Submarine fleet of the Germans during the Second World War. German submarines of World War II: photos and specifications

The rusty skeletons of submarines of the Third Reich are still found in the sea. The German submarines of World War II are no longer on which the fate of Europe once depended. However, these huge piles of metal are still shrouded in secrets and haunt historians, divers and adventure lovers.

Forbidden building

The fleet of Nazi Germany was called the Kriegsmarine. A significant part of the Nazi arsenal were submarines. By the beginning of the war, the army was equipped with 57 submarines. Then another 1113 submarines were gradually involved, 10 of which were captured. During the war, 753 submarines were destroyed, but they managed to sink enough ships and have an impressive impact on the whole world.

After the First World War, Germany could not build submarines under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. But when Hitler came to power, he removed all prohibitions, declaring that he considered himself free from the shackles of Versailles. He signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, which gave Germany the right to a submarine force equal to that of the British. Later, Hitler announced the denunciation of the agreement, which completely untied his hands.

Germany developed 21 types of submarines, but basically they came down to three types:

The small Type II boat was designed for training and patrolling in the Baltic and North Seas.
The Type IX submarine was used for long voyages in the Atlantic.
Medium submarine type VII was intended for long-distance crossings. These models had optimal seaworthiness, and the funds for its production were minimal. Therefore, such submarines were built most of all.

The German submarine fleet had the following parameters:

displacement: from 275 to 2710 tons;
surface speed: from 9.7 to 19.2 knots;
underwater speed: from 6.9 to 17.2 knots;
diving depth: from 150 to 280 meters.

Such characteristics indicate that Hitler's submarines were the most powerful among all the enemy countries of Germany.

"Wolf Packs"

Karl Doenitz was appointed commander of the submarines. He developed a spearfishing strategy for the German fleet, which was called "wolf packs". According to this tactic, the submarines attacked the ships in large groups, depriving them of any chance of survival. German submarines hunted mainly transport ships that supplied enemy troops. The point of this was to sink more boats than the enemy could build.

This tactic quickly paid off. The "wolf packs" operated over a vast territory, sinking hundreds of enemy ships. U-48 alone was able to destroy 52 ships. Moreover, Hitler was not going to be limited to the results achieved. He planned to develop the Kringsmarine and build hundreds more cruisers, battleships and submarines.

Submarines of the Third Reich almost brought Great Britain to its knees, driving it into a blockade ring. This forced the allies to urgently develop countermeasures against the German "wolves", including massively building their own submarines.

The fight against the German "wolves"

In addition to the allied submarines, radar-equipped aircraft began to hunt for the "wolf packs". Also, in the fight against German underwater vehicles, sonar buoys, radio interception tools, homing torpedoes and much more were used.

The turning point came in 1943. Then each sunken Allied ship cost the German fleet one submarine. In June 1944 they went on the offensive. Their goal was to protect their own ships and attack German submarines. By the end of 1944, Germany had finally lost the battle for the Atlantic. In 1945, a crushing defeat awaited the Kringsmarine.

The army of German submariners resisted to the last torpedo. The last operation of Karl Dönitz was the evacuation of some of the naval admirals of the Third Reich to Latin America. Before his suicide, Hitler appointed Dennitsa head of the Third Reich. However, there are legends that the Fuhrer did not kill himself at all, but was transported by submarines from Germany to Argentina.

According to another legend, the values of the Third Reich, including the Holy Grail, were transported by U-530 submarine to Antarctica to a secret military base. These stories have never been officially confirmed, but they suggest that the German submarines of the Second World War will haunt archaeologists and military lovers for a long time to come.

English Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham said: “It takes the Navy three years to build a ship. It will take three hundred years to create a tradition." The German fleet, the enemy of the British at sea during the years of both world wars, was very young and did not have such an amount of time, but the German sailors tried to create their traditions in an accelerated way - for example, using the continuity of generations. A striking example of such a dynasty is the family of Admiral General Otto Schulze.

Otto Schultze was born on May 11, 1884 in Oldenburg (Lower Saxony). His career in the navy began in 1900, when, at the age of 16, Schulze was enlisted as a cadet in the Kaiserlichmarine. Having completed his training and practice, Schulze received the rank of lieutenant zur see in September 1903 - at that time he served on the armored cruiser Prinz Heinrich (SMS Prinz Heinrich). Schulze met World War I already on board the dreadnought "König" (SMS König) in the rank of lieutenant commander. In May 1915, tempted by the prospect of serving on submarines, Schulze transferred from the battle fleet to a submarine, took courses at the submarine school in Kiel and received command of the training submarine U 4. Already at the end of the same year, he was appointed commander of the ocean boat U 63, which entered service with the German fleet on March 11, 1916.

