Submarine 7. Type VII submarines

Type VII submarines

Historical data

Power plant

Armament

U-Boot Type VII- a series of medium-sized diesel-electric German submarines. They were in service with the Kriegsmarine. A total of 703 boats were built in seven modifications. They took an active part in the Second World War. In total, Type VII submarines sank 6 aircraft carriers (two were scrapped due to serious damage), 2 battleships, 5 cruisers, 52 destroyers and destroyer escorts, as well as dozens of other warships and thousands of transport vessels. A total of 546 boats were lost, not counting those sunk by their crews at the end of the war.

General information

History of creation

The strategy of warfare at sea was influenced by the use of submarines in the First World War. The damage caused to the commercial shipping of the Entente countries by German submarines was enormous. Due to attacks by German submarines, the Entente countries lost 12 million tons of transport tonnage. According to the Versailles Peace Treaty, Germany was prohibited from having submarines, but in the mid-20s of the 20th century, the leadership of the Reichsmarine began building medium and small submarines. The plans were to use the most successful submarine designs of the First World War - type UB III, UC II and UB II.

In 1922, the companies “Vulcan”, “Germany” and “Weser” created a design bureau under the leadership of G. Techel and a staff of 30 engineers. The task of this bureau is to create new types of submarines. The possibility of creating minelayers that would carry mines in addition to torpedoes was considered. Also, the construction of submarines with a displacement of 1,500 tons, floating workshops and boats with a Walter engine was considered. This list included a single-hull submarine with internal fuel tanks; this series was given the name VII. On January 10, 1935, an order for the development of a new submarine was approved. Characteristics of Type VII:

• Surface displacement - 550 tons.
• Immersion depth - 100 m.
• Engines - 2 diesel engines, 1050 hp each.
• Max. surface/underwater speed - 16-17/8-9 knots.
• Cruising range surface/submarine - 6000 miles at 8 knots/75 miles at 4 knots.

Construction and testing

In the middle of 1935, two significant events happened at once: on July 18, the Anglo-German agreement was signed and in January 1936, Karl Dönitz was appointed to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the submarine fleet. The construction of the German submarine fleet became legalized, but at the same time it was limited to no more than 45% of the tonnage of submarines in the British fleet.

Description of design

Modifications

Type VII submarines existed in seven modifications:

Armament

Artillery weapons

At the beginning of the war, the artillery armament consisted of an 88 mm SKC/35 cannon with a barrel length of 45 calibers and a single-barreled Flak 30 anti-aircraft gun on a C30/37 mount. The ammunition load for the SKC/35 consisted of 220 shells; the shells were fed onto the deck manually from the artillery magazine, along a chain. The Flak 30 ammunition consisted of 1,500 rounds.

In the first months of the war, when German submariners tried to act in accordance with prize rights, submarine artillery was actively used. But already on September 26, 1939, the British Admiralty announced plans to install artillery on all merchant ships. A month later, an instruction was introduced according to which the crew of the boat should not inspect the merchant ship, and after studying the papers delivered on the boat, if there was contraband, they should sink the stopped ship with a torpedo.

In addition, placing merchant ships in convoys deprived the gunners of showing their shooting skills. Subsequently, the use of artillery was one-time. The last such incident occurred on September 19, 1942. Off Cape Hatteras, boat U-701 sank the American armed trawler YP-389 in a fierce surface battle. On November 14, 1942, an order was received to dismantle the 88 mm guns.

This order was not carried out immediately and not in all flotillas. First of all, boats stationed in the West of France underwent modernization of anti-aircraft weapons with the removal of the deck gun. Many boats that were tested and operated in Norway retained their guns until the end of 19944. There is a known case when in August 1944, U-745 arrived from Kiel for operations in the Gulf of Finland and she had to return to Gotenhafen to dismantle the deck gun.

Anti-aircraft weapons

The anti-aircraft armament of Type VII submarines was constantly expanded. In the first modifications, the anti-aircraft gun was located on the deck behind the wheelhouse, but already in the first months of the war it was raised beyond the wheelhouse fence. In the initial period of the war, Allied aviation did not pose a threat to German submarines; by the end of 1941, it was able to sink only 4 boats.

In connection with the start of air patrols of the Bay of Biscay by the British, in the summer of 1942 the first steps were taken to build up anti-aircraft weapons on submarines. A low additional platform was mounted behind the standard deckhouse fencing (it received the nickname from German submariners Wintergarten) to accommodate a paired Flak 30. The single-barrel gun on the top was replaced by a two-barreled 20 mm anti-aircraft gun MG 151/22, it was distinguished by its smaller dimensions, initial speed and firing range.

