German submarine ''U-51'' was a Type VIIB

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

's ''

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

'' that operated during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. She was ordered on 21 November 1936 and

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 26 February 1937 in

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

. She was launched on 11 June 1938 and commissioned on 6 August 1938. During her service in the ''Kriegsmarine'', ''U-51'' conducted four war patrols and sank five enemy vessels for a loss of and one auxiliary warship of . She was a member of one wolfpack. She was sunk on 20 August 1940 in the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

by a

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

from a British submarine.

Design

German Type VIIB submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIA submarines. ''U-51'' had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of , a

pressure hull A submarine hull has two major components, the ''superstructure'' and the ''pressure hull''. The external portion of a submarine’s hull—that part that does not resist sea pressure and is free-flooding—is known as the “superstructure” i ...

length of , a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of , a height of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

M 6 V 40/46 four-stroke, six-cylinder

supercharged In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically powered (usually by ...

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s producing a total of for use while surfaced, two BBC GG UB 720/8 double-acting electric motors producing a total of for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

s. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to . The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of . When submerged, the boat could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at . ''U-51'' was fitted with five

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s (four fitted at the bow and one at the stern), fourteen

es, one SK C/35 naval gun, 220 rounds, and one

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

The boat had a

complement Complement may refer to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class collections into complementary sets * Complementary color, in the visu ...

of between forty-four and sixty.

Service history

''U-51'' was ordered by the ''Kriegsmarine'' on 21 November 1936 (as part of

Plan Z Plan Z was the re-equipment and expansion of the ''Kriegsmarine'' (German navy) ordered by Adolf Hitler in early 1939. The fleet was meant to challenge the naval power of the United Kingdom, and was to be completed by 1948. Development of the plan ...

and in violation of the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

). She was

on 15 September 1938 by

Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft (often just called Germaniawerft, "Germania shipyard") was a German shipbuilding company, located in the harbour at Kiel, and one of the largest and most important builders of U-boats for the Kaiserliche Marine in W ...

AG, in Kiel as yard number 586. ''U-51'' was launched on 11 June 1938 and commissioned on 6 August of that same year under the command of ''

Kapitänleutnant , short: KptLt/in lists: KL, ( or ''lieutenant captain'') is an officer grade of the captains' military hierarchy group () of the modern German . The rank is rated Ranks and insignia of NATO navies' officers, OF-2 in NATO, and equivalent to i ...

'' (''Kptlt.'') Ernst-Günther Heinicke. After being commissioned and deployed, ''U-51'' was stationed in the German port of Kiel. This city was to be her home for the rest of her brief career. During her service with the ''Kriegsmarine'', she took part in four combat patrols. She joined the

7th U-boat Flotilla The 7th U-boat Flotilla (German 7. Unterseebootsflottille), also referred to as the Wegener Flotilla, was a combat unit within the ''Kriegsmarine'', the naval warfare branch of Nazi Germany. It was the seventh operational flotilla focused on U-bo ...

on 6 August 1938. She was to remain a part of this flotilla until her loss.

First patrol

The first of ''U-51''s four patrols began on 17 January 1940 when she left Kiel and crossed the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. She negotiated the 'gap' between the

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

and

Shetland Islands Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the Uni ...

and claimed her first success west of

Rockall Rockall () is a high, uninhabitable granite islet in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is west of Soay, St Kilda, Scotland; northwest of Tory Island, Ireland; and south of Iceland. The nearest permanently inhabited place is North Uist, east in ...

when she sank the ''Gothia'' on 22 January. Moving south down the west coast of Ireland, she encountered the ''Eika'' west of the

Scilly Isles The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the British mainland at Lizard Point, and has the souther ...

on the 29th and sent her to the bottom. After sailing between the Scottish islands once more, but in the opposite direction, the boat docked at

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...

on 8 February after 23 days at sea.

Second patrol

The main incident of note on the submarine's second sortie was when the French submarine launched two torpedoes at her in the North Sea at on 21 April 1940. They missed.Sous-Marins Français Disparus & Accidents: Sous-Marin Orphée (in French) Accessed 20 October 2022
/ref> The rest of the patrol was carried out parallel to the Norwegian coast.

Third patrol

For her third foray, the boat entered the Atlantic after passing between the Faroe and Shetland Islands. Having left Kiel on 6 June 1940, she sank the ''Saranc'' on the 26th about west southwest of

Lands End Land's End ( or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

. ''U-51'' went on to sink the

Q-ship Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchantman, armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the c ...

on the 29th. This ship, used as a decoy, was formidably armed with nine 4-inch guns and four torpedo tubes. Her ballast was given extra buoyancy which meant three 'eels' (U-boat slang for torpedoes), were needed to dispose of the vessel, which still took over an hour to sink.

Fourth patrol

The boat departed Kiel on 9 August 1940. She sank the ''Sylviafield'' about west northwest of Rockall. There were 36 survivors, of which 20 were picked up by the Belgian trawler ''Rubens'' and landed at

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

on the English west coast. The remainder were recovered by another trawler which was under British Admiralty control and named . Her human cargo was discharged at Tobermory, Isle of Mull.

Fate

''U-51'' was sunk by a torpedo from the British submarine in the

on 28 August 1940. Forty-three men died; there were no survivors.

Wolfpacks

''U-51'' took part in one wolfpack, namely: * Prien (12 – 17 June 1940)

Summary of raiding history

During her service, ''U-51'' sank five merchant ships for a loss of and one auxiliary warship of .

In fiction

The fourth U-boat in the film ''

The Navy Comes Through ''The Navy Comes Through'' is a 1942 American World War II film directed by A. Edward Sutherland. It stars Pat O'Brien, George Murphy and Jane Wyatt. Vernon L. Walker and James G. Stewart were nominated for an Oscar for Best Special Effects. Th ...

'' has the number ''U-51''.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:U0051 German Type VIIB submarines U-boats commissioned in 1938 World War II submarines of Germany U-boats sunk by British submarines 1938 ships U-boats sunk in 1940 World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Ships built in Kiel U-boats lost with all hands Maritime incidents in August 1940