Otto Schulze (1884–1966) and his middle son Heinz-Otto Schulze (1915–1943) - it is clear that, in addition to love for the sea, the father passed on to his sons a characteristic appearance. The nickname of the father "Nose" was inherited by the eldest son Wolfgang Schulze

The decision to become a submariner was a fateful one for Schulze, as service on submarines gave him much more in terms of career and fame than he could have achieved on surface ships. During his command of U 63 (03/11/1916 - 08/27/1917 and 10/15/1917 - 12/24/1917) Schulze achieved impressive success, sinking the British cruiser Falmouth (HMS Falmouth) and 53 ships with a total tonnage of 132,567 tons, and deservedly decorated his the uniform of the most prestigious award in Germany - the Prussian Order of Merit (Pour le Mérite).

Among the victories of Schulze is the sinking of the ex-liner "Transylvania" (Transylvania, 14348 tons), which was used by the British Admiralty during the war as a military transport. On the morning of May 4, 1917, the Transylvania, which was making the transition from Marseille to Alexandria guarding two Japanese destroyers, was torpedoed by U 63. The first torpedo hit the middle of the ship, and ten minutes later Schulze finished it off with a second torpedo. The sinking of the liner was accompanied by a large number of victims - Transylvania was overcrowded with people. On that day, in addition to the crew, there were 2860 soldiers, 200 officers and 60 medical personnel on board. The next day, the Italian coast was littered with the bodies of the dead - U 63 torpedoes caused the death of 412 people.

The British cruiser Falmouth was sunk by U 63 under the command of Otto Schulze on 20 August 1916. Before that, the ship was damaged by another German boat U 66 and was taken in tow. This explains the small number of victims during the sinking - only 11 sailors died

After leaving the U 63 bridge, Schulze until May 1918 led the 1st boat flotilla, based at Pola (Austria-Hungary), combining this position with service at the headquarters of the commander of all submarine forces in the Mediterranean. The submarine ace met the end of the war in the rank of corvette captain, becoming a holder of many awards from Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey.

In the period between the wars, he held various staff and command positions, continuing to move up the career ladder: in April 1925 - frigate captain, in January 1928 - captain zur see, in April 1931 - rear admiral. At the time of Hitler's rise to power, Schulze was commander of the North Sea Naval Station. The arrival of the Nazis did not affect his career in any way - in October 1934, Schulze became vice admiral, and two years later he received the rank of full admiral of the fleet. In October 1937, Schulze retired, but with the outbreak of World War II he returned to the fleet, and finally left the service on September 30, 1942 with the rank of admiral general. The veteran survived the war safely and died on January 22, 1966 in Hamburg at the age of 81.

The ocean liner Transylvania, sunk by Otto Schulze, was the newest ship launched in 1914.

The underwater ace had a large family. In 1909, he married Magda Raben, with whom six children were born - three girls and three boys. Of the daughters, only the youngest daughter Rosemary was able to overcome the age of two, her two sisters died in infancy. Fate was more favorable to Schulze's sons: Wolfgang, Heinz-Otto and Rudolf, having reached adulthood, followed in their father's footsteps, enlisting in the Navy and becoming submariners. Contrary to Russian fairy tales, in which traditionally “the older one was smart, the middle one was this way and that, the youngest was a fool at all,” the abilities of the sons of Admiral Schulze were distributed in a completely different way.

Wolfgang Schulze

On October 2, 1942, an American B-18 anti-submarine aircraft spotted a submarine in the surface position 15 miles off the coast of French Guiana. The first attack was successful, and the boat, which turned out to be U 512 (type IXC), after the explosion of bombs dropped from the aircraft, disappeared under water, leaving an oil slick on the surface. The place where the submarine lay on the bottom turned out to be shallow, which gave the surviving submariners a chance to escape - the bow depth gauge showed 42 meters. About 15 people ended up in the forward torpedo room, which in such situations could serve as a shelter.

