German submarine U-110 (1940).doc

German submarine U-110 (1940)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search U-110 and HMSBulldogCareer (Nazi Germany)Name:U-110Ordered:24 May 1938Builder:DeSchiMAG AG Weser, BremenYard number:973Laid down:1 February 1940Launched:25 August 1940Commissioned:21 November 1940Homeport:Lorient, FranceFate:Captured, 9 May 1941, sunk the following dayGeneral characteristics 1Class and type:German Type IXB submarineDisplacement:1,051t (1,034 long tons) surfaced1,178t (1,159 long tons) submergedLength:76.5m (251ft) o/a58.75m (192ft 9in) pressure hullBeam:6.76m (22ft 2in) overall4.4m (14ft 5in) pressure hullDraught:4.7m (15ft 5in)Propulsion:Diesel/Electric, 2MAN M9V40/46 supercharged 9 cylinder diesel engines, 4,400 hp (3,300kW), 2SSW 2GU345/34 double-acting electric motors, 1000 hp (740kW)Speed:18.2kn (33.7km/h; 20.9mph) surfaced7.3 knots (13.5km/h; 8.4mph) submergedRange:12,000nmi (22,000km; 14,000mi) at 10 knots (19km/h; 12mph) surfaced64nmi (119km; 74mi) at 4 knots (7.4km/h; 4.6mph) submergedTest depth:230m (750ft)Complement:48 to 56 officers and ratingsArmament: 6torpedo tubes (four bow, two stern) 2253.3cm (21in) torpedoes 110.5cm (4.1in) SK L/45 deck gun (180 rounds) anti-aircraft gunsService recordPart of:Kriegsmarine:2nd U-boat FlotillaCommanders:Kptlt. Fritz-Julius Lemp(21 November 19409 May 1941)Operations:Two1st patrol:929 March 19412nd patrol:15 April9 May 1941Victories:Three ships sunk for a total of 10,149gross register tons(GRT)Two ships damaged for a total of 8,675GRTGerman submarine U-110 was a Type IXB U-boat of Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine that operated during World War II. She was captured by the Royal Navy on 9 May 1941 and provided a number of secret cipher documents to the British. U-110s capture, later given the code name Operation Primrose, was one of the biggest secrets of the war, remaining so for seven months. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was only told of the capture by Winston Churchill in January 1942.Contentshide 1 Service history 2 Operational career o 2.1 1st patrolo 2.2 2nd patrol and capture 2.2.1 Operation Primrose 3 Modern-day connections o 3.1 Wolfpacks 4 Summary of raiding career 5 See also 6 Other captured U-boats 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 External linksService historyeditU-110s keel was laid down 1 February 1940 by DeSchiMAG AG Weser, of Bremen, Germany as yard number 973. She was launched on 25 August 1940 and commissioned on 21 November with Kapitnleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp in command.The boat was part of the 2nd U-boat Flotilla from her commissioning date until her loss. Lemp commanded U-110 for her entire career. In an earlier boat (U-30), he was responsible for the sinking of the passenger liner SSAthenia 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.2Operational careeredit1st patroleditU-110 set out on her first patrol from Kiel on 9 March 1941. Her route to the Atlantic Ocean took her through the gap between the Faroe and Shetland Islands. Her first victim was Erdona which she damaged south of Iceland on 16 March. She also damaged Siremalm on the 23rd. This ship only escaped after she was hit by a torpedo which failed to detonate, (although it left a large dent) and the U-boats 105mm deck gun crew forgot to remove the tampion or plug in the muzzle before engaging their target. The resulting explosion on firing the first round wounded three men and compelled the boat to fire on the merchantman with the smaller 37 and 20 mm armament. Despite being hit, Siremalm successfully fled the scene, zig-zagging as she went.U-110 arrived in Lorient on the French Atlantic coast on 29 March, having cut the patrol short due to damage from the exploding gun.2nd patrol and captureeditThe boat departed Lorient on 15 April 1941. On the 27th she sank Henri Mory about 330 nautical miles (610km; 380mi) west northwest of Blasket Islands, Ireland.Her next quarry were the ships of convoy OB 318 east of Cape Farewell (Greenland). She successfully attacked and sank Esmond and Bengore Head, but the escort vessels responded. The British corvette, HMSAubretia, located the U-boat with ASDIC (sonar). HMS Aubretia and British destroyer Broadway then proceeded to drop depth charges, forcing U-110 to surface.3Operation PrimroseeditU-110 survived the attack, but was seriously damaged. HMSBulldog and HMS Broadway remained in contact after HMS Aubretias last attack. HMS Broadway shaped course to ram, but fired two depth charges beneath the U-boat instead, in an endeavour to make the crew abandon ship before scuttling her.4 Lemp announced Last stop, everybody out, meaning Abandon ship. As the crew turned out onto the U-boats deck they came under fire from two attacking destroyers Bulldog and Broadway 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 wanted to surrender.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, 32 were captured.Bulldogs boarding party, led by sub-lieutenant David Balme,5 got onto U-110 and stripped it of everything portable, including her Kurzsignale code book and Enigma machine. William Stewart Pollock, a former radio operator in the Royal Navy and on loan to Bulldog, was on the second boat to board 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.Modern-day connectionseditThe 2000 film U-571 was partially inspired by the capture of U-110.In 2007, the submarines chronometer was 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.WolfpackseditU-110 took part in one wolfpack, namely. West (9 May 1941)Summary of raiding careereditDateShipNationalityTonnageFate616 March 1941ErodanaUnited Kingdom6,207Damaged23 March 1941SiremalmNorway2,468Damaged27 April 1941Henri MoryUnited Kingdom2,564Sunk9 May 1941Bengore HeadUnited Kingdom2,609Sunk9 May 1941EsmondUnited Kingdom4,976SunkSee alsoedit List of successful U-boat commanders U-571, a film inspired by the capture of U-110Other captured U-boatsedit U-505 U-570, later HMS Graph U-744 U-1024Referencesedit1. Jump up Grner 1985, pp.105-7.2. Jump up Sebag-Montefiore, Hugh (2011). 13 - Operation Primrose. Enigma: The Battle For The Code. Hachette UK. ISBN9781780221236.3. Jump up U-boat Archive - U-110 - Greenock Report - Attacks on U-110. Retrieved 3 October 2014.4. Jump up U-boat Archive - U-110 - Greenock Report - Attacks on U-110. Retrieved 3 October 2014.5. Jump up Capturing the real U-571, BBC. Retrieved 3 October 2014.6. Jump up Helgason, Gumundur. The Type IXB boat U-110. German U-boats of WWII - . Retrieved 12 August 2013.Bibliographyedit Busch, Rainer; Rll, Hans-Joachim (1999). Deutsche U-Boot-Verluste von September 1939 bis Mai 1945. Der U-Boot-Krieg (in German) IV (Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn: Mittler). ISBN3-8132-0514-2. Grner, Erich (1985). U-Boote, Hilfskreuzer, Minenschiffe, Netzleger, Sperrbrecher. Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815-1945 (in German) III (Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe). ISBN3-7637-4802-4. Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, Enigma: The Battle for the Code, 2000, ISBN 0-7538-1130-8.External linksedit Enigma a