| German submarine U-953 | |
|---|---|
| Career |  |
| Name: | U-953 |
| Ordered: | 10 April 1941 |
| Builder: | , Hamburg |
| Yard number: | 153 |
| Laid down: | 10 February 1942 |
| Launched: | 28 October 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 17 December 1942 |
| Fate: | Transferred to England, 29 May 1945 Broken up, 1950 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Type VIIC submarine |
| Displacement: | 769 tonnes (757 long tons) surfaced 871t (857 long tons) submerged |
| Length: | 67.1m (220ft 2in) o/a 50.5m (165ft 8in) pressure hull |
| Beam: | 6.2m (20ft 4in) o/a 4.7m (15ft 5in) pressure hull |
| Draft: | 4.74m (15ft 7in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × supercharged Germaniawerft 6-cylinder 4-stroke M6V 40/46 diesel engines, totalling 2,800–3,200bhp (2,100–2,400kW). Max rpm: 470-490 2 × electric motors, totalling 750shp (560kW) and max rpm: 296. |
| Speed: | 17.7 knots (20.4mph; 32.8km/h) surfaced 7.6 knots (8.7mph; 14.1km/h) submerged |
| Range: | 15,170km (8,190nmi) at 10kn (19km/h) surfaced 150km (81nmi) at 4kn (7.4km/h) submerged |
| Test depth: | 230m (750ft) Crush depth: 250–295m (820–968ft) |
| Complement: | 44–52 officers & ratings |
| Armament: | • 5 × 533mm (21in) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 1 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: | 5th U-boat Flotilla (17 December 1942–31 May 1943) 3rd U-boat Flotilla (1 June 1943–14 October 1944) 33rd U-boat Flotilla (15 October 1944–8 May 1945) |
| Commanders: | Oblt. Karl-Heinz Marbach (17 December 1942–August 1944) Oblt. Herbert A. Werner (August 1944–April 1945) Oblt. Erich Steinbrink (April–8 May 1945) |
| Operations: | 1st patrol: 13 May–22 July 1943 2nd patrol: 2 October–17 November 1943 3rd patrol: 26 December 1943–20 February 1944 4th patrol: 30 March–1 April 1944 5th patrol: 22–28 May 1944 6th patrol: 6–18 June 1944 7th patrol: 24 June–22 July 1944 8th patrol: 10–11 August 1944 9th patrol: 31 August–11 October 1944 10th patrol: 21 February–3 April 1945 |
| Victories: | 1 commercial ship sunk (1,927GRT) |
U-953 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II.
The submarine was laid down on 10 February 1942 in the yard at Hamburg, launched on 28 October 1942, and commissioned on 17 December 1942 under the command of Oberleutnant Karl-Heinz Marbach.
After training with the 5th U-boat Flotilla at Kiel, U-953 was transferred to the 3rd U-boat Flotilla based at La Pallice (in southwestern France), for front-line service on 1 June 1943. She sailed on ten war patrols, but sank only one ship of 1,927gross register tons(GRT). Transferred to the 33rd U-boat Flotilla on 15 October 1944, she surrendered at Trondheim in Norway in May 1945.