By the beginning of World War II, the main American bomber Douglas B-18 "Bolo" was outdated and was forced out of the bomber units by the four-engine B-17. However, the B-18 also found something to do - more than 100 vehicles were equipped with search radars and magnetic anomalous detectors and transferred to anti-submarine service. In this capacity, their service was also short-lived, and the sunk U 512 became one of the few successes of the Bolo.

It was decided to go outside through the torpedo tubes, but there were half as many breathing apparatus as there were people in the compartment. In addition, the room began to fill with chlorine, which was emitted by the batteries of electric torpedoes. As a result, only one submariner managed to rise to the surface - 24-year-old sailor Franz Machen.

The crew of the B-18, circling over the site of the death of the boat, noticed the escaped submariner and dropped the life raft. Mahen spent ten days on the raft before being picked up by a US Navy ship. During his “single voyage”, the sailor was attacked by birds, which inflicted significant wounds on him with their beaks, but Mahen rebuffed the aggressors, and two winged predators were caught by him. After tearing the carcasses apart and drying them in the sun, the submariner ate poultry meat, despite its nasty taste. On October 12, it was discovered by the American destroyer Ellis. Subsequently, while being interrogated by the US Naval Intelligence Department, Mahen gave a description of his deceased commander.

“According to the testimony of the only survivor, the crew of the U 512 submarine consisted of 49 sailors and officers. Its commander is Lieutenant Commander Wolfgang Schulze, the son of an admiral and a member of the "Nose" Schulze family, which left a noticeable mark on German naval history. However, Wolfgang Schulze did little to match his famous ancestors. He did not enjoy the love and respect of his crew, who considered him a narcissistic, unrestrained, incompetent person. Schulze drank heavily on board and punished his men very severely for even the most minor infractions of discipline. However, in addition to the drop in morale of the team due to the constant and excessive tightening of the "nuts" by the boat commander, Schulze's crew was dissatisfied with his professional skills as a submarine commander. Believing that fate had prepared him to become the second Prien, Schulze commanded the boat with extreme recklessness. The rescued submariner stated that during U 512 tests and exercises, Schulze always tended to remain on the surface during air attack exercises, repelling aircraft attacks with anti-aircraft fire, while he could give the order to dive without warning his gunners, who, after leaving boats under water remained in the water until Schulze surfaced and picked them up.

Of course, the opinion of one person may also be too subjective, but if Wolfgang Schultze corresponded to the characterization given to him, then he was very different from his father and brother Heinz-Otto. It is especially worth noting that for Wolfgang this was the first combat campaign as a boat commander, in which he managed to sink three ships with a total tonnage of 20,619 tons. It is curious that Wolfgang inherited his father's nickname, given to him during his service in the Navy - "Nose" (German: Nase). The origin of the nickname becomes apparent when looking at the photo - the old underwater ace had a large and expressive nose.

Heinz-Otto Schulze

If the father of the Schulze family could truly be proud of anyone, it was his middle son Heinz-Otto (Heinz-Otto Schultze). He came to the fleet four years later than the elder Wolfgang, but managed to achieve much greater success, comparable to the achievements of his father.

One of the reasons why this happened is the history of the brothers' service until they were appointed commanders of combat submarines. Wolfgang, after receiving the rank of lieutenant in 1934, served on the shore and surface ships - before getting on the submarine in April 1940, he was an officer in the battlecruiser Gneisenau (Gneisenau) for two years. After eight months of training and practice, the eldest of the Schulze brothers was appointed commander of the training boat U 17, which he commanded for ten months, after which he received the same position on U 512. Based on the fact that Wolfgang Schulze had practically no combat experience and despised caution , his death in the first campaign is quite natural.

Heinz-Otto Schulze returned from a campaign. To the right of him, the flotilla commander and underwater ace Robert-Richard Zapp ( Robert Richard Zapp), 1942

Unlike his older brother, Heinz-Otto Schulze consciously followed in his father's footsteps and, becoming a lieutenant in the navy in April 1937, immediately chose to serve in submarines. After completing his studies in March 1938, he was assigned as a watch officer on the boat U 31 (type VIIA), on which he met the beginning of World War II. The boat was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Johannes Habekost, with whom Schulze made four combat campaigns. As a result of one of them, the British battleship Nelson was blown up and damaged on mines laid by U 31.

