The German submarine ''U-210'' 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 ...

that served with the

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 It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic.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.

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 15 March 1941 as yard number 639 at F. Krupp Germaniawerft in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

, she was launched on 23 December and commissioned on 21 February 1942.

Design

German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines. ''U-210'' had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of , a

pressure hull A submarine hull has two major components, the ''light hull'' and the ''pressure hull''. The light hull (''casing'' in British usage) of a submarine is the outer non-watertight hull which provides a hydrodynamically efficient shape. The pressure ...

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 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, 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 460/8–27 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-210'' 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 SK C/35 naval gun, 220 rounds, and a C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty.

Service history

''U-210'' undertook a single war patrol, departing Kiel on 18 July 1942 under the command of Rudolf Lemcke and heading for the north central Atlantic Ocean. The patrol was uneventful until 6 August 1942 when

Convoy SC 94 Convoy SC 94 was the 94th of the numbered series of World War II Slow Convoys of merchant ships from Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, to Liverpool.Hague 2000 p.133 The ships departed Sydney on 31 July 1942 and were met by Mid-Ocean Es ...

was located. Despite heavy fog, ''U-210'' was spotted on radar by the Canadian destroyer . The U-boat nearly escaped into the fog but the destroyer suddenly reappeared a mere away as ''U-210'' crossed its bow. Both ships opened fire; while the range was too close for the destroyer's main guns, machine gun fire shot up the bridge and conning tower, preventing use of the deck gun. As the destroyer passed astern, a shell from her rear battery hit the

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...

, killing the entire bridge crew; fifty caliber machine gun fire silenced the submarine's flak gun. The senior surviving officer of ''U-210'' ordered her to dive, but forced a slow straight course which allowed ''Assiniboine'' to ram her just abaft the conning tower as she dove. This resulted in the submarine's electric motors failing and damage to the propellers. The

ballast tanks A ballast tank is a compartment within a boat, ship or other floating structure that holds water, which is used as ballast to provide hydrostatic stability for a vessel, to reduce or control buoyancy, as in a submarine, to correct trim or list ...

were blown and the attacking destroyer rammed again as ''U-210'' surfaced; a pattern of shallow-set depth charges were dropped at the same time. As the submarine sank, ''Assiniboine'' hit her with another shell. 37 survivors were pulled from the water and became prisoners of war. Six men of her crew died during this battle.

Wolfpacks

''U-210'' took part in two wolfpacks, namely: * Pirat (29 July – 3 August 1942) * Steinbrinck (3 – 6 August 1942)

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:U0210 World War II submarines of Germany German Type VIIC submarines U-boats commissioned in 1942 Ships built in Kiel U-boats sunk in 1942 U-boats sunk by Canadian warships U-boats sunk by depth charges World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean 1941 ships Maritime incidents in August 1942