German submarine ''U-252'' 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 It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic.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 ...

. The submarine 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 1 November 1940 at the Vegesacker Werft at

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

as yard number 17, launched on 14 August 1941 and commissioned on 4 October under the command of ''

Kapitänleutnant ''Kapitänleutnant'', short: KptLt/in lists: KL, ( en, captain lieutenant) is an officer grade of the captains' military hierarchy group () of the German Bundeswehr. The rank is rated OF-2 in NATO, and equivalent to Hauptmann in the Heer and ...

'' Gunter Schiebusch. Schiebusch was replaced by ''Kapitänleutnant'' Kai Lerchen on 21 December 1941. After training with the ''

6th U-boat Flotilla The 6th U-boat Flotilla (German ''6. Unterseebootsflottille''), also known as Hundius Flotilla, was a front-line unit of Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' before and during World War II. Formed on 1 October 1938 in Kiel under the command of ''Kor ...

'' at Kiel, ''U-252'' was deemed to be ready for front-line service and sailed on her first patrol on 1 April 1942. On 6 April 1942, ''U-252'' landed espionage agent Ib Riis in Iceland. ''U-252'' is thought to have sunk the 1,355 GRT Norwegian ''Fanefield'' on 9 April. Five days later she encountered

convoy OG 82 OG 82 was an Allied convoy of the OG (Outward to Gibraltar) series during World War II. The action involving this convoy resulted in the destruction of a U-boat, and also had consequences for German U-boat strategy. Forces involved OG 82 compr ...

, and was attacked and sunk by depth charges from the sloop and the corvette on 14 April 1942.Neistle p50 The U-252 can be seen on YouTube video 'Diving on Nazi submarine U-252' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw3EsX5bh4g

Design

German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines. ''U-252'' 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 460/8-276 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 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-252'' 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 two twin C/30

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

s. The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty.

Summary of raiding history

References

Bibliography

* ** * * Axel Neistle : ''German U-Boat Losses during World War II'' (1998)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:U0252 U-boats commissioned in 1941 1941 ships Ships built in Bremen (state) German Type VIIC submarines World War II submarines of Germany U-boats sunk in 1942 U-boats sunk by British warships U-boats sunk by depth charges World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Ships lost with all hands Maritime incidents in April 1942

Design

Summary of raiding history

See also

References

Bibliography

External links