German submarine ''U-659'' 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 It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic.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. She was laid down on 12 February 1941 by

Howaldtswerke Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (often abbreviated HDW) is a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Kiel. It is part of the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) group, owned by ThyssenKrupp. The Howaldtswerke shipyard was founded in Kiel in 183 ...

, Hamburg as yard number 808, launched on 14 October 1941 and commissioned on 9 December 1941 under ''

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 ...

'' Hans Stock.

Design

German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines. ''U-659'' had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of , a pressure hull 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 engines producing a total of for use while surfaced, two Siemens-Schuckert GU 343/38-8 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-659'' 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 a C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty.

Service history

The boat's career began with training at

5th U-boat Flotilla The 5th U-boat Flotilla (German ''5. Unterseebootsflottille''), also known as Emsmann Flotilla, was a U-boat flotilla of Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' during World War II. The flotilla was formed in December 1938 in Kiel under the command of '' ...

on 9 December 1941, followed by active service on 1 September 1942 as part of the 9th Flotilla for the remainder of her service. In five patrols she sank one merchant ship, for a total of , and damaged three others.

Wolfpacks

''U-659'' took part in seven wolfpacks, namely: * Vorwärts (25 August – 11 September 1942) * Streitaxt (20 – 31 October 1942) * Spitz (22 – 29 December 1942) * Neptun (18 February – 3 March 1943) * Westmark (6 – 8 March 1943) * Neuland (8 – 13 March 1943) * Drossel (29 April – 4 May 1943)

Fate

''U-659'' sank on 4 May 1943 in the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

in position after colliding with . There were just 3 survivors, and 44 hands lost.

Summary of raiding history

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:U0659 German Type VIIC submarines 1941 ships U-boats commissioned in 1941 U-boats sunk in 1943 U-boats sunk by German warships World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean World War II submarines of Germany Ships built in Hamburg Maritime incidents in May 1943