But since December 1942, the Submarine Fleet Command, having become convinced of the ineffectiveness of the MG 151/20, ordered the installation of faster-firing 20 mm guns Flak 38. This design was called “cabinet 2”, (“cabinet 1” was the name given to the scheme with single anti-aircraft guns Flak 30) at the same time, four conventional machine guns were mounted on the bridge railings MG 34 caliber 7.92 mm.

Already the first fights between submarines and aircraft showed that the abundance of small-caliber guns does not guarantee victory over a four-engine flying boat or bomber. New hopes were associated with the entry into service of 37 mm automatic guns, twin and quad guns Flak 38. In 1943, the composition of anti-aircraft weapons called “cabinet 4” was approved; it provided for the installation of two twin Flak 38s on the upper platform and Flakvierling 38 on the bottom.

On June 8, 1943, the U-758 boat with “wheelhouse 4” won the battle against eight aircraft from an American aircraft carrier, although the submarine was seriously damaged and 11 crew members were killed and wounded, the Americans were unable to either drive the boat under water or sink it. On June 30, the Submarine Fleet Command issued an order according to which only those submarines that received “wheelhouse 4” were released for the campaign.

While conventional submarines were awaiting conversion, it was decided to create special "anti-aircraft" decoy boats for airplanes. The first such decoy boat was U-441. She received two Flakvierling 38, in front and behind the wheelhouse and a 37 mm SKC/30 semi-automatic "winter garden". On May 24, on the second boat of the trip, she fought with a British flying boat, and having lost one of the quadruple installations, she was able to shoot it down. After this, the boat went for a 2-month repair. And already on July 12, U-441 entered the Bay of Biscay; in a battle with British aircraft, the boat lost all its top watch personnel. At the end of 1943, the Submarine Fleet Command ordered the conversion of decoy boats into regular ones.

In the battles of the spring-summer of 1943, it turned out that 20 mm machine guns could cause fatal damage to a patrol aircraft, but not before its attack, which, if the pilot persisted, could become fatal for the submarine. In order to stop the attacking aircraft, longer-range weapons were required. And this weapon became an automatic 37 mm anti-aircraft gun Flak 42, it entered service in mid-1943.

By December 1, 1943, 18 submarines had replaced the Flakvierling with the Flak 42. The ammunition load for the 37 mm gun was 1,195 rounds, and for the 20 mm, 4,260 rounds. Further improvement of weapons ceased after the adoption of the snorkel. This ended the confrontation between submarines and aircraft. The greatest successes in the fight against aircraft were achieved by U-333, U-648, which shot down 3 aircraft each, and U-256, which defeated 4 aircraft.

Torpedo weapons

The main weapons of the Type VII submarines were torpedoes. To launch them, there were four bow and one stern torpedo tubes with a diameter of 533 mm each. Modification A boats had 6 torpedoes in reserve; on subsequent modifications, the supply of torpedoes increased due to the placement of one spare torpedo in the electric motor compartment and two more torpedoes in the superstructure, but they were abandoned at the beginning of 1943 due to their frequent damage as a result of attacks by Allied escort ships.

The torpedo tubes themselves had a number of interesting features. The torpedo was ejected from them using a special pneumatic piston, rather than compressed air; this greatly simplified the bubble-free firing system. Also, changing the depth of travel and rotation of the torpedo gyroscope could be carried out directly in the torpedo tubes through the PSA in the command room. Another feature of these torpedo tubes is the ability to lay non-contact mines from them.

The design of the device ensured the release of torpedoes at depths of up to 22 meters. Reloading the devices took relatively little time, only 10 to 20 minutes for torpedoes that were stored inside a durable hull.

Main modifications of Type VII submarine torpedoes

Shortwave was considered the most important because it provided communication with headquarters. It included an E-437-S receiver and two transmitters, a 200-watt S-400-S and a spare 40-watt 40-K-39a, and a retractable antenna in the left wing of the bridge fence; if the antenna was missing, then the role of antennas was performed by galvanized network taps , isolated from the body and tensioned with lanyards. The E-437-S receiver was also used to receive VHF signals.

Medium wave equipment was intended for communication between submarines. It consisted of an E-381-S receiver, a 150-watt Spez-2113-S transmitter and a small retractable antenna with a round vibrator in the right wing of the bridge. This same antenna was a direction finder for the CB range. An Enigma cipher machine was used for encoding and decoding.