Contents
- 1 Service history
- 1.1 1st patrol
- 1.2 2nd and 3rd patrols
- 1.3 4th-6th patrols
- 1.4 7th patrol
- 1.5 8th-10th patrols
- 1.6 Fate
- 2 References
- 3 See also
Service history[]
1st patrol[]
U-953 first sailed from Kiel on 13 May 1943, and out into the mid-Atlantic. She had no successes, and on 9 July was attacked by an aircraft, which killed one crewman and wounded two others. The U-boat arrived at La Pallice on 22 July after 71 days on patrol.[3]
2nd and 3rd patrols[]
U-953's second Atlantic patrol from 2 October to 17 November 1943 was uneventful,[4] but her next, which began on 26 December 1943 and took her to the waters off North Africa, was. On 11 January 1944 the U-boat fired a T-5 homing torpedo at a corvette, missed, and was then hunted for the next 13 hours by escort ships equipped with depth charges and hedgehogs. About 4 February the U-boat approached Convoy ON 222, but was attacked by an unknown Allied aircraft.[5]
4th-6th patrols[]
After being fitted with a Schnorchel underwater-breathing apparatus, the U-boat's next three patrols from March to June 1944 were short, from 3 to 13 days and uneventful.[2]
7th patrol[]
U-953 made her first and only kill on a patrol that began on 24 June 1944. She sailed from Brest into the English Channel[6] and at 08:00 on 5 July fired a spread of two torpedoes, and then another at 08.05, sinking the 1,927 ton British merchant ship Glendinning, part of convoy ETC-27. Two crewmen and two gunners were lost.[7]
8th-10th patrols[]
Under her new commander, Oblt. Herbert A. Werner, who had been due to stay in Festung (Fortress) Brest and fight on the ground,[8] U-953 sailed from the French port with a composite crew from U-415 and U-953 on 23 August 1944. This mixing was due to a number of the latter boat's crew being on leave in Germany and being unable to return after the invasion of Normandy and the subsequent Allied advance. It had taken two attempts at leaving, due to the chaotic situation in the port and the British anti-submarine forces waiting outside.[9] The submarine arrived at La Pallice on the 28th with no torpedoes and about twice the normal complement, but left again on 7 September following incomplete repairs.[10] Failure of one engine and the non-operation of the Schnorchel were just two of the mechanical problems she encountered[11] as the boat sailed around the British Isles to Bergen in Norway, arriving there on 11 October. She sailed to Germany for overhaul at the end of the month; first to Kiel, then Lübeck; returning to Bergen on the surface (due to more defects), in February 1945.[2] She left Bergen for her final patrol around the southwest English coast on 17 February,[12] but had to return when it was discovered that the torpedo tube outer doors would not open fully. She arrived in Bergen on 7 April,[13] before heading to Trondheim for repars, arriving on 14 April 1945.[14]
Fate[]
Three weeks after the German surrender, on 29 May 1945, the boat was transferred to England and used by the Royal Navy for trials. U-953 was finally broken up in 1950.[1]
References[]
- Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Type VIIC boat U-953 - German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net". uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/boats/u953.htm. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "War Patrols by German U-boat U-953 - Boats - uboat.net". uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/boats/patrols/u953.html. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
- ↑ "Patrol of U-boat U-953 from 13 May 1943 to 22 Jul 1943 - U-boat patrols - uboat.net". uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/boats/patrols/patrol_2657.html. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
- ↑ "Patrol of U-boat U-953 from 2 Oct 1943 to 17 Nov 1943 - U-boat patrols - uboat.net". uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/boats/patrols/patrol_2658.html. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
- ↑ "Patrol of U-boat U-953 from 26 Dec 1943 to 20 Feb 1944 - U-boat patrols - uboat.net". uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/boats/patrols/patrol_2659.html. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
- ↑ "Patrol of U-boat U-953 from 24 Jun 1944 to 22 Jul 1944 - U-boat patrols - uboat.net". uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/boats/patrols/patrol_2664.html. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
- ↑ "Glendinning (Steam merchant) - Ships hit by U-boats - uboat.net". uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/3284.html. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
- ↑ Herbert A. Werner (1969). Iron Coffins p. 238; Cassel & Co. ISBN 0-304-35330-2
- ↑ Werner pp. 239-251
- ↑ Werner pp. 254 & 259
- ↑ Werner pp. 261-263
- ↑ Werner p. 287
- ↑ Werner p. 296
- ↑ Werner p. 298
- Bibliography
- U-953 at uboat.net
- U-953 at ubootwaffe.net
- Bishop, C. Kriegsmarine U-Boats, 1939-45. Amber Books, 2006.
See also[]
- List of German U-boats
- "U-Boats, Churchill's Worst Nightmare" 3 DVD set; includes interviews with Captain Werner (U-953)
The original article can be found at German submarine U-953 and the edit history here.
