German submarine U-703

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German Korvettenkapitan Hans Cohausz, Commander 11th U-Boat Flotilla, greets Kapitanleutnant Heinz Bielfeld, commander of U-703, on the submarine's gangway, at Bergen, Norway. German Kapitanleutnant Heinz Bielfeld aboard submarine U-703 in Norway, in 1942 (NH 71428).jpg
German Korvettenkapitän Hans Cohausz, Commander 11th U-Boat Flotilla, greets Kapitänleutnant Heinz Bielfeld, commander of U-703, on the submarine's gangway, at Bergen, Norway.
History
War ensign of Germany (1938-1945).svg Nazi Germany
NameU-703
Ordered9 October 1939
Builder HC Stülcken & Sohn, Hamburg
Yard number762
Laid down9 August 1940
Launched18 July 1941
Commissioned16 October 1941
FateMissing since 16 September 1944
General characteristics
Class and type Type VIIC submarine
Displacement
Length
Beam
  • 6.20 m (20 ft 4 in) o/a
  • 4.70 m (15 ft 5 in) pressure hull
Height9.60 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draught4.74 m (15 ft 7 in)
Installed power
  • 2,800–3,200 PS (2,100–2,400 kW; 2,800–3,200 bhp) (diesels)
  • 750 PS (550 kW; 740 shp) (electric)
Propulsion
Speed
  • 17.7 knots (32.8 km/h; 20.4 mph) surfaced
  • 7.6 knots (14.1 km/h; 8.7 mph) submerged
Range
  • 8,500  nmi (15,700  km; 9,800  mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced
  • 80 nmi (150 km; 92 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth
  • 230 m (750 ft)
  • Crush depth: 250–295 m (820–968 ft)
Complement4 officers, 40–56 enlisted
Armament
Service record
Part of:
Identification codes: M 25 617
Commanders:
Operations:
  • 13 patrols:
  • 1st patrol:
  • a. 26 April – 7 May 1942
  • b. 10 – 13 May 1942
  • 2nd patrol:
  • a. 16 – 30 May 1942
  • b. 1 – 4 June 1942
  • 3rd patrol:
  • a. 29 June – 15 July 1942
  • b. 2 – 4 August 1942
  • 4th patrol:
  • a. 9 August – 11 September 1942
  • b. 11 September 1942
  • 5th patrol:
  • a. 14 – 26 September 1942
  • b. 28 – 30 September 1942
  • c. 28 – 31 December 1942
  • 6th patrol:
  • 7 March – 5 April 1943
  • 7th patrol:
  • a. 17 April – 15 May 1943
  • b. 18 May – 19 May 1943
  • c. 19 May – 21 May 1943
  • 8th patrol:
  • a. 19 July – 3 August 1943
  • b. 14 – 16 August 1943
  • 9th patrol:
  • a. 17 August – 9 October 1943
  • b. 10 October 1943
  • c. 12 – 14 October 1943
  • d. 18 – 19 October 1943
  • e. 13 – 17 January 1944
  • f. 24 – 28 February 1944
  • 10th patrol:
  • 29 February – 8 March 1944
  • 11th patrol:
  • a. 8 April – 5 May 1944
  • b. 29 July – 1 August 1944
  • 12th patrol:
  • 20 August – 12 September 1944
  • 13th patrol:
  • 16 September 1944
Victories:
  • 5 merchant ships sunk
    (29,523  GRT)
  • 1 warship sunk
    (1,870 tons)
  • 1 auxiliary warship sunk
    (559  GRT)

German submarine U-703 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine deployed during the Second World War against allied shipping in the Arctic Ocean. She was a successful boat, which had a far longer service life than most other U-boats, primarily due to the restricted zone of operations in which she fought. Her main mission during the war was to target the Arctic Convoys which carried supplies to the Soviet Union from Britain. At this she was quite successful in her three years of raiding until her presumed demise in 1944.

Contents

U-703 was built at Hamburg in Northern Germany on the North Sea. She was completed in the autumn of 1941, and given to the experienced Kapitänleutnant Heinz Bielfeld to command. He took her on her working-up period in which the boat was tested and the crew trained in the Baltic Sea and around the German held coastlines, before being dispatched to Narvik in Norway for her first war patrol in April 1942.

