German submarine ''U-522'' was a Type IXC

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 ...

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 It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic.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

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. She 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 ...

at the Deutsche Werft (yard) in

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as yard number 337 on 9 July 1941, launched on 1 April 1942 and commissioned on 11 June with ''

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 ...

'' Herbert Schneider in command. ''U-522'' began her service career with training as part of the

4th U-boat Flotilla Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * Fourth (album), ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * The Fourth (1972 film) ...

from 11 June 1942. She was reassigned to the 2nd flotilla for operations on 1 October 1942. She carried out two patrols and sank seven ships. She damaged two more. She was sunk on 23 February 1943 in mid-Atlantic west of

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by a British warship.

Design

German Type IXC submarines were slightly larger than the original Type IXBs. ''U-522'' had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. The U-boat 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 MAN M 9 V 40/46

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 ...

four-stroke, nine-cylinder

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 Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 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-522'' was fitted with six

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 two at the stern), 22

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/32 naval gun, 180 rounds, and a SK C/30 as well as a C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of forty-eight.

Service history

First patrol

The boat departed

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 ...

on 8 October 1942, moved through the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, negotiated the gap between

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and the

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and entered the Atlantic Ocean. She opened her account when she damaged the ''Hartington'' about east of Belle Isle (off the main island of Newfoundland) on 2 November 1942. The abandoned ''Hartington'' was sunk later that same day by . ''U-522'' sank the ''Martima'' northeast of St. Johns on the same day as the attack on the ''Hartington'' and went on to sink the ''Parthenonn''. She entered Lorient, on the French Atlantic coast, on 2 December 1942.

Second patrol and loss

''U-522''s second foray took her to the mid-Atlantic once again. She sank the ''Norvik'' west of Teneriffe on 9 January 1943. Two days later, she damaged the ''British Dominion'' "northeast of the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

". She was sunk west of

on 23 February 1943 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 the sloop (ex-US Coast Guard Cutter) . Fifty-one men died; there were no survivors.

Wolfpacks

''U-522'' took part in two wolfpacks, namely: * Kreuzotter (8 – 22 November 1942) * Delphin (3 January – 14 February 1943)

Summary of raiding history

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:U0522 German Type IX submarines U-boats commissioned in 1942 U-boats sunk in 1943 U-boats sunk by British warships World War II submarines of Germany 1942 ships World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Ships built in Hamburg Submarines lost with all hands Maritime incidents in February 1943