German submarine U-110 (1940)

German submarine U-110 (1940)
U-110 and HMS Bulldog
U-110 and HMS Bulldog
Career
Name: U-110
Ordered: 24 May 1938
Builder: AG Weser, Bremen
Yard number: 973
Laid down: 1 February 1940
Launched: 25 August 1940
Commissioned: 21 November 1940
Homeport: Lorient, France
Fate: Captured, 9 May 1941
General characteristics
Class and type: Type IXB U-boat
Displacement: Surfaced 1,051 tons tons
submerged 1,178 tons
Length: Overall 76.5 m (251 ft 0 in)
pressure hull 58.7 m (192 ft 7 in)
Beam: Overall 6.8 m (22 ft 4 in)
pressure hull 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in)
Draught: 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in)
Propulsion: Diesel/Electric, 2x MAN M9V40/46 supercharged 9 cylinder diesel engines, 4,400 hp (3,300kW), 2xSSW GU345/34 double acting electric motors, 1000 hp (740kW)
Speed: Surfaced 18.2 knots (33.7 km/h)
submerged 7.3 knots (13.5 km/h)
Range: Surfaced: 22,200 km (12,000 nmi) at 10 knots
submerged: 118 km (64 nmi) at 4 knots (7 km/h)
Test depth: 230 m (750 ft)
Complement: 48 to 56 officers & ratings
Armament:
  • 6 x 53.3cm Torpedo tubes: 4 bow, 2 stern (22 torpedoes)
  • 1 x Utof 105/45 with 110 rounds
Service record
Part of: Kriegsmarine:
2nd U-boat Flotilla
Commanders: Kptlt. Fritz-Julius Lemp
(November 1940–May 1941)
Operations: 2 patrols
Victories: 3 ships sunk for a total of 10,149 gross register tons (GRT)
2 ships damaged for a total of 8,675 GRT

German submarine U-110 was a Type IXB U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine that operated during World War II. U-110 was captured by the Royal Navy on 9 May 1941 which provided a number of secret cipher documents to the British. U-110's capture, later given the code name "Operation Primrose", was one of the biggest secrets of the war, remaining secret for seven months. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was only told of the capture by Winston Churchill in January 1942.

Contents

Service history

U-110's keel was laid down 1 February 1940 by AG Weser, of Bremen, Germany. She was commissioned 21 November 1940 with Kapitänleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp in command.

Lemp commanded U-110 for her entire career. In an earlier command (U-30) he was responsible for the sinking of the passenger liner SS Athenia on the first day of the war. The circumstances were such that he was considered for court-martial. He continued, however, to be one of the most successful and rebellious commanders of his day.[citation needed]

U-110 conducted two patrols, sinking three ships totalling 10,149 tons and damaging two others totalling 8,675 tons. On 23 March 1941, her 105 millimetre deck gun exploded during firing, wounding three men. On 9 May 1941, she was captured and later sunk.

In 2007, the submarine's chronometer featured on the BBC programme Antiques Roadshow, from Alnwick Castle, in the possession of the grandson of the captain of the ship which captured her.

Operation Primrose

U-110 and U-201 were attacking convoy OB 318 in the North Atlantic south of Iceland when a torpedo launch failure resulted in Lemp's guard being dropped. In this crisis, the escorting corvette, ASDIC and dropped depth charges.

U-110 survived the attack, but was seriously damaged. After a second depth-charge attack, she surfaced, to the crew's relief, and Lemp announced "Last stop, everybody out", meaning "Abandon ship". As the crew turned out onto the U-boat's deck they came under fire from two attacking destroyers (HMS Bulldog and Hunt) with casualties from gunfire and drowning. The British had believed that the German deck gun was to be used and ceased fire when they realised that the U-boat was being abandoned and the crew would surrender.

The escort commander, Captain Joe Baker-Cresswell in Bulldog, had initially made to ram, but recognising the opportunity for capture, pulled out and hove to, before strafing the submarine. Broadway also closed in, intending to prevent U-110 submerging and suffering incidental damage.