Hydroacoustic equipment

The most important component of the sonar equipment of Type VII boats was the equipment GHG, which consisted of 11 and later 24 hydrophones, they were placed in the bow of the light hull in a semicircle around the bow horizontal rudders and connected to the receiver in the second compartment of the submarine.

To improve the accuracy of direction finding, the KDB system was used at the beginning of the war; it consisted of a rotating T-shaped antenna with 6 hydrophones; the antenna was placed on the upper deck, but since it was not very durable, it was abandoned by the middle of the war. On some boats built in the last months of the war, the hydrophone placement scheme was improved. 24 hydrophones were placed on a round platform extendable from below in the bow. This scheme had greater accuracy in direction finding of the noise source (it was even mechanically attached to the PSA) except for a narrow 60 degree area directly aft. But this scheme was not extended to Type VII, since it was developed for Type XXI boats.

Radar stations

The radars that entered the fleet, in very limited quantities, were primarily equipped with Type IX boats, so only a few Type VII boats received them. The first radar tested in Germany at the beginning of 1939 was the FuMO29 Gema.

The wavelength of the FuMO station is 29-80 cm, a special mast with a 2x3 m mattress-type antenna was placed in front of the wheelhouse, but they refused to install such a bulky radar on production boats. This idea was returned to in 1941; antenna dipoles were mounted on the wheelhouse itself in two rows of six dipoles, the top row being the receiving one, and the lower one transmitting. The detection range of a ship by the FuMO29 station is 6-8 km, an aircraft at an altitude of 500 m is up to 15 km.

In 1942, production of the FuMO-30, an improved version of the FuMO-29, began; it differed from the latter by a mattress-type antenna of 1x1.5 m, the antenna was located in the left wing of the cabin in place of the retractable HF antenna. In 1944, the FuMO-61 entered service, which was a naval version of the FuMG-200 Hohentwil night fighter radar. Having a slightly shorter wavelength of 54-58 cm and an antenna almost identical to the antenna of the FuMO-30 station, the station had a detection range of 8-10 km for ships and 15-20 km for aircraft.

Electronic intelligence stations

In the spring of 1942, an English patrol plane crashed on the territory of French Tunisia, and the Germans completely lost their doubts that the British could use radar to search for boats. In the wreckage of this aircraft, a slightly damaged set of the ASV I station was discovered. Increasing night attacks on boats by Coastal Command aircraft forced the Kriegsmarine Command to look for a way out.

By July 1942, the Germans received the first sample of the FuMB1 electronic intelligence station, which was named “Metox” in honor of the French company that designed this station. On August 26, the Kriegsmarine Command ordered all boats to be equipped with these stations.

“Metox” itself was a simple receiver; it recorded a signal with a wavelength of 1.3-2.6 meters. It connected to the in-boat communication system and the alarm signal was heard by the entire crew, a little later a screen appeared showing the direction to the radiation source. The antenna was rotated horizontally manually; moreover, the installation of this station was not initially planned, so the antenna was stored inside a durable housing and, upon ascent, was taken to the bridge and connected to the receiver by cable. The use of Methox made it possible to deprive the British anti-submarine line of effectiveness for six months.

On August 13, 1943, the Kriegsmarine Command banned the use of Methox because the new British ASV III radar detected the Methox radiation. At the same time, the FuMB9 Vanz station was put into production; the antenna of this station was a cylinder with a diameter of 20 cm and a height of 10 cm, it detected radiation in all directions. In November 1943, the second non-emitting modification of FuMB9, and the FuMB10 Borkum station, appeared. The operating range of the ASV III radar was closed by the FuMB7 Naxos station.

Subsequently, Naxos and Borkum (or Vanz) were installed on the boats. In April 1944 they were replaced by the FuMB 24 "Fleige". Due to the emergence of American flying boats with APS-3 and APS-4 radars, the FuMB25 “Mücke” station was created. In May 1944, the FuMB24 and FuMB25 stations were combined into the FuMB26 Tunis complex. But with the introduction of snorkels, the need for electronic intelligence stations disappeared.

Commanders

Submarine aces who fought on the Type VII and sank more than 100,000 tons of transport tonnage:

Famous boats

The most productive submarines Type VII:

Russia is famous for its submarine forces. It is our submarine, the Shark, that is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest underwater ship in the world.

