German submarine U-453
History | |
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Name | U-453 |
Ordered | 30 October 1939 |
Builder | Deutsche Werke, Kiel |
Yard number | 284 |
Laid down | 4 July 1940 |
Launched | 30 April 1941 |
Commissioned | 26 June 1941 |
Fate | Sunk by depth charges on 21 May 1944 off the south coast of Italy at position 38°13′N 16°30′E / 38.217°N 16.500°E by Royal Navy surface warships. |
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] | |
Part of: |
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Identification codes: | M 43 787 |
Commanders: |
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Operations: |
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Victories: |
German submarine U-453 was a
. She wasThe boat's service began on 26 June 1941 with training as part of the 7th U-boat Flotilla, followed by active service until being transferred to the 29th flotilla on 1 January 1942, based in La Spezia in Italy.
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
In 17 patrols she sank nine merchant ships for a total of 23,289 gross register tons (GRT), plus one warship , damaged one merchant ship , one auxiliary warship and cause one warship total loss.
Fate
She was depth charged and sunk by on 21 May 1944 off the south coast of Italy at position 38°13′N 16°30′E / 38.217°N 16.500°E by Royal Navy destroyers HMS Termagant, HMS Tenacious and the escort destroyer HMS Liddesdale.
Summary of raiding history
Date | Ship Name | Nationality | Tonnage[Note 1] | Fate[3] |
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13 December 1941 | Badalona | ![]() |
4,202 | Sunk |
7 April 1942 | HMHS Somersetshire | ![]() |
9,716 | Damaged |
20 January 1943 | Jean Jadot | ![]() |
5,859 | Sunk |
30 June 1943 | Oligarch | ![]() |
6,894 | Damaged |
6 July 1943 | Shahjehan | ![]() |
5,454 | Sunk |
15 November 1943 | HMS Quail | ![]() |
1,705 | Total loss (mine) |
20 November 1943 | Jela | ![]() |
335 | Sunk (mine) |
22 November 1943 | HMS Hebe | ![]() |
835 | Sunk (mine) |
1 February 1944 | Agia Paraskevi | ![]() |
80 | Sunk |
1 February 1944 | Salem | ![]() |
81 | Sunk |
1 February 1944 | Himli | ![]() |
67 | Sunk |
1 February 1944 | Yahiya | ![]() |
64 | Sunk |
19 May 1944 | Fort Missanabie | ![]() |
7,147 | Sunk |
References
Notes
- gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.
Citations
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-453". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
- ^ a b c d Gröner 1991, pp. 43–46.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-453". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 27 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.
- 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-453". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- Hofmann, Markus. "U 453". Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 - u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 26 December 2014.