German submarine ''U-471'' 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 ...

built for

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 It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic.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

'' for service 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 ...

. 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 ...

on 25 October 1941 by

Deutsche Werke Deutsche Werke was a German shipbuilding company that was founded in 1925 when Kaiserliche Werft Kiel and other shipyards were merged. It came as a result of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I that forced the German defense industry to shri ...

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 ...

as yard number 302, launched on 6 March 1943 and commissioned on 5 May 1943 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 ...

'' Friedrich Kloevekorn.

Design

German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines. ''U-471'' 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 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-471'' 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 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

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 5 May 1943, followed by active service on 1 November 1943 as part of the

1st Flotilla The First Flotilla was a naval formation of the British Royal Navy commanded by the Flag Officer, First Flotilla from 1971 to 1990. The Western Fleet and Far East Fleet were merged into the single Commander-in-Chief Fleet in 1971. Within this new ...

. On 1 May 1944, she transferred to 29th Flotilla for Mediterranean operations for the remainder of her service. In 3 patrols she sank no ships. In 1945, she was raised and returned to service with the French Navy as ''Millé'' from 1946. She was stricken on 9 July 1963 as ''Q339''.

Wolfpacks

''U-471'' took part in six wolfpacks, namely: * Coronel 1 (14 – 17 December 1943) * Sylt (18 – 23 December 1943) * Rügen 3 (26 – 28 December 1943) * Rügen 4 (28 December 1943 – 2 January 1944) * Rügen 3 (2 – 7 January 1944) * Rügen (7 – 22 January 1944)

Fate

''U-471'' was sunk on 6 August 1944 in the

Military port of Toulon The military port of Toulon (french: arsenal de Toulon) is the principal base of the French Navy and the largest naval base in the Mediterranean, sited in the city of Toulon. It holds most of France's force d'action navale, comprising the airc ...

dry-dock in position , in an air raid by US Liberator bombers.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:U0471 German Type VIIC submarines 1943 ships U-boats commissioned in 1943 U-boats sunk in 1944 U-boats sunk by US aircraft World War II submarines of Germany G Ships built in Kiel Maritime incidents in August 1944