Design

German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines. U-381 had a displacement of 769 tonnes (757 long tons) when at the surface and 871 tonnes (857 long tons) while submerged. [1] She had a total length of 67.10 m (220 ft 2 in), a pressure hull length of 50.50 m (165 ft 8 in), a beam of 6.20 m (20 ft 4 in), a height of 9.60 m (31 ft 6 in), and a draught of 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in). The submarine was powered by two Germaniawerft F46 four-stroke, six-cylinder supercharged diesel engines producing a total of 2,800 to 3,200 metric horsepower (2,060 to 2,350 kW; 2,760 to 3,160 shp) for use while surfaced, two Garbe, Lahmeyer & Co. RP 137/c double-acting electric motors producing a total of 750 metric horsepower (550 kW; 740 shp) for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two 1.23 m (4 ft) propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to 230 metres (750 ft). [1]

The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 17.7 knots (32.8 km/h; 20.4 mph) and a maximum submerged speed of 7.6 knots (14.1 km/h; 8.7 mph). [1] When submerged, the boat could operate for 80 nautical miles (150 km; 92 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph); when surfaced, she could travel 8,500 nautical miles (15,700 km; 9,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). U-702 was fitted with five 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and one at the stern), fourteen torpedoes, one 8.8 cm (3.46 in) SK C/35 naval gun, 220 rounds, and a 2 cm (0.79 in) C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty. [1]

Service history

Enjoying the improving Arctic weather, U-703 had an unsuccessful patrol in terms of victims, but the boat began to work better as a team, and the second patrol in May reaped dividends, with the sinking of the 6,191 GRT American freighter Syros. This ship sank with eleven lives after a torpedo touched off her ammunition. [2] The same patrol scored greater success during the disastrous end to Convoy PQ 17 on the 5 May, when she managed to sink two lone cargo ships, one of them damaged by long range German bombers beforehand. Returning to port at Narvik, U-703 was cheered by her victory, but she struggled to make further impressions during the year, as her two further patrols yielded only one victim, the British destroyer HMS Somali, which was fatally crippled by a torpedo near Convoy PQ 18 in September.

Following her lay-over in the winter as her home ports of Narvik, Trondheim, Hammerfest, Harstad and Bergen were all frozen, U-703 returned to the offensive, again attacking allied convoys in the Arctic Sea. Her first two patrols, in January and April were short and barren, but on the next two in July and August 1943 under her new commander Joachim Brünner, she cruised in Soviet waters in the Barents Sea and further east, catching a small Soviet armed trawler on 1 August, [3] and larger Soviet merchant ship the next day, sinking the Sergj Kirov near Istvestij Island. [4] These patrols had shown the vulnerability of older U-boats to newer allied countermeasures and protection, forcing the submarines to divert themselves into backwaters of the Battle of the Atlantic in order to gain any victories.

The U-703 continued operating in the spring of 1944, but she was obviously less efficient and was given duties deploying weather balloons in the Arctic Sea to test weather conditions for reports to other shipping. This was in part a result of terrible damage she received off Narvik during her first patrol of the season, when allied aircraft strafed her, killing three crew and wounding three more. Just a few days before she had claimed her only victim of the year, the Empire Tourist, which was sunk whilst part of Convoy RA 57.

Relegated to her new duties, U-703 suddenly disappeared around the 16 September 1944. She had left Narvik on her thirteenth war patrol on 14 September, in order to deploy a weather balloon in the Arctic. At the time a heavy gale was running, and it has been assumed that U-703 foundered due to heavy seas in the course of this difficult and highly technical operation. No trace of the boat and her 54 crew has ever been found.

Summary of raiding history

DateShip NameNationalityTonnage [Note 1] Fate [5]
26 May 1942 Syros Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg  United States 6,191Sunk
5 July 1942 Empire Byron Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 6,645Sunk
5 July 1942 River Afton Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 5,479Sunk
20 September 1942 HMS Somali Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg  Royal Navy 1,870Sunk
30 July 1943 T-911 Naval Ensign of the Soviet Union (1950-1991).svg  Soviet Navy 559Sunk
1 October 1943 Sergej Kirov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 4,146Sunk
4 March 1944 Empire Tourist Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 7,062Sunk

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ Merchant ship tonnages are in gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Gröner 1991, pp. 43–46.
  2. ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Syros". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net.
  3. ↑ Which has never been successfully named by historians.
  4. ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Sergej Kirov (Steam merchant)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net.
  5. ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-703". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 6 February 2014.

Bibliography

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