German submarine ''U-1191'' was a

Type VIIC 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 U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

's ''

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

'' during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Construction

The ''U-1191'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 4 November 1942 at the F Schichau shipyard in Danzig, Poland. She was launched on 6 July 1943 and commissioned on 9 September 1943 under the command of ''

Oberleutnant zur See ''Oberleutnant zur See'' (''OLt zS'' or ''OLZS'' in the German Navy, ''Oblt.z.S.'' in the ''Kriegsmarine'') is traditionally the highest rank of Lieutenant in the German Navy. It is grouped as OF-1 in NATO. The rank was introduced in the Imper ...

'' Peter Grau. SRH009-p58

When she was completed, the submarine was long, with a beam of , a height of and a draft of . She was assessed at submerged. 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 engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s producing a total of for use while surfaced and two

AEG Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the Second World War, AEG ...

GU 460/8-276 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 submarine was capable of operating at depths of up to , had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of .When submerged, the

could operate for at and when surfaced, she could travel at . The submarine was fitted with five

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s (four fitted at the bow and one at the stern), fourteen

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

es, one deck gun (220 rounds), one Flak M42 and two twin C/30 anti-aircraft guns. The boat had a complement of 44 to 57 men.

Service history

''U-1191'' was used as a Training ship in the

8th U-boat Flotilla The 8th U-boat Flotilla (German ''8. Unterseebootsflottille'') was formed in June 1941 in Königsberg under the command of ''Kapitänleutnant'' Georg-Wilhelm Schulz, who also at this time commanded the 6th U-boat Flotilla in Danzig. It was prim ...

from 9 September 1943 until 30 April 1944, before serving in the 7th U-boat Flotilla for active service on 1 May 1944. She was fitted with a Schnorchel underwater-breathing apparatus in April 1944.

Patrol and loss

During her active service, ''U-1191'' made 1 patrol. She left

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

with 50 crew on 22 May 1944 for her first patrol and patrolled the North Atlantic, North of the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

, West off the coast of Ireland and northwest of France. On 3 July 1944 during her patrol in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

, ''U-1191'' was sunk by depth charges from the British frigates and southwest of

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, England, ending her first and only patrol during World War II after 43 days. All 50 crew members on board were lost. She was first listed as missing and it was thought that she had been sunk by a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

or by human error instead of by depth charges. In total ''U-1191'' spent 50 days at sea.

Wreck

The wreck of ''U-1191'' was located in 1995 at a depth of and lay in nearly the same position as , which was sunk only days before ''U-1191s demise. The wreck is located at .

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:U1191 German Type VIIC submarines U-boats commissioned in 1943 World War II submarines of Germany Ships built in Danzig 1943 ships Maritime incidents in July 1944 Shipwrecks in the English Channel Ships built by Schichau Submarines lost with all hands