In January 1940, Heinz-Otto Schulze was sent to courses for submarine commanders, after which he commanded the training U 4, then became the first commander of the U 141, and in April 1941 he received the brand new "seven" U 432 (type VIIC) from the shipyard. Having received his own boat under his arm, Schulze showed an excellent result in the very first campaign, sinking four ships of 10,778 tons during the battle of the Markgraf group of boats with convoy SC-42 on September 9–14, 1941. The commander of the submarine forces, Karl Doenitz, gave the following description of the actions of the young commander of U 432: "The commander succeeded in his first campaign, showing perseverance in attacking the convoy."

Subsequently, Heinz-Otto made six more military campaigns on U 432 and only once returned from the sea without triangular pennants on the periscope, with which German submariners celebrated their successes. In July 1942, Dönitz awarded Schulze the Knight's Cross, believing that he had reached the mark of 100,000 tons. This was not entirely true: the personal account of the commander of U 432 amounted to 20 ships sunk for 67,991 tons, two more ships for 15,666 tons were damaged (according to the site http://uboat.net). However, Heitz-Otto was in good standing with the command, he was bold and decisive, while acting prudently and in cold blood, for which he was nicknamed "Mask" (German: Maske) by his colleagues.

The last moments of U 849 under the bombs of the American "Liberator" from the naval squadron VB-107

Certainly, when he was awarded Doenitz, the fourth campaign of U 432 in February 1942 was also taken into account, by which Schulze confirmed the hope of the commander of the submarine forces that the boats of the VII series could successfully operate off the east coast of the United States together with submarine cruisers of the IX series without refueling. In that campaign, Schulze spent 55 days at sea, sinking five ships for 25,107 tons during this time.

However, despite the obvious talent of a submariner, the second son of Admiral Schulze suffered the same fate as his older brother Wolfgang. Having received command of the new submarine cruiser U 849 type IXD2, Otto-Heinz Schulze died along with the boat in the very first campaign. On November 25, 1943, the American Liberator put an end to the fate of the boat and its entire crew off the east coast of Africa with its bombs.

Rudolf Schulze

The youngest son of Admiral Schulze began serving in the Navy after the outbreak of war, in December 1939, and not much is known about the details of his career in the Kriegsmarine. In February 1942, Rudolf Schultze was assigned to the post of officer in charge of the submarine U 608 under the command of Oberleutnant zur see Rolf Struckmeier. On it, he made four military campaigns in the Atlantic with a result of four ships sunk at 35,539 tons.

Former boat of Rudolf Schulze U 2540 on display at the Naval Museum in Bremerhaven, Bremen, Germany

In August 1943, Rudolf was sent to training courses for submarine commanders and a month later became the commander of the training submarine U 61. At the end of 1944, Rudolf was appointed commander of the new "electric boat" XXI series U 2540, which he commanded until the end of the war. It is curious that this boat was sunk on May 4, 1945, but in 1957 it was raised, restored and in 1960 included in the German Navy under the name "Wilhelm Bauer". In 1984, she was transferred to the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, where she is still used as a museum ship.

Rudolf Schulze was the only one of the brothers who survived the war and died in 2000 at the age of 78.

Other "underwater" dynasties

It is worth noting that the Schulze family is no exception for the German fleet and its submarine - other dynasties are also known in history, when sons followed in the footsteps of their fathers, replacing them on the bridges of submarines.

Family Albrecht gave two submarine commanders to the First World War. Oberleutnant zur see Werner Albrecht (Werner Albrecht) led the underwater mine layer UC 10 on his first trip, which turned out to be his last, when on August 21, 1916 the minelayer was torpedoed by the British boat E54. There were no survivors. Kurt Albrecht (Kurt Albrecht) successively commanded four boats and repeated the fate of his brother - he died on U 32 along with the crew northwest of Malta on May 8, 1918 from depth charges of the British sloop Wallflower (HMS Wallflower).

The surviving sailors from the submarines U 386 and U 406 sunk by the British frigate Spray disembark from the ship in Liverpool - for them the war is over.

Two submarine commanders from the younger generation of Albrechts participated in World War II. Rolf Heinrich Fritz Albrecht, commander of U 386 (type VIIC), did not achieve any success, but managed to survive the war. On February 19, 1944, his boat was sunk in the North Atlantic by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Spey. Part of the crew of the boat, including the commander, was captured. The commander of the torpedo carrier U 1062 (type VIIF), Karl Albrecht, was much less fortunate - he died on September 30, 1944 in the Atlantic along with the boat during the transition from Malay Penang to France. Near Cape Verde, the boat was attacked with depth charges and sank the American destroyer USS Fessenden.

