph; 13 km/h) submerged |
| Range: |
6,100 km (3,300 nmi) at 8 kn (15 km/h) surfaced 67 km (36 nmi) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h) submerged |
| Test depth: | 150 m (490 ft) |
| Complement: | 22 to 24 men |
| Armament: | 3 × torpedo tubes (bow), five torpedoes |
| Service record | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
5th U-boat Flotilla 1st U-boat Flotilla 22nd U-boat Flotilla 19th U-boat Flotilla[1] |
| Commanders: |
Oblt. Claus Korth (29 December 1938–4 June 1940) Oblt. Erich Topp (5 June–15 September 1940) Wilhelm Eiseke (11 January 1941–16 May 1943) Oblt. Walter Zenker (17 May 1943–31 July 1944) Oblt. Peter Kühl (1 August 1944–May 1945) |
| Operations: |
Eleven: 1st patrol: 3–5 September 1939 2nd patrol: 5–18 September 1939 3rd patrol: 25 October–5 November 1939 4th patrol: 12 November–23 November 1939 5th patrol: 7 December 1939– 16 December 1939 6th patrol: 16–25 January 1940 7th patrol: 8–25 February 1940 8th patrol: 14– 29 March 1940 9th patrol: 4 April– 7 May 1940 10th patrol: a. 15–20 July 1940 b. 22 July–7 August 1940 11th patrol: 14 August–3 September 1940 |
| Victories: |
Eleven ships sunk, total 48,053 GRT (gross register tonnage); one auxiliary warship sunk 8,240 GRT; two ships damaged, total 10,403 GRT; one ship declared a total loss[2] |
German submarine U-57 was a Type IIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine that served in the Second World War. She was built by Deutsche Werke AG in Kiel as 'werk' 256. Ordered on 17 June 1937, she was laid down on 14 September, launched on 3 September 1938 and commissioned on 29 December under the command of Oberleutnant Claus Korth.
U-56 was initially part of the 5th U-boat Flotilla during her training period, until 31 December 1939, when she was re-assigned to the 1st U-boat Flotilla for operations. She carried out eleven war patrols, sinking eleven ships for a total 48,053 GRT and one auxiliary warship of 8,240 GRT; she also damaged two vessels totalling 10,403 GRT; one ship was declared a total loss (10,191GRT).
Service history[]
1st, 2nd and 3rd patrols[]
The boat's first patrol was brief and passed without incident. For her second sortie, she departed Kiel on 5 September 1939, but went no further than the Kattegat. Her third effort was as far as the waters separating Orkney and Shetland, but success continued to elude her.
4th and 5th patrols[]
It was more of the same for her fourth and fifth patrols, although her activity was centred more in the southern North Sea.
6th and 7th patrols[]
The submarine's luck changed for the better on her sixth foray, when she sank the Miranda about 30 mi (48 km) northwest of Peterhead in Scotland on 20 January 1940.
Sally number seven began with the boat's departure from Wilhelmshaven on 8 February 1940. On the 14th, she attacked the Gretafield southeast of Noss Head. The burnt-out ship, which had been abandoned, drifted ashore at Dunbeath in Caithness. She broke in two and was declared a total loss.
U-57 was one of six U-boats that took part in Operation Nordmark; carrying out reconnaissance in the area of the Orkney and Shetland Islands for a subsequently unsuccessful sortie by the German capital ships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Admiral Hipper between 18 and 20 February 1940.
8th and 9th patrols[]
On her eighth patrol, also executed in the vicinity of Orkney, she sank the Daghestan 9 mi (14 km) east of Copinsay, Orkney, on 25 March 1940. Patrol number nine saw the boat sweeping the area of the North Sea off the English/Scottish borders, Orkney and Shetland and all points east, with no result.
10th patrol[]
U-57 had moved to Bergen in Norway; HMS Tetrarch, a British submarine, fired three torpedoes at the U-boat in the entrance to Kors fjord on 15 July 1940: they missed. On the 17th, she sank the O.A. Brodin 15 mi (24 km) northwest of Noup Head in the Orkney Islands. She also successfully attacked the Manipur 8 mi (13 km) northwest of Cape Wrath, (on the northern Scottish mainland). Her next victim was the Atos which went to the bottom in three minutes about 30 mi (48 km) north of Malin Head (in Ireland)[3] on 3 August.
She then docked at the recently captured port of Lorient on the French Atlantic coast on 7 August.
11th patrol and loss[]
Although her base had changed, the boat's area of operations had not. She damaged the Havildar 25 mi (40 km) northeast of Malin Head on 24 August 1940 and sank the Cumberland but was unsuccessfully attacked by British warships the next day. As sort of a farewell gift, she sank the Pecten in the evening of the 25th; the ship went down in 90 seconds. Returning to Germany, she was relegated to duties as a training boat and sunk after a collision with the Norwegian ship Rona at Brunsbüttel (northwest of Hamburg).[4] She was raised, repaired and returned to service in January 1941. With the end of the war in sight, she was scuttled on 3 May 1945 at Kiel.
Summary of raiding history[]
| Date | Ship | Nationality | Tonnage | Fate[5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 November 1939 | Kaunas |  Lithuania |
1,566 | Sunk |
| 19 November 1939 | Stanbrook |  Great Britain |
1,383 | Sunk |
| 13 December 1939 | Mina |  Estonia |
1,173 | Sunk |
| 20 January 1940 | Miranda |  Norway |
1,328 | Sunk |
| 26 January 1940 | HMS Durham Castle | Great Britain |
8,240 | Sunk (mine) |
| 14 February 1940 | Gretafield | Great Britain |
10,191 | Total loss |
| 21 February 1940 | Loch Maddy | Great Britain |
4,996 | Damaged |
| 25 March 1940 | Daghestan | Great Britain |
5,742 | Sunk |
| 17 July 1940 | Manipur | Great Britain |
8,652 | Sunk |
| 17 July 1940 | O.A. Brodin |  Sweden |
1,960 | Sunk |
| 3 August 1940 | Atos | Sweden |
2,161 | Sunk |
| 24 August 1940 | Cumberland | Great Britain |
10,939 | Sunk |
| 24 August 1940 | Havildar | Great Britain |
5,407 | Damaged |
| 24 August 1940 | Saint Dunstan | Great Britain |
5,681 | Sunk |
| 25 August 1940 | Pecten | Great Britain |
7,468 | Sunk |
References[]
- ↑ http://uboat.net/boats/u.57/htm
- ↑ "Ships Hit by U-57". U-boat.net. 8 November 2012. http://www.uboat.net/boats/successes/details.php?boat=57.
- ↑ The Times Atlas of the World - Third edition, revised 1995, ISBN 0 7230 0809 4, p. 10
- ↑ The Times Atlas of the World, p. 13
- ↑ http://uboat.net/boats/successes/u.57/html
See also[]
External links[]
- U-57 at uboat.net
- http://www.ubootwaffe.net/ops/boat.cgi
- http://www.u-boot-archiv.de/dieboote/u0057.html (German)
The original article can be found at German submarine U-57 (1938) and the edit history here.
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