The first victims of German submarines More and more German boats sank other people's transports. In the world, the Kaiser's Germany acquired the image of a “vicious aggressor”, but was never able to take control of enemy sea communications. 7 May 1915 on the Liverpool - New York line

German spare parts for Soviet submarines It is necessary to clarify that in the 20–30s of the 20th century, Germany not only ordered components for its submarines, but also sold them abroad, in particular to the USSR. Thus, military historian A. B. Shirokorad (“Russia and Germany. History

The tasks of German submarines They were formulated by K. Dönitz on the eve of his assumption of the post of commander of the first Weddigen submarine flotilla at the end of September 1935. Several years before the start of unrestricted submarine warfare, he foresaw its possibility:

The role of German submarines in the Norwegian operation This was the first operation of the Reich command, in which all three types of armed forces played a major role - the army, navy (including submarine) and aviation - therefore, the organization of interaction between different types of troops was given

Characteristics

The Germans are sinking British ships: Decoding the call signs of German submarines The surrender at Stalingrad marked the beginning of the end for Germany. The course of the war was turned. Although in the south and west, the Allies' successes still did not look convincing enough. In African

In December 1941, German submarines went to sea on a secret mission - they crossed the Atlantic undetected and took up positions a few miles off the east coast of the United States. Their target was the United States of America. The German command's plan was code-named "Drumbeat", which consisted of delivering a surprise attack on American merchant shipping.

In America, no one expected the appearance of German submarines. The first attack took place on January 13, 1942, and America was completely unprepared. January turned into a real carnage. Shipwrecks and corpses washed ashore, and oil covered the waters off the coast of Florida. During this period, the US Navy did not sink a single German submarine - the enemy was invisible. At the very height of the operation, it seemed that the Germans could no longer be stopped, but an unusual reversal occurred - the hunters turned into prey. Two years after the start of Operation Drumbeat, the Germans began to suffer significant losses.

One of these lost German submarines was U869. It belonged to the German submarines of the 9th series, which were marked as IX-C. It was these submarines with a long range that were used to patrol the remote coasts of Africa and America. The project was developed in the 1930s during the rearmament of Germany. It was on these boats that Admiral Karl Dönnitz relied big hopes with their new group tactics.

IX-C class submarines

In total, more than 110 IX-C class submarines were built in Germany. And only one of them remained intact after the war, and is exhibited at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The submarine U-505 was captured by US Navy ships in 1944.

Technical data of the IX-C class submarine:

Displacement - 1152 tons;

Length - 76 m;

Width - 6.7 m;

Draft - 4.5 m;

Weapons:

Torpedo tubes 530 mm - 6;

105 mm gun - 1;

37 mm machine gun - 1;

20 mm machine gun - 2;

Crew - 30 people;

The only purpose of this submarine is to destroy. A glance from the outside gives little insight into how she operated. Inside the submarine is a cramped tube filled with weapons and technical devices. Torpedoes weighing 500 kg, aimed at the target, were the main weapon of submarines. About 30 submariners lived in cramped conditions, sometimes for three months. On the surface, thanks to two 9-cylinder diesel engines, the submarine reached a speed of 18 knots. The range was 7,552 miles. Underwater, the German submarine was heading towards electric motors who fed rechargeable batteries located under the floor of the compartments. Their power was enough to travel about 70 miles at a speed of 3 knots. In the middle of the German submarine there was a conning tower, below it a central control room with many different instruments and control panels for movement, diving and ascent. The only means of defense for a German submarine was the depths of the world's oceans.

The commander of the submarine fleet, Karl Dönnitz, planned a war only against Britain, but could not imagine that he would have to confront the United States at the same time. By the end of 1943, the presence of Allied aircraft over the ocean completely changed the situation. Now it was dangerous even at night in thick fog, because an aircraft equipped with a radar could detect a German submarine on the surface of the water.

