German submarine U-636

Service record
Part of:	5th U-boat Flotilla; (20 August 1942 - 31 March 1943) - Training; 11th U-boat Flotilla; (1 April - 31 October 1943); 13th U-boat Flotilla; (1 November 1943 - 21 April 1945)
Commanders:	Kptlt. Hans Hildebrandt; (20 August 1942 - 14 February 1944); Oblt.z.S. Eberhard Schendel; (15 February 1944 - 21 April 1945)
Operations:	1st patrol:; 2 May - 8 June 1943; 2nd patrol:; 31 July - 7 August 1943; 3rd patrol:; 17–30 August 1943; 4th patrol:; 6–17 November 1943; 5th patrol:; 23 November - 27 December 1943; 6th patrol:; 30 December 1943 - 8 January 1944; 7th patrol:; 26 January - 2 February 1944; 8th patrol:; 8 April - 3 May 1944; 9th patrol:; 27 June - 23 July 1944; 10th patrol:; 25 August - 12 September 1944; 11th patrol:; 25 September - 3 October 1944; 12th patrol:; 6 October - 12 November 1944; 13th patrol:; 4–16 December 1944; 14th patrol:; 25 December 1944 - 30 January 1945; 15th patrol:; 1–21 April 1945
Victories:	1 merchant ship sunk (7,169 GRT)

German submarine U-636
German submarine U-636
Name:	U-636
Ordered:	20 January 1941
Builder:	Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
Yard number:	612
Laid down:	2 October 1941
Launched:	25 June 1942
Commissioned:	20 August 1942
Fate:	Sunk 21 April 1945 in the North Atlantic in position 55°50′N 10°31′W / 55.833°N 10.517°W, by depth charges from HMS Bazely, HMS Drury and HMS Bentinck.
General characteristics
Class & 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 F46 diesel engines, totalling 2,800–3,200 bhp (2,100–2,400 kW). Max rpm: 470-490; 2 × BBC GG UB 720/8 electric motors, totalling 750 shp (560 kW) and max rpm: 296
Speed:	17.7 knots (32.8 km/h; 20.4 mph) surfaced; 7.6 knots (14.1 km/h; 8.7 mph) submerged
Range:	8,500 nmi (15,700 km; 9,800 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced; 80 nmi (150 km; 92 mi) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth:	230 m (750 ft); Crush depth: 250–295 m (820–968 ft)
Complement:	44–52 officers & ratings
Armament:	Page Template:Plainlist/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "wikitext"). 5 × 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes (four bow, one stern); 14 × torpedoes or 26 TMA mines; 1 × 8.8 cm (3.46 in) deck gun (220 rounds); various AA guns;

German submarine U-636 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was laid down on 2 October 1941 by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg as yard number 612, launched on 25 June 1942 and commissioned on 20 August 1942 under Oberleutnant zur See Hans Hildebrandt.

Service History[]

The boat's career began with training at 5th U-boat Flotilla on 20 August 1942, followed by active service on 1 April 1943 as part of the 11th Flotilla, operating from Bergen, Norway. Just six months later, she transferred to 13th Flotilla stationed in Trondheim, Norway, for the remainder of her service.

In 15 patrols she sank one merchant ship, for a total of 7,169 gross register tons (GRT).

Wolfpacks[]

U-636 took part in eleven wolfpacks, namely

Iller (12–15 May 1943)
Donau 1 (15–26 May 1943)
Isegrim (1–7 January 1944)
Donner (11–20 April 1944)
Donner & Keil (20 April - 2 May 1944)
Trutz (28 June - 10 July 1944)
Dachs (1–5 September 1944)
Zorn (26 September - 1 October 1944)
Grimm (1–2 October 1944)
Panther (16 October - 10 November 1944)
Stier (4–15 December 1944)

Fate[]

U-636 was sunk on 21 April 1945 in the North Atlantic in position 55°50′N 10°31′W / 55.833°N 10.517°W / 55.833; -10.517, by depth charges from HMS Bazely, HMS Drury and HMS Bentinck. All hands were lost.

Summary of Raiding Career[]

Date	Name	Nationality	Tonnage (GRT)	Fate^[3]
6 September 1943	Tbilisi	Soviet Union	7,169	Sunk

References[]

↑ Gröner 1985, pp. 72-74.
↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-636". http://www.uboat.net/boats/u636.html. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-636". http://uboat.net/boats/successes/u636.html. Retrieved 31 August 2014.

Bibliography[]

Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999) (in German). Deutsche U-Boot-Verluste von September 1939 bis Mai 1945. IV. Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn: Mittler. ISBN 3-8132-0514-2.
Gröner, Erich (1985) (in German). U-Boote, Hilfskreuzer, Minenschiffe, Netzleger, Sperrbrecher. III. Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe. ISBN 3-7637-4802-4.
Sharpe, Peter (1998). U-Boat Fact File. Great Britain: Midland Publishing. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.

External links[]

Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-636". http://www.uboat.net/boats/u636.html. Retrieved 29 December 2014.

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at German submarine U-636 and the edit history here.

[FOOTNOTEGröner198572-74-1] Gröner 1985, pp. 72-74.

[uboatnet-2] Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-636". http://www.uboat.net/boats/u636.html. Retrieved 31 August 2014.

[3] Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-636". http://uboat.net/boats/successes/u636.html. Retrieved 31 August 2014.

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