German submarine U-87 (1941)
History | |
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Nazi Germany | |
Name | U-87 |
Ordered | 9 June 1938 |
Builder | Flender Werke AG |
Yard number | 283 |
Laid down | 18 April 1940 |
Launched | 21 June 1941 |
Commissioned | 19 August 1941 |
Fate | Sunk by Canadian warships, 4 March 1943 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Type VIIB submarine |
Displacement | |
Length |
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Beam |
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Height | 9.50 m (31 ft 2 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 |
Sensors and processing systems | Gruppenhorchgerät |
Armament |
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Service record[1][2] | |
Part of: |
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Identification codes: | M 00 111 |
Commanders: |
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Operations: |
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Victories: |
5 merchant ships sunk (38,014 GRT) |
German submarine U-87 was a
U-87 sank five ships in her one-year career; she was a member of five wolfpacks.
She was sunk off the coast of Leixões in Portugal during her fifth combat patrol, in March 1943, by warships of the Canadian Navy.[1]
Design
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 17.9 knots (33.2 km/h; 20.6 mph) and a maximum submerged speed of 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph).
Service history
First patrol
U-87 sailed from Kiel on 24 December 1941, and headed out into the Atlantic via the North Sea. On the evening of 31 December, the boat encountered the Cardita, which was straggling behind convoy HX 166, bound for
Meanwhile, U-87 completed her voyage around the British isles and crossed the Atlantic, where on 17 January, the submersible struck again. The Norwegian vessel Nyholt was nearing the completion of convoy ON-52's journey from Reykjavík to New York. While passing the Newfoundland coast, Nyholt was struck amidships after she left the safety of her convoy, which had been harassed by U-86 and U-553 over the previous two days. Attempting to divert further from their course to reach Newfoundland, U-87 reacted poorly to the movement and four subsequent torpedoes missed. Another two hits failed to sink the tanker, and U-87 was forced to surface for its crew to fire the deck gun as the ship's crew took to their lifeboats, not to be rescued for another nine days.
U-87 was damaged by gunfire from the tanker, and re-crossed the Atlantic, to arrive at La Pallice in France on 30 January 1942 after 38 days at sea.[4]
Second patrol
U-87 sailed on 22 February 1942 for a second trip to the east coast of North America, but was held in the
Third patrol
U-87 sailed on 19 May 1942 and laid a field of 15
Fourth patrol
U-87 sailed on 31 August 1942 to patrol off Freetown, where she sank the 7,392 GRT British freighter Agapenor before docking in Brest on 20 November 1942.[8]
Fifth patrol and loss
U-87 sailed on 9 January 1943, and was sunk by depth charges from Canadian warships, the corvette HMCS Shediac and the destroyer HMCS St. Croix during an unsuccessful 4 March attack on convoy KMS 10G.[1] On this last patrol she had 50 crewmen on board, none of whom survived the sinking.
Wolfpacks
U-87 took part in five wolfpacks, namely:
- Zieten (6 – 17 January 1942)
- Westwall (2 – 12 March 1942)
- Iltis (6 – 23 September 1942)
- Delphin II (20 January – 9 February 1943)
- Rochen (9 – 26 February 1943)
Summary of raiding history
Date | Ship | Nationality | Tonnage | Fate[9] |
---|---|---|---|---|
31 December 1941 | Cardita | United Kingdom | 8,237 | Sunk |
17 January 1942 | Nyholt | Norway | 8,087 | Sunk |
16 June 1942 | Cherokee | United States | 5,896 | Sunk |
16 June 1942 | Port Nicholson | United Kingdom | 8,402 | Sunk |
11 October 1942 | Agapenor | United Kingdom | 7,392 | Sunk |
References
- ^ a b c Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIB boat U-87". German U-boats of WWII – uboat.net. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "War Patrols by German U-boat U-87". German U-boats of WWII – uboat.net. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
- ^ a b c d Gröner 1991, pp. 43–44.
- ^ Blair 1996, p. 472.
- ^ Blair 1996, pp. 551–552.
- ^ "SS Port Nicholson – Sunk Off Cape Cod in 1942, a $3 Billion Shipwreck?". The Old Salt Blog. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- ^ Blair 1996, pp. 602–603.
- ^ Blair 1998, p. 69.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-87". German U-boats of WWII – uboat.net. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
Bibliography
- Blair, Clay (1996). Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters, 1939–1942. Random House. ISBN 0-394-58839-8.
- Blair, Clay (1998). Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted 1942–1945. Random House. ISBN 0-679-45742-9.
- 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). Der U-Boot-Krieg, 1939-1945: Deutsche U-Boot-Verluste von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 [German U-boat losses from September 1939 to May 1945] (in German). Vol. IV. Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn: Mittler. ISBN 3-8132-0514-2.
- Gröner, Eric; Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin (1991). German Warships 1815-1945: U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels. Vol. 2. Translated by Thomas, Keith; Magowan, Rachel. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-593-4.
External links
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIB boat U-87". German U-boats of WWII – uboat.net. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
- Hofmann, Markus. "U 87". Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 – u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 2 February 2015.