German submarine U869

After several months of preparation, U869 was ready to go to sea. Its commander, 26-year-old Helmut Noverburg, was appointed captain for the first time. On December 8, 1944, U869 left Norway for the Atlantic. This was her first patrol. Three weeks later, the fleet command sent a radiogram with a combat mission - to patrol the approaches to New York Bay. The submarine U869 had to acknowledge receipt of the order. Several days passed, and the command knew nothing about the fate of the submarine. In fact, the submarine U869 responded, but was not heard. The headquarters began to realize that the boat was most likely running out of fuel, and it was assigned a new patrol area of ​​Gibraltar - it was almost a return home. The German command expected the return of the boat U869 by February 1, but it never received new order. The encryption department assumed that U869 had not received the radio and was continuing on its previous course towards New York. Throughout February, the command was at a loss as to where the submarine U869 was patrolling. But no matter where the submarine went, the decryption department decided that the German submarine was heading home.

On May 8, 1945, the war in Europe ended. The German command signed an act of surrender, and German submarines at sea were ordered to surface and surrender.

Hundreds of German boats were never able to return to their home base. And U869 has been considered lost since February 20, 1945. The cause of the submarine's death could have been the explosion of its own torpedo, which described a circle and returned. This information was communicated to the families of the crew members.

diagram of the location on the bottom of the lost submarine U869

But in 1991, while fishing 50 km from New Jersey, a local fisherman lost his net, which got caught on something on the bottom. When divers examined the place, they discovered the missing submarine, which turned out to be the German submarine U869.

There is also another amazing fact about this submarine. One of the submariners who was part of the U869 team survived and lives in Canada. Of the 59 people on the submarine's crew, he survived thanks to an unexpected turn of fate. Shortly before going to sea, Herbert Dishevsky was hospitalized with pneumonia and was unable to participate in the campaign. Like the families of the dead submariners, he was sure that his submarine sank off the coast of Africa until he learned of the true facts.

For most of us, World War II is photographs and newsreels. Very distant events in time and space, but the war continues to present scores today, for those who survived, for the relatives of the victims, for those who were still children and even for those who had not yet been born when the monstrous hurricane raged. World War II scars like U869 are still hidden beneath the surface, but are much closer than we think.

German submarines made long passages on the surface of the water, plunging only when the enemy appeared. 33 submarines capable of reaching Atlantic Ocean, sank 420 thousand tons of merchant tonnage. And this is just in the first four months since the start of the war. They stood in the path 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 encouraged Germany to build new submarines. And this brought even more losses to the merchant fleet of the anti-Hitler coalition. The peak of submarine warfare was 1942, when the Germans sank 6.3 million tons of merchant shipping. And throughout the 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 submarines that miraculously returned said that planes found them when they were on the surface in any weather: in fog, at night. And they hit with bombs.

The reason for the increased German losses was the appearance of radar equipment on aircraft and ships. German submarines had to hide under water, and there they had insufficient voyage time. On the aircraft's radar screen, flying at an altitude of 9,750 feet (3,000 m), the surfaced submarine was visible 80 miles (150 km) away.

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 this number.

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

When shore-based aircraft with a flight range of at least 600 miles (1600 km) appeared, British coastal defenses 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 German invention reduced the effectiveness of American radars, since in some cases the submarine managed to submerge under water. However, German receiver-detectors (from the Latin “detextor” - “opener”) turned out to be useless when changing the wavelength at which American radars began to operate.

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

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

Microwave radar allowed Anglo-American patrols in the spring and early summer of 1943 to detect and sink a large number 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, pointed to the “invention of our enemy”, which brought such irreparable losses to his submarine fleet.

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

British 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 the water, were talking among themselves and with the headquarters 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 are propagating, 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 located.

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

The resulting bearings were sent by coastal stations to the Admiralty, where specialists mapped the location and course of the German submarine located in the Atlantic. Sometimes, while the radio station of a German submarine was operating, up to 30 bearings could be obtained.

The system of direction finders on the African and American coasts, as well as on the British Isles, was called “huff-duff”. How it worked can be seen from the episode of how Lieutenant Schroeder sank a German submarine.

On June 30, 1942, around noon, high-frequency direction finders in Bermuda, Hartland Point, Kingston and Georgetown registered the operation of the submarine's radio station. Officers operating the naval base plotted bearings on a map and found that the submarine was located at latitude 33° north and longitude 67° 30 west, approximately 130 miles from St. George.