"Seal"

"Seal" is one of the most productive Russian boats of the First World War. The main task of Russian submarines in the Black Sea was to disrupt enemy communications and prevent the delivery of strategic cargo to Istanbul. To destroy unguarded ships, boats used artillery and explosive cartridges, and to attack armed or escorted ships - torpedo weapons. In 1915-1917, the Tyulen destroyed or captured 8 enemy steamships and 33 schooners. In 1920, during the Crimean evacuation of the White Army, the boat was taken to Tunisia. In 1924, an agreement was reached on the return of the boat to the USSR, but for a number of reasons the ship was not returned.

"Crab"

"Crab" is the world's first underwater minelayer. The ship could quietly lay mines on enemy communications, carrying a reserve of 60 mines and be used as a regular submarine (it had 1 torpedo tube). The "Crab" entered service in 1915 and was actively used in combat operations in the Black Sea. Carried out a number of successful mine-layings, including near the Bosphorus. It is reliably known about the death of a Turkish gunboat on mines installed by the Crab. In 1918, the minelayer was captured by interventionists and then scuttled in Sevastopol. It was raised in 1923, but was no longer put into operation.

"Panther"

Bars-class submarine. It entered service at the end of 1916, having made several trips to enemy communications. Actively used during the Russian Civil War. On August 31, 1919, the Panther sank the English destroyer Victoria. This was the first victory of Soviet submariners and the largest warship sunk by domestic submarines. The commander of the boat, A. N. Bakhtin, was the first among submariners to be awarded the Order of the Red Banner in 1922. In 1923, the Panther was renamed the Commissar, and in 1934 - the B-2. Since 1940, it was used as a floating charging station and was scrapped only in 1955.

K-21

One of the most famous boats of the Northern Fleet during the Great Patriotic War. She is best known for her attempt in July 1942 to attack the largest German ship, the battleship Tirpitz. However, the attack, carried out from a huge distance (23 cables) against a retreating target, could only have accidental success. However, the boat had four confirmed victories. The mines laid by K-21 killed the Norwegian steamer Bessheim and the German large submarine hunter Uj 1110. In addition, two Norwegian motorboats were sunk by the boat's artillery fire and three more were damaged. On October 23, 1942, K-21 was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In 1954, the boat was withdrawn from the fleet, and since 1983 it has been used as a branch of the Northern Fleet Naval Museum in Severomorsk.

K-162

A unique submarine and the first in the world with a titanium hull. Due to the extremely high cost of construction (more than 2 billion rubles), it received the nickname “Goldfish”. In 1969, the boat was put into operation and joined the Northern Fleet. In 1971, K-162 set a world speed record underwater. At a depth of 100 meters, a speed of 83 km/h was reached. At the beginning of the 70s, the “Goldfish” at maximum speed could escape any torpedoes designed to destroy submarines. In 1989, K-162 was excluded from service in the Navy, and in 2010 the boat’s hull was transferred for disposal.

K-3

K-3 is the first nuclear submarine of the Soviet fleet. Came into operation in 1958. She is known for the fact that in July 1962 she made a trip under the ice of the North Pole. In total, about 1,300 miles were covered under the ice in 178 hours and three ascents were made. K-3 became the first Soviet boat to pass the North Pole point (near the pole). The leader of the campaign was Rear Admiral A.I. Petelin, the boat commander, Captain 2nd Rank L.M. Zhiltsov, and Engineer-Captain 2nd Rank R.A. Timofeev. were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In October of the same year, the boat was given the honorary name “Leninsky Komsomol”. In 1967, during a voyage near the Faroe Islands on K-3, a severe fire broke out, resulting in the death of 38 people. crew. In 1987, K-3 was withdrawn from the fleet and turned into a training vessel. In 2011, it was planned to use the boat as a museum, but due to a lack of funds in 2013, the disposal of the legendary ship cannot be ruled out.

"Shark"

A series of six submarines that became the most powerful submarines in the world. A total of 6 Akula type boats were built. In size, Project 941 submarines (submerged displacement 48,000 tons) were three times larger than US submarines. The main armament of the boat consisted of 20 R-39 ballistic missiles with multiple warheads. One boat could cover up to 200 targets at a distance of 9000 km. Project 941 boats were part of the Northern Fleet and formed the basis of the Soviet submarine fleet in the 80-90s. In accordance with the SALT-2 treaty, three of the six submarines were disposed of. The fate of the rest is currently in doubt.

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