Lemp assumed that the boat, with vents open, would sink, and ordered radio operator Heinz Wilde to leave the codebooks and Enigma machine and get out; he is reported to have said "the U-boat is sinking". Another radio operator recovered personal effects, but left the secret material.

Lemp realised that U-110 was not sinking and attempted to swim back to it to destroy the secret material, but was never seen again. A German eyewitness testified that he was shot in the water by a British sailor, but his fate is not confirmed. Including Lemp, 15 men were killed in the action and 32 captured.

Bulldog's crew, led by sub-lieutenant David Balme,[1] boarded U-110 and stripped it of everything portable on the spot, including her secret documents and Enigma machine. Scotsman William Stewart Pollock, former radio signalman in the Royal Navy and on loan to the HMS Bulldog was on the second boat to board the U-110. He retrieved the Enigma machine and books as they looked out of place in the radio room. U-110 was taken in tow back toward Britain, but sank en route to Scapa Flow.

The documents captured from U-110 helped Bletchley Park codebreakers solve Reservehandverfahren, a reserve German hand cipher.

The film U-571 was partially inspired by the capture of U-110.

References

Notes
Bibliography

External links

See also

Other captured U-boats

U-64 · U-65 · U-103 · U-104 · U-105 · U-106 · U-107 · Type IXA · Followed by: Type IXC
List of German U-boats

Coordinates: 60°22′N 33°12′W / 60.367°N 33.2°W / 60.367; -33.2


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • German submarine U-110 — Unterseeboot 110 or U 110 has been the name of several German submarines or U boats during the First World War and the Second World War.* Unterseeboot 110 (1917) was a submarine built in 1917 for service in the First World War, and destroyed in… …   Wikipedia

  • German submarine U-505 — U 505 is a Type IXC U boat of the Kriegsmarine that was captured on 4 June 1944 by United States Navy Task Group 22.3 (TG 22.3). Codebooks and other secret materials from U 505 assisted Allied code breaking operations. U 505 was the first warship …   Wikipedia

  • German–Soviet Commercial Agreement (1940) — For other uses, see German–Soviet Commercial Agreement (disambiguation). German Soviet Commercial Agreement German Soviet Commercial Agreement Signed February 11, 1940 Location Moscow, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Signatories Union of… …   Wikipedia

  • Unterseeboot 110 — 60° 22′ 00″ N 33° 12′ 00″ W / 60.3667, 33.2 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • 1940 — This article is about the year 1940. Millennium: 2nd millennium Centuries: 19th century – 20th century – 21st century Decades: 1910s  1920s  1930s  – 1940s –  1950s   …   Wikipedia

  • Soviet–German relations before 1941 — German and Soviet troops shaking hands following the invasion of Poland. Soviet–German relations date to the aftermath of the First World War. The Treaty of Brest Litovsk,[1] ending World War I hostilities between Russia and Germany, was signed… …   Wikipedia

  • German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran — Kormoran redirects here. For other uses, see Kormoran (disambiguation). Auxiliary cruiser Kormoran meets a German U boat at sea Career (Nazi Germany) …   Wikipedia

  • Submarine chaser — USS PC 815, a US subchaser that served in World War II A submarine chaser is a small and fast naval vessel specially intended for anti submarine warfare. Although similar vessels were designed and used by many nations, this designation was most… …   Wikipedia

  • German torpedoboats of World War II — The German torpedoboats of World War II were armed principally, if not exclusively, with torpedoes and varied widely in size. They should not be confused with the larger destroyers, nor with the smaller, torpedo armed Schnellboote (known to the… …   Wikipedia

  • Japanese-German pre-World War II industrial co-operation — In the years leading up to the outbreak of World War II in Europe in 1939, there were some significant collaborative development in heavy industry between German companies and their Japanese counterparts. This was one major factor in Japan s… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”