Lieutenant Richard Schroeder was on patrol in his Mariner aircraft in the Bermuda area 50 miles (90 km) from the detected submarine. Heading to the location indicated to him, he discovered the submarine U-158 10 miles (18 km) from the indicated coordinates. The boat was on the surface, and its 50 crew members were basking in the sun. Schroeder dropped two high explosive bombs and missed, but two depth charges hit their target. One depth charge fell close to the boat's hull, but the second hit the superstructure and exploded as the submarine began to dive. The boat sank along with the entire crew.

Having convinced themselves of the effectiveness of the “huff-duff” devices, they equipped the convoy ships with them. If the huff-duff high-frequency radio direction finder was on only one ship of the convoy, then it turned into a search ship and walked at the tail of the middle column.

The Germans did not know for a long time, and then ignored the ship’s “huff-duff” instruments. Their submarines continued to “talk” with each other 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 well in the fight against German submarines.

In total, during the Second World War, 1,118 Nazi submarines took part in hostilities. Of these, 725 (61%) were destroyed by the Allies. 53 died by various reasons, 224 were sunk by the Nazi crews themselves after the surrender of Germany and 184 capitulated.

Fascist submariners for the Second world war sank 2 battleships, 5 aircraft carriers, 6 cruisers, 88 other surface ships and approximately 15 million tons of Allied merchant tonnage.

The outcome of any war depends on many factors, among which, of course, weapons are of considerable importance. Despite the fact that absolutely all German weapons were very powerful, since Adolf Hitler personally considered them the most important weapon and paid considerable attention to the development of this industry, they failed to inflict damage on their opponents that would significantly influence the course of the war. Why did it happen? Who is at the origins of the creation of a submarine army? Were the German submarines of World War II really that invincible? Why were such prudent Nazis unable to defeat the Red Army? You will find the answer to these and other questions in the review.

general information

Collectively, all equipment in service with the Third Reich during World War II was called the Kriegsmarine, and submarines made up a significant part of the arsenal. Underwater equipment became a separate industry on November 1, 1934, and the fleet was disbanded after the war ended, i.e., having existed for less than a dozen years. In such a short period of time, German submarines of World War II brought a lot of fear into the souls of their opponents, leaving their huge mark on the bloody pages of the history of the Third Reich. Thousands of dead, hundreds of sunk ships, all this remained on the conscience of the surviving Nazis and their subordinates.

Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine

During World War II, one of the most famous Nazis, Karl Doenitz, was at the helm of the Kriegsmarine. The Germans certainly played an important role in World War II, but without this man this would not have happened. He was personally involved in creating plans to attack opponents, participated in attacks on many ships and achieved success in this path, for which he was awarded one of the most significant awards of Nazi Germany. Doenitz was an admirer of Hitler and was his successor, which did a lot of harm to him during the Nuremberg trials, because after the death of the Fuhrer he was considered the commander-in-chief of the Third Reich.

Specifications

It is easy to guess that Karl Doenitz was responsible for the condition of the submarine army. German submarines in World War II, photos of which prove their power, had impressive parameters.

In general, the Kriegsmarine was armed with 21 types of submarines. They had the following characteristics:

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

This proves that the German submarines of World War II were not just powerful, they were the most powerful among the weapons of the countries that fought with Germany.

Composition of the Kriegsmarine

The warships of the German fleet included 1,154 submarines. It is noteworthy that until September 1939 there were only 57 submarines, the rest were built specifically to participate in the war. Some of them were trophies. Thus, there were 5 Dutch, 4 Italian, 2 Norwegian and one English and French submarines. All of them were also in service with the Third Reich.

Achievements of the Navy

The Kriegsmarine inflicted considerable damage on its opponents throughout the war. For example, the most effective captain Otto Kretschmer sank almost fifty enemy ships. There are also record holders among ships. For example, the German submarine U-48 sank 52 ships.

Throughout World War II, 63 destroyers, 9 cruisers, 7 aircraft carriers and even 2 battleships were destroyed. The largest and most notable victory for the German army among them can be considered the sinking of the battleship Royal Oak, whose crew consisted of a thousand people and its displacement was 31,200 tons.

Plan Z

Since Hitler considered his fleet extremely important for Germany’s triumph over other countries and had extremely positive feelings towards it, he paid considerable attention to it and did not limit funding. In 1939, a plan was developed for the development of the Kriegsmarine for the next 10 years, which, fortunately, never came to fruition. According to this plan, several hundred more of the most powerful battleships, cruisers and submarines were to be built.

