Unterseeboot 552

Unterseeboot 552 ("U-552") was a German Type VIIC U-Boat (submarine). She was laid down on 1 December 1939 at Blohm & Voss in Hamburg and went into service on 4 December 1940. "U-552" was nicknamed the "Roter Teufel" ("Red Devil") after its mascot of a grinning devil which was painted on the conning tower. She was one of the more successful of her class, operating for over three years of continual service and sinking or damaging 30 Allied ships with 164,276 tons sunk and 26,910 tons damaged.

"U-552" was involved in two controversial actions: in October 1941 she sank the USS "Reuben James" the first US Navy warship to be lost in World War II; this was at a time when the US was still officially neutral, and caused a diplomatic row. In April 1942 she sank the freighter SS "David H Atwater" off the US seaboard in a particularly brutal attack, characterized by some sources Bridgland p 216] as a naval atrocity.

"U-552" had an unusually long service life, surviving to the end of World War II; after evacuating from her French base during the spring of 1944 she operated on training duties in the Baltic Sea until 2 May 1945, when her crew scuttled her to prevent her falling into enemy hands.

ervice history

Following construction, which was completed on 4 December 1940, "U-552" was given two months of working-up training, during which she prepared her crew and equipment for the operations ahead. She then sailed from Kiel on the 13th of February for her first war patrol into the Western Approaches of the English Channel. This first operation yielded one British tanker, and one Icelandic trawler carrying fish [http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/813.html] . Her later patrols were all conducted from the U-boat base in the French port of St Nazaire, which gave her easy access to the Atlantic Ocean and a longer patrol endurance. This allowed the "U-552" to make the most of operations against allied convoys.

On her next two patrols, spanning April, May and June 1941, she sank five large freighters and damaged one, as well as sinking an anti-submarine trawler, all taken out of convoys passing to the North of Ireland from North America. Her next three patrols all took her further into the Atlantic, where the danger was lessened, but so were the targets, with the result that she only hit four more cargo ships. This was also the time, during her final patrol of 1941, that she sank the "Reuben James", which was torpedoed on the 30 October in controversial circumstances.

In 1942, again commanded by Erich Topp (who would later become an admiral of the post-war Bundesmarine), "U-552" participated in the "Second Happy Time", during which German submarines had great success against unescorted American merchantmen sailing alone along the eastern seaboard of the US. "U-552" was particularly successful during this period, sinking 13 ships and damaging another in just three patrols in the first six months of 1942. Two further patrols under Topp during the summer netted four more ships, but "U-552" was badly damaged by heavy seas during one of these, and was put into port for repairs, during which Topp was promoted and replaced by a more cautious commander, Klaus Popp.

"U-552" had less success in later years, as did the U-boat force in general, as U-boats failed to keep ahead of the rapidly increasing numbers and capabilities of Allied anti-submarine efforts. She was transferred to operations off of the Spanish, Portuguese and African coasts, which were nearer to base and less dangerous than the newly reorganized defenses of the United States, where she attempted to sink troopships during Operation Torch. Whilst on this duty, Topp sank a small British minesweeper and later a cargo ship, but failed to enter the Straits of Gibraltar or seriously threaten the landings.

During 1943, "U-552" was increasingly unable to serve effectively against the well-prepared and organized Allied convoy system, a fact reflected by her failure to sink a single ship during her two patrols into the North Atlantic Ocean. During one of these, a Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator aircraft spotted her and she was seriously damaged by depth charges, causing four months repairs.

In 1944 she had a single unsuccessful patrol, but was unable to close with or threaten any Allied convoys, and so was withdrawn to Germany in April 1944 for use as a training craft in the 22nd U-boat Flotilla, a role she fulfilled until 2 May 1945, when her German crew scuttled her in Wilhelmshaven bay to prevent her capture.

inking of the "Reuben James"

The destroyer USS "Reuben James" was the first US Navy warship to be sunk in World War II. She was sunk in mid Atlantic on 30 October 1941, just over a month before Germany declared war on the US on 11 December 1941.

The "Reuben James" was an old destroyer, built in 1919, which had been assigned to the Neutrality Patrol early in the war, before being assigned to escort convoys from North America to Britain. At Iceland, British warships would take over for the second, more dangerous half of the voyage. This arrangement saved much effort and resources on the part of Britain. On two occasions in late 1941, US destroyers and German submarines had skirmished around these convoys, such as the USS "Niblack" incident, with the situation coming to a head on 16 October, when the USS "Kearny" was torpedoed and eleven sailors killed while performing escort duties.