Family Franz was noted by one submarine commander in the First World War: Lieutenant Commander Adolf Franz (Adolf Franz) commanded the boats U 47 and U 152, having lived safely until the end of the war. Two more boat commanders participated in World War II - Lieutenant zur see Johannes Franz, commander of U 27 (type VIIA), and Ludwig Franz, commander of U 362 (type VIIC).

The first of them, in a matter of days after the start of the war, managed to establish himself as an aggressive commander with all the makings of an underwater ace, but luck quickly turned away from Johannes Franz. His boat became the second German submarine sunk in World War II. Having unsuccessfully attacked the British destroyers Forester (HMS Forester) and Fortune (HMS Fortune) west of Scotland on September 20, 1939, she herself became a prey from a hunter. The commander of the boat, together with the crew, spent the entire war in captivity.

Ludwig Franz is interesting primarily because he was the commander of one of the German boats that became a confirmed victim of the Soviet Navy in the Great Patriotic War. The submarine was sunk by depth charges of the Soviet minesweeper T-116 on September 5, 1944 in the Kara Sea, along with the entire crew, without having had time to achieve any success.

The armored cruiser "Dupetit-Toire" was torpedoed by the boat U 62 under the command of Ernst Hashagen on the evening of August 7, 1918 in the Brest region. The ship was sinking slowly, which made it possible for the crew to leave it in an organized manner - only 13 sailors died

Surname Hashagen (Hashagen) in World War I was represented by two successful submarine commanders. Hinrich Hermann Hashagen, commander of U 48 and U 22, survived the war by sinking 28 ships worth 24,822 tons. Ernst Hashagen, commander of UB 21 and U 62, achieved truly outstanding success - 53 ships destroyed for 124,535 tons and two warships (the French armored cruiser Dupetit-Thouars) and the British sloop Tulip (HMS Tulip)) and the well-deserved "Blue Max", as they called Pour le Mérite, on the neck. He left behind a book of memoirs called "U-Boote Westwarts!"

During World War II, Oberleutnant zur see Berthold Hashagen, commander of the submarine U 846 (Type IXC/40), was less fortunate. He was killed along with the boat and crew in the Bay of Biscay on May 4, 1944 from bombs dropped by the Canadian Wellington.

Family Walther gave the fleet two submarine commanders in World War I. Lieutenant Commander Hans Walther, commander of U 17 and U 52, sank 39 ships for 84,791 tons and three warships - the British light cruiser HMS Nottingham, the French battleship Suffren (Suffren) and the British submarine C34. Since 1917, Hans Walter commanded the famous Flanders submarine flotilla, in which many German submarine aces fought in the First World War, and ended his naval career already in the Kriegsmarine with the rank of Rear Admiral.

The battleship "Suffren" - the victim of the attack of the submarine attack of the U 52 boat under the command of Hans Walter on November 26, 1916 off the coast of Portugal. After the explosion of ammunition, the ship sank in seconds, killing all 648 crew members.

Oberleutnant zur see Franz Walther, commander of UB 21 and UB 75, sank 20 ships (29,918 tons). He died along with the entire crew of the boat UB 75 on December 10, 1917 on a minefield off Scarborough (west coast of Great Britain). Lieutenant zur see Herbert Walther, who commanded the U 59 boat at the end of World War II, did not achieve success, but managed to survive until the surrender of Germany.

Concluding the story about family dynasties in the German submarine fleet, I would like to note once again that the fleet is primarily not ships, but people. This applies not only to the German fleet, but it will also sound true in relation to the sailors of other countries.

List of sources and literature

Gibson R., Prendergast M. German submarine warfare 1914–1918. Translation from German. - Minsk.: "Harvest", 2002
Wynn K. U-Boat Operations of the Second World War. Vol.1–2 - Annopolis: Naval Institute Press, 1998
Busch R., Roll H.-J. German U-boat Commanders of World War II - Annopolis: Naval Institute Press, 1999
Ritschel H. Kurzfassung Kriegstagesbuecher Deutscher U-Boote 1939–1945. Band 8. Norderstedt
Blair S. Hitler's U-boat War. The Hunters, 1939–1942 - Random House, 1996
Blair S. Hitler's U-boat War. The Hunted, 1942–1945 - Random House, 1998
http://www.uboat.net
http://www.uboatarchive.net
http://historisches-marinearchiv.de

German submarine "Bieber" " (translated from the German "Beaver") is a series of 325 midget gasoline-powered submarines built in Germany in 1944.