Powerful German submarines of World War II

Photos of some surviving German submarine technology give an idea of ​​the power of the Third Reich, but only weakly reflect how strong this army was. The majority of the German fleet consisted of Type VII submarines; they had optimal seaworthiness, were of medium size, and most importantly, their construction was relatively inexpensive, which is important in

They could dive to depths of up to 320 meters with a displacement of up to 769 tons, the crew ranged from 42 to 52 employees. Despite the fact that the "sevens" were quite quality boats, over time, Germany’s enemy countries improved their weapons, so the Germans also had to work on modernizing their brainchild. As a result of this, the boat received several more modifications. The most popular of these was the VIIC model, which not only became the personification of Germany's military power during the attack on the Atlantic, but was also much more convenient than previous versions. The impressive dimensions made it possible to install more powerful diesel engines, and subsequent modifications were also distinguished by durable hulls, which made it possible to dive deeper.

German submarines of the Second World War were subject to constant, as they would say now, upgrades. One of the most innovative models is considered to be type XXI. This submarine had an air conditioning system and optional equipment, which was intended for a longer stay of the team under water. A total of 118 boats of this type were built.

Kriegsmarine performance results

German submarines of the Second World War, photos of which can often be found in books about military equipment, played a very important role in the offensive of the Third Reich. Their power cannot be underestimated, but it is worth considering that even with such patronage from the bloodiest Fuhrer in world history, the German fleet did not manage to bring its power closer to victory. Probably, it is not enough just to have good equipment and strong army, for the victory of Germany, the ingenuity and courage that the brave warriors possessed was not enough Soviet Union. Everyone knows that the Nazis were incredibly bloodthirsty and did not disdain much on their way, but neither an incredibly equipped army nor a lack of principles helped them. Armored vehicles, a huge amount of ammunition and latest developments did not bring the expected results to the Third Reich.

In this note, I bring to your attention the firepower that the boats had. I again reviewed the topic briefly, without providing details and nuances, since a detailed coverage of this issue would require writing at least a large review article. To begin with, to make it clear how the Germans highlighted the issue of the need to have a gun on board and its use, I will give an excerpt from the “Manual for Submarine Commanders”, where the following is said about this:

"Section V Artillery weapons of submarines (submarine as a carrier of artillery)
271. The presence of artillery on a submarine is fraught with contradictions from the very beginning. The submarine is unstable, has a low-lying gun and surveillance platform, and is not equipped to conduct artillery fire.
All artillery installations on a submarine are poorly suited for an artillery duel, and in this respect the submarine is inferior to any surface ship.
In an artillery battle, a submarine, as opposed to a surface ship, must immediately bring all its forces into action, because Even one hit in the strong hull of a submarine makes it impossible for it to dive and leads to death. Therefore, the possibility of an artillery battle between a torpedo submarine and military surface ships is excluded.
272. For submarines used for torpedo attacks, artillery is, as it were, a conditional and auxiliary weapon, because the use of artillery over water contradicts the entire essence of a submarine, i.e., a sudden and covert underwater attack.
Based on this, it can be said that on a torpedo submarine, artillery is used only in the fight against merchant ships, for example, to delay steamships or to destroy unarmed or weakly armed ships (§ 305)."(With)

Deck artillery
Caliber, Type, Shooting, Rate of fire, Elevation angle , Effect. range, Calculation

105 mm SK C/32U - U-boot L C/32U Single 15 35° 12,000 m 6 persons
105 mm SK C/32U - Marine Pivot L Single 15 30° 12,000 m 6 persons
88 mm SK C/30U - U-boot L C/30U Single 15-18 30° 11,000 m 6 people
88 mm SK C/35 - U-boot L C/35U Single 15-18 30° 11,000 m 6 people

