German submarine U-889

.

U-889 was laid down on the 13th of September, 1943 at AG Weser shipyard in Bremen and was commissioned on August 4, 1944, with Kapitänleutnant Friedrich Braeucker as commander. Until 14 March, 1945 she was attached to 4. Flottille while training. She was then assigned to 33. Flottille, a combat unit based at Flensburg. Her first, and only, active patrol started on 15 Mar, 1945

After the German surrender on May 8 1945, the German High Command ordered all U-boats to surrender. On the afternoon of May 10 U-889 was spotted south of Newfoundland by a RCAF airplane, U-889 was steaming at 10 knots and flying a black flag of surrender. The RCAF plane radioed to nearby Western Escort Force W-6 who intercepted the submarine an hour later. U-889 was ordered to head to Bay Bulls, Newfoundland. 24 hours later U-889 was turned over to the frigates HMCS Buckingham and HMCS Inch Arran who escorted U-889 in to Shelburne Harbour where it was boarded and Braeucker, her Commanding Officer, made a formal surrender.

U-889 was one of 10 U-boats allocated to the United States as part of the Tripartite Naval Commission sitting in Berlin in November 1945.

U-889 was sailed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire on January 11 1946 and experiments were conducted on the special hydrophone system with which U-889 was equipped. U-889 was scuttled at the end of 1947.

References

* [http://www.uboat.net/boats/u889.htm uboat.net]
* "Brief History of HMCS ROCKCLIFFE"

ee also

* List of U-boats"