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German submarine U-26 (1936)

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For other ships with the same name, see German submarine U-26.

U-25, the other Type IA U-boat
History
Nazi Germany
NameU-26
Ordered17 December 1934
BuilderDeSchiMAG AG Weser, Bremen
Yard number904
Laid down1 August 1935
Launched14 March 1936
Commissioned6 May 1936
FateScuttled 1 July 1940, southwest of Ireland. 48 survivors[1]
General characteristics [2]
TypeType IA ocean-going submarine
Displacement
Length72.39 m (237 ft 6 in)
Beam6.21 m (20 ft 4 in)
Draught4.30 m (14 ft 1 in)
Propulsion
Speed
  • 18.6 knots (34.4 km/h; 21.4 mph) surfaced
  • 8.3 knots (15.4 km/h; 9.6 mph) submerged
Range
  • 7,900 nmi (14,600 km; 9,100 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced
  • 78 nmi (144 km; 90 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth200 m (660 ft)
Complement4 officers, 39 enlisted
Armament
Service record
Part of:
Identification codes: M 07 314
Commanders:
Operations:
  • 6 patrols:
  • 1st patrol:
  • 29 August – 26 September 1939
  • 2nd patrol:
  • 22 October – 5 December 1939
  • 3rd patrol:
  • 29 January – 1 March 1940
  • 4th patrol:
  • a. 13 – 18 April 1940
  • b. 19 – 25 April 1940
  • 5th patrol:
  • a. 23 – 27 May 1940
  • b. 29 May – 5 June 1940
  • 6th patrol:
  • 20 June – 1 July 1940
Victories:
  • 11 merchant ships sunk
    (48.645 GRT)
  • 1 merchant ship damaged
    (4,871 GRT)

German submarine U-26 was one of the two Type IA ocean-going U-boats produced by Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Constructed in Bremen, U-26 was commissioned in May 1936. She experienced a short, but successful combat career, sinking eleven ships.

Until 1940, U-26 was primarily used as training vessel and for propaganda purposes by the German government.[citation needed] During her trials it was found that the Type IA submarine was difficult to handle due to her poor stability and slow dive rate.

In early 1940, the boat was called into combat duty due to the shortage of available submarines. U-26 participated in six war patrols, sinking eleven ships and badly damaging one other. On her first patrol laying mines, U-26 sank three merchant ships and damaged one British warship. On her second war patrol it became the first U-boat during World War II to enter the Mediterranean Sea. U-26 participated in three other successful patrols, sinking four additional merchant ships.

Construction history

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Laid down by DeSchiMAG AG Weser in Bremen as yard number 904 on 1 August 1935, U-26 was launched on 14 March 1936. She was commissioned on 6 May with Kapitänleutnant Werner Hartmann in command.

Operational history

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U-26 carried out six patrols between August 1939 and July 1940, during which she sank or damaged 12 ships.

First patrol

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U-26 was one of the first group of German submarines deployed to the Atlantic Ocean prior to the German invasion of Poland. Oberkommando der Marine (OKM) had ordered her loaded with mines and to be ready to put in place a minefield in Portland Harbour. Upon her completion of refit on 28 August, she put to sea with a load of mines and six torpedoes, under the command of Klaus Ewerth. U-26 was positioned off of the western end of the English Channel awaiting final orders. She was deemed unfit for combat duties but was none-the-less to stand ready to engage shipping with torpedoes upon completion of mining operations. OKM conceived of the mission to deny the British a port of embarkation for transporting the British Army to France, but Karl Dönitz opposed the mission as too risky as the port was a major Royal Navy base, including their sonar school, and thus the harbor was bound to be well defended by antisubmarine forces.[3]

