German submarine ''U-954'' 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 ...

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

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 It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic.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

'' in World War II.

Design

German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines. ''U-954'' 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 Brown, Boveri & Cie GG UB 720/8 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-954'' 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 one 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, ...

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

Service history

Wolfpacks

''U-954'' took part in five wolfpacks, namely: * Meise (25 – 27 April 1943) * Star (27 April – 4 May 1943) * Fink (4 – 6 May 1943) * Inn (11 – 15 May 1943) * Donau 2 (15 – 19 May 1943)

Fate

On 19 May 1943, ''U-954'' was sunk with all hands by hedgehog attacks from the and the HMS ''Jed'', both escorting Convoy SC 130. One of those killed in the sinking was Admiral

Karl Dönitz Karl Dönitz (sometimes spelled Doenitz; ; 16 September 1891 24 December 1980) was a German admiral who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as head of state in May 1945, holding the position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Government follo ...

's son Peter Dönitz.Blair, Clay (1998). ''Hitler's U-Boat War, The Hunted 1942–1945.'' Random House. , pp.333-334

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:U0954 U-boats sunk in 1941 World War II submarines of Germany World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean 1942 ships U-boats commissioned in 1942 U-boats sunk in 1943 U-boats sunk by depth charges U-boats sunk by British warships Ships built in Hamburg German Type VIIC submarines Ships lost with all hands