German submarine ''U-362'' 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 built for Nazi Germany'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 It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic.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 ...

'' for service during World War II. Built by Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft at

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...

, the U-boat was laid down 9 November 1941, launched on 21 October 1942, and commissioned on 4 February 1943 with '' Oberleutnant zur See'' Ludwig Franz in command.

Design

German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines. ''U-362'' had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of , a pressure hull length of , a beam 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

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-362'' 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, and four 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.

Service history

Sailing from Kiel on 6 February 1944, ''U-362'' first sailed for northern Norway from where she sortied out into the Norwegian Sea on several patrols, without sinking any ships. The U-boat sailed from Hammerfest on 2 August 1944, on her fifth and final patrol and headed east across the Barents Sea, north of Russia. On 5 September 1944 in the Kara Sea, she 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 from the at . All 51 of the crew were lost.

Wolfpacks

''U-362'' took part in five wolfpacks, namely: * Werwolf (23 – 27 February 1944) * Donner (11 – 12 April 1944) * Trutz (16 – 31 May 1944) * Grimm (31 May – 6 June 1944) * Greif (3 August – 5 September 1944)

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:U0362 German Type VIIC submarines U-boats commissioned in 1943 U-boats sunk in 1944 World War II submarines of Germany Shipwrecks in the Kara Sea 1942 ships World War II shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean Ships built in Flensburg U-boats sunk by Soviet warships U-boats sunk by depth charges Submarines lost with all hands Maritime incidents in September 1944