German submarine U-A

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History
War Ensign of Germany 1938-1945.svg Nazi Germany
Name:UA (ex Batiray)
Ordered: 1936
Builder: Germaniawerft, Kiel
Laid down: 1937
Launched: 28 August 1938
Commissioned: 1939
Fate: Scuttled, 3 May 1945
Status: Sunk
General characteristics
Displacement:
  • 1,128  t (1,110 long tons) surfaced
  • 1,284 t (1,264 long tons) submerged
Length: 86.65 m (284 ft 3 in)
Beam: 6.80 m (22 ft 4 in)
Draught: 4.12 m (13 ft 6 in)
Propulsion:
Range:
  • 13,000 nmi (24,000 km; 15,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced
  • 75 nmi (139 km; 86 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth: 100 m (330 ft)
Complement: 4 officers, 41 men
Armament:

U-A was the official call-sign of one of fourteen U-boats that made up the Foreign U-boats of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. Built at Kiel as one of four submarines of the Ay class for Turkey, the Batiray as she was to have been named, was not handed over to the Turkish Navy but seized by Germany and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine in 1939. Two sister-ships the Saldiray and Atilay had been delivered in June 1939. One boat, Yildiray , was built slowly in a Turkish shipyard. [1] The design was a modification of the Type IX to fit Turkish requirements. Two of Turkish U-boats served in the Turkish Navy until 1957, but Atilay was lost in a training exercise off Canakkale.

Foreign U-Boats was the title for a special section created by Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that adopted 13 captured enemy submarines and a single Turkish vessel into the U-Boat corps. Beginning in 1939 and lasting until the end of World War II in 1945, the Kriegsmarine modified a total of 13 captured enemy submarines, then deployed them into combat with German crews. The special corps was not especially successful, as only nine enemy ships were destroyed by Foreign U-Boats through the entire war. Seven of these were destroyed by UA, which was a modified Type IX U-Boat originally built for the Turkish Navy. However, some were effective as minelayers.

Nazi Germany The German state from 1933 to 1945, under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler

Nazi Germany is the common English name for Germany between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party (NSDAP) controlled the country through a dictatorship. Under Hitler's rule, Germany was transformed into a totalitarian state that controlled nearly all aspects of life via the Gleichschaltung legal process. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich until 1943 and Großdeutsches Reich from 1943 to 1945. Nazi Germany is also known as the Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", the first two being the Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and the German Empire (1871–1918). The Nazi regime ended after the Allies defeated Germany in May 1945, ending World War II in Europe.

<i>Kriegsmarine</i> 1935–1945 naval warfare branch of Germanys armed forces

The Kriegsmarine was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war Reichsmarine (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches, along with the Heer (Army) and the Luftwaffe of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces from 1933 to 1945.

Contents

Service

U-A was commissioned on 30 April 1939 under the initial command of Hans Cohausz, and later Hans Eckerman. She was supposed to be used as a minelayer by the Turkish, but the Germans used her like a type IX U-boat.

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military forces. The ceremonies involved are often rooted in centuries old naval tradition.

U-A was attacked on 8 March 1941 by the destroyer HMS Wolverine, but survived. During her service, she sank seven Allied ships, including the British 13,950-ton armed merchant cruiser HMS Andania. Only nine ships in total were destroyed by the Foreign U-boat corps, U-A destroying seven of those while damaging another three.

HMS <i>Wolverine</i> (D78) Admiralty modified W class destroyer built for the Royal Navy

HMS Wolverine was an Admiralty modified W class destroyer built for the Royal Navy. She was one of four destroyers ordered in April 1918 from James Samuel White & Co Ltd under the 14th Order for Destroyers of the Emergency War Programme of 1917–18. She was the seventh Royal Navy Ship to carry the name. It had been introduced in 1798 for a gun brig and last borne by a destroyer sunk after a collision in 1917.

She was decommissioned and scuttled on 3 May 1945, as the war was drawing to a close.

U-A submarine gun and conning tower detail Ua submarine1.jpg
U-A submarine gun and conning tower detail

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Foreign U-boats U-A". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 30 April 2015.

Bibliography

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