German submarine "Bieber" beaver

On November 21, 1943, four ultra-small English submarines of the Wellman class, on the orders of the commander of the British Navy in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, Admiral L. Wells, attacked the German floating dock and ships in the Norwegian port of Bergen (Operation Barbara). The operation ended in failure. Two boats were lost, and two went to the Germans as a trophy.

The English midget submarine Welman served as the starting point for the creation of the German Bieber Beaver class submarine.

Taking the ultra-small Wellman as a basis, the German designer corvette captain Heinrich Bartels in February 1944 began work on the creation of a German midget submarine commissioned by the Entwurf Flenderwerke shipyard in Lübeck. On February 23, 1944, G. Bartels prepared the working documentation, and by March 15, a prototype submarine was already ready, which received the designation "Adam" ("Adam").

Making a midget submarine, "Adam" (Adam), for factory workers it was "Bunte-Boot", the Bunta boat was nicknamed after the plant manager, Mr. Bunt

On March 29, it was demonstrated to the commander of the German Navy, Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz. "Adam" differed from subsequent serial submarines of the "Bieber" class: it had a displacement of only 3 tons, a maximum length of 7 m, a hull width and a draft of 0.96 m, the duration of navigation on the surface was 13 hours (at a boat speed of 7 knots ), and in a submerged position - 2.5 hours (at a speed of 6 knots). The depth of submersion of the submarine reached 25 m.

The desire to ensure the possibility of transporting boats on trucks and launching them from an unequipped shore led to the fact that the displacement of the serial "Beaver" was limited to 7 tons, and the crew - to one person. Due to the shortage of diesel engines, the submarines were equipped with gasoline ones. Each serial Bieber-class boat cost the Nazi Navy 29,000 Reichsmarks.
Nicknamed an assault weapon in the Nazi Reich, they were armed with two 533-mm torpedoes (or mines) and were controlled by one person. The smallest Kriegsmarine submarines could only operate in coastal waters.

The ultra-small Bieber-class submarine was officially referred to as a "single-seat submersible assault vehicle" and was intended to operate against enemy ships in the English Channel near the French and Dutch coasts.

In total, eight divisions were formed from the Biebers (from 261st to 268th). But their combat use was extremely unsuccessful. They suffered from ventilation problems. A running gasoline engine (which could not be completely isolated from the cockpit) poisoned the air inside the submarine and often led to the death of the submarine driver.

The total losses of midget submarines of the Bieber class for the period from August 1944 to April 1945 amounted to 113 units. After analyzing the situation, Flenderwerke engineers began developing more modern modifications of the Beaver: Bieber II and Bieber III. But they no longer had to take part in the Second World War.

DESIGN
The hull of the submarine was made of ship steel 3 mm thick and had a streamlined shape. In the middle of the hull there was a small cabin (made of aluminum alloy) only 52 cm high with portholes and an entrance hatch. The rectangular portholes were made of armored glass (one at the bow, one at the stern, and two portholes on each side). A periscope 150 cm long and a snorkel extended from the wheelhouse. Behind the cabin was the engine exhaust pipe.
Four bulkheads divided the hull into five compartments. The first contained a ballast tank; in the second - the control post and the driver of the submarine; in the third compartment they placed a 6-cylinder gasoline engine of the Otto model (taken from an Opel Blitz light truck) with a volume of 2.5 liters and a power of 32 liters. e.; in the fourth electric motor power 13l.s. (powered by batteries) and shafting; in the fifth - aft ballast tank.
For the movement of the Beaver, a propeller with a diameter of 47 cm was used. The submarine was controlled by one person - the driver. She could move on the surface at a speed of 6.5 knots (the cruising range at the same time was up to 130 miles), or - under water - at a speed of 5.3 knots.

When diving, the driver could only breathe freely for 45 minutes (so the boat could only go 8.6 miles under water at a speed of 5 knots). The air during a long voyage under water was supersaturated with carbon dioxide, and this led to the poisoning of the crew. In order to somehow remedy the situation, the boat driver was equipped with an autonomous breathing apparatus with three cartridges with a carbon dioxide absorber, which should have been enough for 20 hours of being under water. In addition, due to the poor balance of the boat, underwater movement under the periscope was extremely difficult, which is why ships were often attacked from the surface.

electric torpedoes Till type G7e, or naval mines

The beaver was armed with two 533-mm modified electric torpedoes of the G7e type, which were suspended using two yokes on rail guides along the sides of the submarine.

