U BOAT TYPE XXI (1943 - 45)

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aukepalmhof
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U BOAT TYPE XXI (1943 - 45)

Post by aukepalmhof » Mon May 02, 2011 8:45 pm

The German U-Boat type XXI was built between 1943 and 1945 on various German shipyards altogether 118 boats were assembled.
Displacement 1,651 tons standard, 2,100 tons full load. Dim. 76.7 x 8 x 5.3m (draught)
Powered diesel electric by two MAN M6V40/46KBB supercharged 6-cyl. diesels, 4,000 hp., two SSW GU365/30 double acting electric motors, 5,000 hp. Two SSW GV232/28 silent running electric motors, 226 hp. Speed surfaced 15.6 knots on diesels and 17.9 knots electric. Submerged 17.2 knots submerged and 6.1 knots silent running.
Range by a speed of 15 knots 15.500 mile, submerged by a speed of 5 knots, 340 mile.
Armament 6 – 21 inch torpedo tubes, carried 23 torpedoes. When not carried torpedoes could carry 12 TMC mines. 2 – 20mm AA guns.
Crew 57.

Type XXI U-boats, also known as "Elektroboote", were the first submarines designed to operate entirely submerged, rather than as surface ships that could submerge as a temporary means to escape detection or launch an attack.

The key improvement in the Type XXI was greatly increased battery capacity, roughly three times that of the Type VIIC. This gave these boats enormous underwater range, and dramatically reduced the time spent near the surface. They could travel submerged at about five knots (9 km/h) for two or three days before recharging the batteries, which took less than five hours using the snorkel. The Type XXI was also much quieter than the VIIC, making it more difficult to detect when submerged.
The Type XXI's streamlined and hydrodynamically clean hull design allowed high submerged speed. The ability to outrun many surface ships while submerged, combined with improved dive times, made it much harder to chase and destroy. It also gave the boat a 'sprint ability' when positioning itself for an attack. Older boats had to surface to sprint into position. This often revealed a boat's location, especially after aircraft became available for convoy escort.
The Type XXIs had better facilities than previous classes, including a freezer for foodstuffs. They also featured a hydraulic torpedo reloading system that allowed all six torpedo tubes, located in the bow, to be reloaded more rapidly than a Type VIIC could reload a single tube. The Type XXI could fire 18 torpedoes in under 20 minutes. The total warload was 23 torpedoes, or 17 torpedoes and 12 sea mines. The XXI also featured an advanced sonar system.
Between 1943 and 1945, 118 boats were assembled by Blohm & Voss of Hamburg, AG Weser of Bremen, and F. Schichau of Danzig. Each hull was constructed from eight prefabricated sections with final assembly taking place at the shipyards. This new method could have pushed construction time below six months per vessel, but in reality all the assembled U-boats were plagued with severe quality problems that required extensive post-production work to fix. One of the reasons was that the sections were made by inland companies (a result of Albert Speer's decision), even though these had little experience in shipbuilding. The result was that out of 118 assembled XXIs, only four were rated fit for combat before the war ended in Europe.
It was planned that final assembly of Type XXI boats would eventually be carried out in the Valentin submarine pens, a massive, bomb-hardened concrete bunker built at the small port of Farge, near Bremen. Construction took place between 1943 and 1945 using around 10,000 concentration camp prisoners and prisoners of war as forced-labour. The facility was 90% complete when in March 1945, it was badly damaged by Allied bunker busters bombs and abandoned. A few weeks later, the area was captured by the British Army.
U-2511 and U-3008 were the only Type XXIs to go on war patrols, and both failed to sink any ships.
In 1957, U-2540, which had been scuttled at the end of the war, was raised to become the research vessel WILHELM BAUER of the Bundesmarine. She was operated by both military and civilian crews in a research role until 1982. In 1984, she was opened to the public by the Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum (German Maritime Museum) in Bremerhaven, Germany.
The U-2518 became French submarine ROLAND MORILLOT. She saw active service during the Suez Crisis in 1956, and remained in commission until 1967. She was scrapped in 1969.
Four Type XXI boats were assigned to the Soviet Union by the Potsdam Agreement; these were U-3515, U-2529, U-3035, and U-3041, which were commissioned into the Soviet Navy as B-27, B-28, B-29, and B-30 later B-100 respectively. However, Western intelligence believed the Soviets had acquired several more Type XXI boats; a review by the U.S. Joint Intelligence Committee for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in January 1948 estimated that at the time the Soviet Navy had 15 Type XXIs operational, could complete construction of 6 more within 2 months, and could build another 39 within a year and a half from prefabricated sections, since several factories producing Type XXI components and the assembly yard at Danzig had been captured by the Soviets at the end of World War II. U 3538 — U 3557 (respectively TS-5 – TS-19 and TS-32 – TS-38) remained uncompleted at Danzig and were scrapped or sunk in 1947. The four boats assigned by Potsdam were used in trials and tests until 1955, then scuttled or used for weapon testing between 1958-1973. The Type XXI formed the basis for the Project 614, essentially a copy of the Type XXI, and many of its characteristics were also incorporated into the Project 613 submarine (known in the West as the Whiskey class).
The U-3017 was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS N41. She was used for tests until being scrapped in November 1949.
The United States Navy took over the U-2513 and U-3008, operating them both in the Atlantic. In November 1946 President Harry S. Truman became the first American President to travel on a submarine when he visited U-2513, the submarine dived to 440 feet (130 m) below the surface with the President onboard. The U-2513 was sunk as a target ship in 1949; the U-3008 was scrapped in 1956.
The only boat that survives intact is the WILHELM BAUER (U-2540). However, the wrecks of other Type XXI boats are known to exist. In 1985, it was discovered that the partially-scrapped remains of U-2505, U-3004, and U-3506 were still in the partially-demolished "Elbe II" U-boat bunker in Hamburg, Germany. The bunker has since been filled in with gravel for safety reasons and lies beneath a car park, making the wrecks effectively inaccessible.
The U-2513, lies in 213 feet (65 m) of water, 70 miles (110 km) west of Key West, Florida. The boat has been visited by divers, but the depth makes this very difficult and the site is only considered suitable for advanced divers. Four other boats lie off the coast of Northern Ireland, where they were sunk in 1946 as part of Operation Deadlight.
The Type XXI design directly influenced the Soviet submarine classes known by the NATO reporting names Whiskey and Zulu, the Whiskeys moreso.
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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Type_XXI_submarine
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john sefton
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Re: U BOAT TYPE XXI (1943 - 45)

Post by john sefton » Thu Jan 04, 2018 3:02 pm

Togo Sg?
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