On 31 October 1941, the "James" was one of five destroyers escorting convoy HX-156, close to the switchover point near Iceland, about convert|600|mi|abbr=on west of Ireland. The "James" had just begun turning to investigate a strong direction-finder bearing when a torpedo fired from "U-552" struck her port side and caused an explosion in her forward magazine. The entire bow section of the destroyer was blown off as far back as the fourth funnel and sank immediately. The stern remained afloat for around 5 minutes before sinking, unsecured depth charges exploding as it sank and killing survivors in the water. One hundred and fifteen of her 160-man crew were killed, including all the officers. [cite book | last = Morison | first = Samuel Eliot | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = History of United States Naval Operations in World War II | publisher = University of Illinois Press | date = 2001 | location = | pages = p. 94 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0252069633]

The incident provoked a furious outburst in the United States, especially when Germany refused to apologize, instead countering that the destroyer was operating in what Germany considered to be a war zone and had suffered the consequences. The sinking of the "Reuben James" did not lead the US to declare war on Germany; it did, however, provide a pretext to officially transfer the US Coast Guard from its peacetime role as an arm of the US Treasury Department to a wartime function as part of the US Navy. Congress also amended the Neutrality Act to permit the arming of US-registered merchant ships and authorized them to enter European waters for the first time since 1939. [cite book | last = Sweetman | first = Jack | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-present | publisher = Naval Institute Press | date = 2002 | location = | pages = p. 144 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 1557508674] [cite book | last = Malsberger | first = John William | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = From Obstruction to Moderation: The Transformation of Senate Conservatism, 1938-1952 | publisher = Susquehanna University Press | date = 2000 | location = | pages = p. 80 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 1575910268]

inking of the "David H. Atwater"

The destruction of the SS "David H. Atwater", in the Atlantic Ocean convert|10|mi|abbr=on off Chincoteague, Virginia, was one of the more controversial actions of the Kriegsmarine during the Second World War, primarily due to the manner of the sinking.

The "David H. Atwater" was an unarmed coastal steamer which crossed the area on the night of 2 April 1942, at the height of the U-boat offensive against US shipping known as the Second Happy Time. Carrying a full load of coal bound for Norfolk, Virginia, the "David H. Atwater"'s master had disregarded instructions and sailed from the Chesapeake in the afternoon, therefore could not make the run to the Delaware Capes before nightfall. [Morison, p. 133]

"U-552" surfaced close to the freighter and opened fire with her 88mm deck gun without warning, one of her first shells destroying the bridge and killing all of the officers. In all, 93 hits were recorded on the small freighter, which rapidly began to sink. As it did so, Erich Topp directed his machine gunners to continue firing, hitting the American crew as they tried to man their lifeboats. The crew panicked when Captain Webster was shot, and leapt into the sea before the boats were successfully launched.

When the Coast Guard cutter "Legare" (WPC 144) arrived just fifteen minutes later, only three crew from the original twenty seven were found alive, along with a number of bodies. The destroyers USS "Noa" and USS "Herbert" arrived on the scene at 24:00, but the "U-552" had by then escaped the scene, going on to sink other vessels.

Whether the attack on the liferafts was deliberate, or an unfortunate and unintended consequence of a nighttime attack has been heavily debated. Some of the crew of "U-552" survived the war, and her captain, Erich Topp, later became an Admiral in the post-war Bundesmarine. No charges were brought against Topp, as happened to the captain of the raider "Widder" for a similar offence.

Raiding career

Notes

References

* Bridgland, Tony, "Waves of Hate:Naval atrocities in the Second World War" (2002) ISBN 0 85052 822 4
* Browning, Robert M. Jr. "U.S. Merchant Vessel War Casualties of World War II". Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995. ISBN 1-55750-087-8.
* Sharpe, Peter, "U-Boat Fact File", Midland Publishing, Great Britain: 1998. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.

External links

* [http://www.uboat.net/boats/u552.htm U-boat.net webpage for "U-552"]
* [http://www.uboat.net/articles/index.html?article=55 Treatment of Merchant Ship Survivors by U-boat Crews 1939 - 1945]
* [http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Camp/3166/ Submarine atrocities]

See Also: List of U-boats