TTX SUPER SMALL SUBMARINES OF THE BIEBER CLASS

Displacement, t: surface: 6.5
Dimensions, m: length: 9.04 width: 1.57 draft: 1.37
GEM: Gasoline engine with a capacity of 32 liters. e., an electric motor with a capacity of 13 liters. with.
Speed, knots: surface: 6.5 underwater: 5.3
Maximum immersion depth, m: 20
Armament: 2 x 533 mm electric Till torpedoes (type G7e) or naval mines
Crew, people: 1

Combat use German submarine "Bieber" beaver .
Each serial Bieber-class boat cost the Nazi Navy 29,000 Reichsmarks.

On August 30, 1944, during the first military campaign, only 14 of the 22 assigned Beavers were able to go to sea, of which only two reached the calculated position, and not one of them hit a single target. On December 22-23, 1944, 18 submarines entered the combat position from the port of Rotterdam, but only one boat returned.
On December 23, at 16:25, five miles from Vlissingen, the Beaver, driven by the driver Schulze, finally won the first (and only) victory. He sank the cargo ship Alan A. Dale (MV Alan A. Dale) with a displacement of 4702 gross tons, sailing from New York to Antwerp with a cargo of equipment and ammunition, going to the convoy. But on the way back, the compass on the boat failed, and she ran aground in the territory occupied by the enemy. The driver of the boat was taken prisoner.
On December 24-25, 1944, 14 more submarines went on a combat mission, and not one of them returned.

The Bieber was intended to operate against enemy ships in the English Channel on the French and Dutch coasts, photo at the Imperial War Museum London

On December 27, 1944, tragedy struck. Two torpedoes spontaneously launched, which left the guides of one mini-boat and hit a nearby minesweeper and a lock. As a result of the explosions, 11 Beavers, a minesweeper and a tugboat sank. Six people were killed and three are missing.
March 6, 1945 - another tragedy.

The total loss of ultra-small submarines of the Bieber class for the period from August 1944 to April 1945 amounted to 113 units

In the harbor of Rotterdam, where the Beavers were based, a spontaneous torpedo launch again occurred. The result was the sinking of 14 submarines, and another nine boats were damaged. On the same day, 11 submarines went on a mission, none of which returned to base ...

German submarines made long-distance crossings on the surface of the water, plunging only when the enemy appeared. 33 submarines capable of entering the Atlantic Ocean sank 420,000 tons of merchant tonnage. And this is just for the first four months since the beginning of the war. They stood in the way of the movement of enemy transports and waited for the target to appear, attacked and broke away from the convoy forces pursuing them.

Success in the first months of the war spurred Germany to build new submarines. And this brought even more losses to the merchant fleet of the anti-Hitler coalition. The peak of the submarine war was 1942, when the Germans sank 6.3 million tons of the merchant fleet. And during the entire war, the Allies lost 15 million tons.

The turning point occurred at the end of 1942, which caused panic among the fascist command. Their submarines disappeared without a trace one after another. The commanders of the miraculously returned submarines said that the planes were looking for them when they were on the surface in any weather: in fog, at night. And hit with bombs.

The reason for the increased losses of the Germans was the appearance of radar equipment on aircraft and ships. German submarines had to hide under water, and there they had insufficient sailing time. On the radar screen of an aircraft flying at an altitude of 9750 feet (3000 m), the surfaced submarine was visible at a distance of 80 miles (150 km).

After the start of the use of radar, Allied aircraft were able to constantly monitor the area of operation of German submarines. England alone had 1,500 anti-submarine patrol aircraft, and the total number of Allied aircraft was more than double that number.

If the plane was flying at a speed of 150 km/h, then he saw the submarine for half an hour of summer to her, and she, depending on the weather, for 5-7 miles under a clear sun and generally could not outline it in clouds and fog. In the best case for her, she managed to dive into the water, but often the dive took place under the bombs bursting nearby. The bombs damaged or sank the submarine.

When land-based aircraft with a range of at least 600 miles (1600 km) appeared, British coastal defense became enemy number one for German submarines.