Of all types of German submarines designed and built from 1930 to 1945, boats of the I, VII, IX and X series were armed with deck artillery with a caliber of over 88 mm. At the same time, only the VII series carried an 88-mm caliber gun; the rest of the indicated series of boats had a 105-mm gun. The cannon was located directly on the upper deck in front of the wheelhouse; the ammunition was stored partly there in the superstructure of the boat, partly inside the durable hull. Deck artillery was in the department of the second watch officer, who performed the duties of a senior gunner on the boat.
On the "sevens" the gun was installed in the area of ​​frame 54 on a pyramid specially reinforced in the superstructure, which was reinforced with longitudinal and transverse beams. In the area of ​​the gun, the upper deck was expanded to 3.8 meters in length, thereby forming a place for artillery crews. The standard ammunition for the boat was 205 shells - 28 of which were in special containers in the superstructure next to the gun, 20 shells in the wheelhouse, and the rest in the "weapons room" inside the durable hull in the second compartment from the bow.
The 105 mm gun was also mounted on a pyramid, which was welded to the pressure hull. Depending on the type of boat, the ammunition for the gun ranged from 200 to 230 shells, of which 30-32 were stored in the superstructure next to the gun, remaining in the “weapons room” located in the central control room and galley.
The deck gun was protected from water by a waterproof plug on the barrel side, and by a special plug sleeve on the breech side. A well-thought-out lubrication system for the gun made it possible to keep the gun in working condition at different temperatures.
I mentioned various cases of using deck guns And .
By the end of 1942, the command of the submarine forces came to the conclusion that the deck guns on boats that participated in the fighting in the Atlantic theater of operations should be dismantled. Thus, almost all “sevens” of type B and C lost such artillery. The guns were retained on Type IX submarine cruisers and Type VIID and X mines. But by the end of the war it was already difficult to find a German boat of any type that could carry deck artillery.

88 mm U29 and U95 guns. The waterproof plug is clearly visible.

Elevation angle of the 88 mm gun on the U46. It seems that it still exceeds those 30 and 35 degrees indicated in the technical characteristics. The gun had to be raised with its barrel up when loading torpedoes into the bow compartment. The photo below shows how this happened (U74 preparing to take a torpedo)



105 mm gun on the U26 "one"


105 mm guns U103 and U106


General view of the 105 mm gun with its mounts.

Gunners U53 and U35 prepare for practical shooting




Artillery crew U123 is preparing to open fire. A tanker is visible straight ahead. The target will be sunk by artillery fire. Completion of Operation Paukenschlag, February 1942.

But sometimes the tools were used for other purposes :-)
The pictures below show U107 and U156

Flak
Caliber, Type, Shooting, Rate of fire, Elevation angle , Effect. range, Calculation

37 mm SK C/30U - Ubts. LC 39 Singles 12 85° 2,500 m 3/4 persons
37 mm M42 U - LM 43U Automatic (8 rounds) 40 80° 2,500 m 3/4 persons
37 mm Zwilling M 42U - LM 42 Automatic (8 charges) 80 80° 2,500 m 3/4 persons
30 mm Flak M 44 - LM 44 Automatic ( exact specifications unknown. For Type XXI submarines)
20 mm MG C/30 - L 30 Automatic (20 rounds) 120 90° 1,500 m 2/4 persons
20 mm MG C/30 - L 30/37 Automatic (20 rounds) 120 90° 1,500 m 2/4 persons
20 mm Flak C/38 - L 30/37 Automatic (20 rounds) 220 90° 1,500 m 2/4 persons
20 mm Flak Zwilling C/38 II - M 43U Automatic (20 rounds) 440 90° 1,500 m 2/4 persons
20 mm Flak Vierling C38/43 - M 43U Automatic (20 rounds) 880 90° 1,500 m 2/4 persons
13.2 mm Breda 1931 Automatic (30 rounds) 400 85° 1,000 m 2/4 persons

Quad units are highlighted in red, dual units are highlighted in blue.

Of the fire weapons that the German submarines had, the most interesting were anti-aircraft weapons. If deck guns were obsolete by the end of the war, then the evolution of anti-aircraft fire among the Germans is clearly visible from the above table.

By the beginning of the war, German submarines had only a minimum of anti-aircraft guns, since it was believed that the threat from the air was clearly underestimated by the fleet command. As a result, the designers in the projects included no more than one anti-aircraft gun on the boat. But during the war the situation changed and reached the point that some submarines were literally covered with anti-aircraft guns, such as “anti-aircraft boats” (flakboats).
The main weapons of the boats were initially recognized as 20-mm 20-round anti-aircraft guns, which were installed on all types of boats with the exception of the II series. On the latter they were also provided, but were not included in the standard armament of the boats.

