German submarine U-204
History | |
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Nazi Germany | |
Name | U-204 |
Ordered | 23 September 1939 |
Builder | Germaniawerft , Kiel |
Yard number | 633 |
Laid down | 22 April 1940 |
Launched | 23 January 1941 |
Commissioned | 8 March 1941 |
Fate | Sunk by British warships, 19 October 1941 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Type VIIC submarine |
Displacement | |
Length |
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Beam |
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Height | 9.60 m (31 ft 6 in) |
Draught | 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range | |
Test depth |
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Complement | 4 officers, 40–56 enlisted |
Armament |
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Service record[1][2] | |
Part of: |
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Identification codes: | M 37 084 |
Commanders: |
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Operations: |
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Victories: |
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German submarine U-204 was a
She was sunk on 19 October 1941 by British warships.
Design
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).
Service history
Part of the 1st U-boat Flotilla, U-204 carried out three patrols in the North Atlantic.
First patrol
U-204's first patrol began when she left Kiel on 24 May 1941; she travelled through the gap between Greenland and Iceland (the Denmark Strait) and sank the Icelandic fishing boat Holsteinn with gunfire, south of Iceland on 31 May – Kell did not want news of the U-boat's presence to be broadcast. She then sank Mercier east of Newfoundland on 10 June. She docked at Brest in occupied France, on the 27th.
Second patrol
Nearly a month passed before the boat sortied again. On 2 August she spotted
Third patrol and loss
Having left Brest on 20 September 1941, she sank the Spanish sailing ship Aingeru Guardakoa with a single torpedo on 14 October, thinking she was a British submarine chaser. She then sank Inverlee on the 19th. On the same day, she fell victim to a British anti-submarine sweep from Gibraltar. She was sunk by depth charges from the corvette HMS Mallow and the sloop HMS Rochester.
Forty-six men died; there were no survivors.
Wolfpacks
U-204 took part in three wolfpacks, namely:
Summary of raiding history
Date | Ship Name | Nationality | Tonnage[Note 1] | Fate[6] |
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31 May 1941 | Holsteinn | Iceland | 16 | Sunk |
10 June 1941 | Mercier | Belgium | 7,886 | Sunk |
19 August 1941 | HNoMS Bath | Royal Norwegian Navy | 1,060 | Sunk |
14 October 1941 | Aingeru Guardakoa | Spain | 97 | Sunk |
19 October 1941 | Inverlee | United Kingdom | 9,158 | Sunk |
References
Notes
- gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.
Citations
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-204". German U-boats of WWII – uboat.net. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrols by U-204". German U-boats of WWII – uboat.net. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ^ a b c d Gröner 1991, pp. 43–46.
- ^ "HMS Wanderer (D74)". Naval-history.net. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
- ^ Edwards (2009), p.22-23
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-204". German U-boats of WWII – uboat.net. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
Bibliography
- Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II : a biographical dictionary. Translated by Brooks, Geoffrey. London, Annapolis, Md: Greenhill Books, Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-186-6.
- Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999). Deutsche U-Boot-Verluste von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 [German U-boat losses from September 1939 to May 1945]. Der U-Boot-Krieg (in German). Vol. IV. Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn: Mittler. ISBN 3-8132-0514-2.
- Edwards, Bernard (2009). The Cruel Sea Retold. South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-84415-863-8.
- Gröner, Erich; Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin (1991). U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels. German Warships 1815–1945. Vol. 2. Translated by Thomas, Keith; Magowan, Rachel. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-593-4.
External links
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-204". German U-boats of WWII – uboat.net. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
- Hofmann, Markus. "U 204". Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 – u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 9 December 2014.