In response to radar, the Germans invented a radar receiver that informed German submariners that a submarine had been detected by American radar, and in October 1942 they began installing these receivers on their submarines. This invention of the Germans reduced the effectiveness of American radars, since in some cases the submarine managed to submerge under water. However, German detector receivers (from the Latin "detextor" - "opener") turned out to be useless when changing the wavelength at which American radars began to operate.

The US Harvard Radio Laboratory has designed 14 radar installations operating on decimeter waves. They were urgently delivered by aircraft to the British for installation on British aircraft patrolling the Bay of Biscay. At the same time, the production of a similar series for US naval aviation aircraft and a model for army aviation was accelerated.

German location receivers-detectors could not detect exposure to decimeter waves, and therefore the German submariners were completely unaware of how the Anglo-American aircraft detected them. The detector was silent, and air bombs rained down on the head.

Microwave radar enabled Anglo-American patrols in the spring and early summer of 1943 to locate and sink large numbers of German submarines.

Hitler reacted with great irritation to the invention of the microwave radar, and in his New Year's address in 1944 to the German armed forces, he pointed to the "invention of our enemy" that caused such irreparable losses to his submarine fleet.

Even after the Germans discovered a decimeter radar on one American aircraft shot down over Germany, they were not able to detect the operation of these locators.

English and American convoys received "eyes" and "ears". The radar became the "eyes" of the fleet, the sonar added "ears", but this was not enough. There was another way to detect submarines: they were given out by radio. And the allies took advantage of it. German submarines, having surfaced on the surface of the water, were talking among themselves, with the headquarters of the submarine fleet, which was located in Paris, and received orders from the commander, Grand Admiral Doenitz. Radiograms were carried on the air from all points where German submarines were located.

If you intercept any radiogram from three points, determining in each direction from where the radio waves propagate, then, knowing the coordinates of the listening stations, you can find out from which point on the earth the German submarine went on the air, and therefore find out its coordinates: where it is now.

This method was first used by the British Navy to combat enemy submarines. To do this, high-frequency radio direction finders were installed along the English coast. It was they who determined the place of the enemy submarine, which was negotiating with other submarines and superiors. The direction-finding transmission itself revealed the secret of the submarine's coordinates.

The received bearings were sent by coast stations to the Admiralty, where specialists mapped the location and course of the German submarine in the Atlantic. Sometimes, during the operation of the radio station of the German submarine, up to 30 bearings could be obtained.

The radio direction finder system on the African and American coasts, as well as in the British Isles, was called "huff-duff". How it worked can be seen from the episode where Lieutenant Schroeder sank a German submarine.

On June 30, 1942, at about noon, high-frequency radio direction finders in Bermuda, Hart Land Point, Kingston, and Georgetown registered the operation of the submarine's radio station. Naval base operators plotted bearings on the map and found the submarine to be at 33°N, 67°30W, about 130 miles from St. George.

Lieutenant Richard Schroeder was patrolling in his Mariner aircraft in the Bermuda area 50 miles (90 km) from the discovered submarine. Heading to the place indicated to him, he found the U-158 submarine 10 miles (18 km) from the indicated coordinates. The boat was on the surface, and 50 members of her crew basked in the sun. Schroeder dropped two high-explosive bombs and missed, but two depth charges hit the mark. One depth charge fell close to the hull of the boat, but the second landed directly on the superstructure and exploded at the moment when the submarine went to dive. The boat sank along with the entire crew.

Convinced of the effectiveness of the huff-duff devices, they equipped the ships of the convoy. If the high-frequency radio direction finder "huff-duff" was only on one ship of the convoy, then it turned into a search ship and went at the tail of the middle column.

The Germans did not know for a long time, and then they ignored the ship's huff-duff instruments. Their submarines continued to “talk” among themselves and, when approaching the convoy, exchange information with Grand Admiral Doenitz, thereby revealing their location.

This valuable system, whose name "huff-duff" is untranslatable, served a good service in the fight against German submarines.

In total, during the years of the Second World War, 1118 Nazi submarines took part in the hostilities. Of these, 725 (61%) were destroyed by the Allies. 53 died for various reasons, 224 were sunk by the Nazi crews after the surrender of Germany and 184 capitulated.

Fascist submariners during the Second World War sank 2 battleships, 5 aircraft carriers, 6 cruisers, 88 other surface ships and about 15 million tons of Allied merchant tonnage.