Initially, on the first “sevens” in up to war time The 20-mm anti-aircraft machine gun type MG C/30 - L 30 was supposed to be installed on the upper deck behind the wheelhouse. This is clearly seen in the example of U49. Behind the open hatch you can see the anti-aircraft gun carriage.

But already in wartime, the 20-mm anti-aircraft gun was moved to a site located behind the bridge. It is clearly visible in the photo. Alternately, anti-aircraft platforms U25, U38 (Karl Doenitz himself is on the bridge of the boat), U46

Depending on the type and purpose of the boat, "Dvoyki" received anti-aircraft weapons, both pre-war and during the war. The gun was located in front of the wheelhouse. Either a carriage was installed for it, or it was installed there on a waterproof container (in the form of a barrel) in which the machine gun was stored in a disassembled state).
U23 before the war


Waterproof "barrel", also known as a carriage on U9 (Black Sea)


Same thing on U145


And this is already in finished form. U24 (Black Sea)


Option for installing an anti-aircraft gun on a carriage. U23 (Black Sea)


The "Twos" operating in the Black Sea underwent some modification. In particular, the deckhouse was modified towards standard ocean-going boats by adding a platform for installing additional firepower. Due to this, the armament of boats of this type at the World Theater Championship increased to 2-3 guns per submarine. The photo shows U19 in full armor. Anti-aircraft gun in front of the wheelhouse, twin guns on the platform behind the bridge. By the way, machine guns installed on the sides of the cabin are visible.

The growing threat from the air forced the Germans to take measures to increase anti-aircraft weapons. The boat received an additional platform for placing fire weapons, on which two pairs of 20-mm machine guns and one (or two) 37-mm machine guns could be placed. This site was nicknamed " Winter Garden"(Wintergarten). Below are photos of boats that surrendered to the Allies U249, U621 and U234




As the pinnacle of the evolution of anti-aircraft weapons on German boats, the quad anti-aircraft gun Flak Vierling C38/43 - M 43U, which was received by the so-called “anti-aircraft boats”. As an example U441.

In the Mediterranean, the "Sevens" received additional weapons by installing Italian "Breda" machine guns in the form of twin-arms. As an example U81

A special word worth mentioning is such a “miracle” weapon as the 37 mm SK C/30U - Ubts anti-aircraft gun. LC 39, which fired single shots. This gun was installed on later types of submarine cruisers of type IX (B and C) and submarine tankers of type XIV. The "cash cows" carried two guns of this type on either side of the wheelhouse. "Nines" had one installed behind the wheelhouse. Below are examples of such a weapon on the U103.

Since I did not set myself the task of conducting a complete and detailed description anti-aircraft weapons, I omit such nuances as ammunition and other characteristics of this type of weapon. I once mentioned the training of anti-aircraft gunners on submarines. Examples of confrontation between submarines and aircraft can be found if you look at the topics in my tag.

Firearms and signal weapons
Caliber, Type, Shooting, Rate of fire, Elevation angle , Effect. range, Calculation

7.92 mm MG15 Automatic (50/75 rounds) 800-900 90° 750 m 1-2
7.92 mm MG34 Automatic (50/75 rounds) 600-700 90° 750 m 1-2
7.92 mm MG81Z Automatic (Tape) 2.200 90° 750 m 1-2
In addition, the submarine’s crew had at their disposal 5-10 Mauser 7.65 mm pistols, 5-10 rifles, MP-40 assault rifles, hand grenades and two flare guns.

MG81Z on U33

In general, I would like to note that German submarines had fire weapons that were quite modern at that time, which worked well during combat operations. In particular, the British noted after testing the artillery they captured U570 that, compared with the 3-inch gun of the 1917 model mounted on S-type boats, the 88-mm German gun was superior to the British one. The 20-mm anti-aircraft machine gun was recognized by them as an excellent and effective weapon, which, to their surprise, did not vibrate when fired and had a good magazine.

Photo resource used to illustrate the note http://www.subsim.com

As usual, Vladimir Nagirnyak pored over the analysis.