German submarine ''U-1018'' was a German

Type VIIC/41 Type VII U-boats were the most common type of German World War II U-boat. 703 boats were built by the end of the war. The lone surviving example, , is on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial located in Laboe, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Conc ...

U-boat, built during World War II for service in the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...

. The U-boat was fitted with the Schnorchel underwater-breathing apparatus which enabled her to stay under-water for extended periods thus avoiding detection by enemy warships.

Design

German Type VIIC/41 submarines were preceded by the heavier Type VIIC submarines. ''U-1018'' had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of , a pressure hull length of , a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of , a height of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two Germaniawerft F46 four-stroke, six-cylinder

supercharged In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...

diesel engines producing a total of for use while surfaced, two Brown, Boveri & Cie GG UB 720/8 double-acting electric motors producing a total of for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

s. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to . The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of . When submerged, the boat could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at . ''U-1018'' was fitted with five torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and one at the stern), fourteen torpedoes, one SK C/35 naval gun, (220 rounds), one Flak M42 and two C/30 anti-aircraft guns. The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty.

Service history

She was completed in Hamburg in April 1944, and spent the rest of 1944 training with the

31st U-boat Flotilla ''31st U-boat Flotilla'' ("31. Unterseebootsflottille") was a training flotilla ("''Ausbildungsflottille''") of Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' during World War II. The flotilla was formed in Hamburg in September 1943 under the command of ''Kapi ...

. An accident took place during U-1018's work-up period in the Baltic on 17 June which killed one crew member (''Obersteuermann'' Walter Nellsen) and wounded two. In December 1944, she was moved from Kiel to Horten Naval Base in Norway to join

11th U-boat Flotilla The 11th U-boat Flotilla (German ''11. Unterseebootsflottille'') was formed on 15 May 1942 in Bergen, Norway. The flotilla operated mainly in the North Sea and against the Russian convoys (JW, PQ, QP and RA series) in the Arctic Sea. The flotill ...

, before departing on 21 January 1945 to patrol the Western Approaches of the English Channel under the command of '' Kapitänleutnant'' Walter Burmeister.

Combat role

On 27 February 1945 she attacked convoy BTC 81 about seven miles from Lizard Point, Cornwall (at ). ''U-1018'' launched a torpedo which hit the Norwegian freighter which sank within a few minutes, resulting in the death of five of the freighter's Norwegian crew, a 16-year-old British cabin boy, Thomas Boniface, and two British Royal Navy gunners, (part of the DEMS gun crew) including former professional

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Charlie Sillett. The convoy escort ships immediately launched heavy counter-attacks. Less than two hours later, ''U-1018'' was sunk by

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

s dropped by under the command of Cdr. Benjamin Andrew Rogers, RD, RNR. Only two members of the crew of 53 survived.

Summary of raiding history

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:U1018 World War II submarines of Germany German Type VIIC/41 submarines U-boats sunk by depth charges U-boats commissioned in 1944 U-boats sunk in 1945 World War II shipwrecks in the English Channel 1944 ships Ships built in Hamburg U-boats sunk by British warships Maritime incidents in February 1945