German submarine U-557
History | |
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Name | U-557 |
Ordered | 25 September 1939 |
Builder | Blohm & Voss , Hamburg |
Yard number | 533 |
Laid down | 6 January 1940 |
Launched | 22 December 1940 |
Commissioned | 13 February 1941 |
Fate | Rammed and sunk by the Italian torpedo boat Orione west of Crete on 16 December 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 | |
Part of: |
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Identification codes: | M 37 961 |
Commanders: |
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Operations: |
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Victories: |
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German submarine U-557 was a
She was rammed and sunk by mistake by an Italian torpedo boat on 16 December 1941 west of Crete.
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
Emergency in the Baltic
U-557 commissioned on 13 February 1941, and was assigned to
First patrol
U-557 departed from Kiel on 13 May 1941 to take up station in the Atlantic.[5] On 24 May her captain was directed to support the sortie by battleship Bismarck and join a five boat patrol line west of the French coast to form a trap for units of the British Home Fleet, which were in pursuit as Bismarck fled towards the French coast.[6]
Despite their efforts the trap failed and Bismarck was attacked and sunk on 27 May. The Home Fleet had been able to
The trap was dissolved and U-557 was directed to join patrol line West, searching for North Atlantic convoys. However the Bismarck operation had disrupted U-boat operations and only two ships were sunk in the latter two weeks of May; one of these was Empire Storm, sunk by U-557 on 29 May.[8][9]
On 1 June U-557 re-fuelled from supply ship Belchen; later that same day Belchen was caught and sunk by Royal Navy units engaged in hunting down the Operation Rheinübung supply train.[10]
On 3 June U-557 joined Group West, but the group had no success; this period following the
U 557 abandoned her patrol after six relatively fruitless weeks, arriving at Lorient on 10 July.[5]
Second patrol
U-557 sailed on her second war patrol on 13 August 1941, though she returned two days later (reason unknown), sailing again on 20 August to take position south of Iceland.[12] On 24 August U-557 found and reported convoy OS 4 and started shadowing it. As reinforcements arrived, Paulssen was permitted to attack; he made three approaches, sinking four ships in total.[13][14] Seven other U-boats joined the assault, but only one had any success. U-557 continued to shadow, but had no further success and on 28 August the attack was called off. On 28 August U-557 joined the Bosemuller patrol line.[15] On 2 September this was reconfigured into patrol line Seewolf.[16] Neither had any success and on 15 September U-557 was ordered to return, arriving at Lorient on 19 September.[12]
Third patrol
On 19 November 1941 U-557 sailed from Lorient bound for the
Fourth patrol
On 9 December U-557 sailed again on her fourth and last patrol, into the eastern Mediterranean.[20] In company with the Italian submarine Dagabur, on the night of 14/15 December 1941 she encountered the British light cruiser HMS Galatea. Both submarines made attacks on the cruiser and she sank with the loss of more than half her crew.[21] U-557 has been credited with the sinking.[22]
News of this sinking even reached the Submarine Tracking Room in London.[23]
Fate
At 18:06 on 16 December, U-557 sent a short radio signal indicating that she was 18 hours from port. At 18:00 on the same day, the Italian torpedo boat Orione left the Cretan port of Suda. The commander had no knowledge that a German U-boat was in the area of Crete.
When the Italian commander saw a submarine at 21:44, heading in a northerly direction, he decided to ram it, supposing it to be British. U-557 sank immediately with all hands; the damaged Italian torpedo boat headed back to base. The position of the incident was given by the Italian commander as 35°19′N 23°11′E / 35.31°N 23.19°E.[1] [24] An investigation by Supermarina (Italian Naval Command) determined the collision was an accident, though they reserved judgement on whether the ramming was intended, or the result of a navigational error.[25] They also noted that German notification of U-557's presence in the area did not arrive with Supermarina until 22:00, after the incident had taken place.[3]
Wolfpacks
U-557 took part in three wolfpacks, namely:
- West(25 May – 20 June 1941)
- Bosemüller (28 August – 2 September 1941)
- Seewolf(2 – 15 September 1941)
Summary of raiding history
Date | Ship Name | Nationality | Tonnage[Note 1] | Fate[26] |
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29 May 1941 | Empire Storm | ![]() |
7,290 | Sunk |
27 August 1941 | Embassage | ![]() |
4,954 | Sunk |
27 August 1941 | Saugor | ![]() |
6,303 | Sunk |
27 August 1941 | Segundo | ![]() |
4,414 | Sunk |
27 August 1941 | Tremoda | ![]() |
4,736 | Sunk |
2 December 1941 | Fjord | ![]() |
4,032 | Sunk |
15 December 1941 | HMS Galatea | ![]() |
5,220 | Sunk |
References
Notes
- gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.
Citations
- ^ a b Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-557". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ^ a b c d Gröner 1991, pp. 43–46.
- ^ a b Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC Uboat U-557". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ^ Werner pp. 16-19
- ^ a b Helgason, Guðmundur. "U-557 first patrol". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ^ Blair p288
- ^ Blair pp. 289-292
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Empire Storm". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ^ Blair p293
- ^ Blair p299
- ^ Blair p305
- ^ a b Helgason, Guðmundur. "U-557 second patrol". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ^ Blair p339
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "OS 4". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Group Bosemuller". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Group Seewolf". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ^ a b Helgason, Guðmundur. "U-557 third patrol". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ^ Werner p68
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Fjord". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "U-557 fourth patrol". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ^ Blair p400
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "HMS Galatea". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ISBN 0-06-016155-8, p. 200.
- ^ Niestle p69
- ^ Kemp p75
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-557". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-304-35260-8.
- 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.
- Kemp, Paul (1997). U-Boats Destroyed, German submarine losses in the World Wars. Arms and Armour. ISBN 1-85409-515-3.
- Niestle, Axel (1998). German U-Boat Losses During World War II. Greenhill. ISBN 1-85367-352-8.
- Herbert Werner ISBN 0-304-35330-2
External links
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-557". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 28 December 2014.