With the war underway, on 4 September, U-26 began to penetrate the harbour but was slowed by antisubmarine patrols which were intense, as Dönitz had feared, and forced the first two attempts to be aborted. It was not until four days later, on his third attempt, that Ewerth found a good position, known as the Shambles, to deploy his TMB mines. After laying all the carried mines, he escaped to deeper water where the crew rested and loaded the six torpedoes in order to continue the patrol. While moving westward, U-26 was hounded by British anti-submarine forces, preventing the boat's resumption of communications. The Admiralty had claimed the sinking of a mine-laying U-boat on 8 September and attempts to contact U-26 went unanswered, leading Dönitz to fear that U-26 and her valuable Enigma machine may have been sunk in shallow waters from which they may be recovered by the British. Consequently, orders were put out by OKM to change all Enigma settings and thereafter that mine-laying boats were not to carry Enigma. U-26 however evaded the British forces and successfully reached the open Atlantic from which she was able to report her success to Dönitz.<[4]

While mine-laying was generally disliked by submariners for many reasons, this first minefield laid by U-boats in the war actually yielded a handsome return. Three freighters totaling 17,414 tons were sunk (one each of Greek, Belgian, and Dutch nationality) and the corvette HMS Kittiwake was damaged severely, though this last result was successfully kept from the Germans.[5]

Fate

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U-26 under attack by a Sunderland flying boat on 1 July 1940.

The boat was scuttled southwest of Ireland after being badly damaged by depth charges dropped by the British Flower-class corvette HMS Gladiolus and an Australian Sunderland flying boat of No. 10 Squadron RAAF. The crew (48 men), all survived. However, 6 of them were killed on 22 July 1940, along with 2 British servicemen, when a Heinkel He 111 of Kampfgeschwader 26 jettisoned its remaining bombs when returning from an inshore anti-shipping sortie and accidentally hit POW Camp 5 at Duff House, Banff, Scotland.

Summary of raiding history

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Date Name Nationality Tonnage
(GRT) 		Fate[6]
15 September 1939 Alex van Opstal  Belgium 5,965 Sunk (mine)
7 October 1939 Binnendijk  Netherlands 6,873 Sunk (mine)
13 November 1939 Loire  France 4,285 Sunk
22 November 1939 Elena R.  Greece 4,576 Sunk (mine)
12 February 1940 Nidarholm  Norway 3,482 Sunk
14 February 1940 Langleeford  United Kingdom 4,622 Sunk
15 February 1940 Steinstad  Norway 2,477 Sunk
21 April 1940 Cedarbank  United Kingdom 5,159 Sunk
26 June 1940 Frangoula B. Goulandris  Greece 6,701 Sunk
30 June 1940 Belmoira  Norway 3,214 Sunk
30 June 1940 Merkur  Estonia 1,291 Sunk
1 July 1940 Zarian  United Kingdom 4,871 Damaged

Fictional portrayal

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A Type VIIC U-boat (not a Type I) with the number U-26 is seen in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark. The boat was a seaworthy mockup of the actual U-96 built for the 1981 West German war film Das Boot. Both movies were filming at the same time in La Rochelle and its U-boat pens.[7] One morning the Das Boat production crew arrived and found 'U-96' missing. The prop company had failed to mention that American filmmaker Steven Spielberg had hired it for a week to portray U-26 in his film.[8]

References

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  1. ^ Blair 1996, pp. 170–171.
  2. ^ Gröner 1991, p. 39.
  3. ^ Blair 1996, p. 56.
  4. ^ Blair 1996, pp. 85–86.
  5. ^ Blair 1996, p. 86.
  6. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-26". uboat.net. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  7. ^ Mikulec, Sven (22 October 2016). "'Raiders of the Lost Ark': Lucas and Spielberg's Epitome of Action-Adventure Films Still Waiting to Be Surpassed". Cinephelia & Beyond. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  8. ^ Marcus Hearn (2005). The Cinema of George Lucas. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc, Publishers. pp. 127–134. ISBN 0-8109-4968-7.

Bibliography

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[edit]
  • Helgason, Guðmundur. "U-26". uboat.net. Retrieved 31 July 2006.
  • Hofmann, Markus. "U 26". Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 - u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  • "U-26 2nd War Patrol". U-boat Archive. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
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