German submarine U-254

U-Boat Infobox
type=VIIC
fieldpost number=
yard number=
order date=
keel=December 14, 1940
launch=September 20, 1941
commission=November 8, 1941
yard=Bremer Vulkan, Vegesack
U-Boat Patrol
startdate=Start Date
enddate=End Date
assigned unit=Assigned Unit
U-Boat Patrol
startdate=No Patrols
enddate=
assigned unit=8th FlotillaU-Boat Patrol
startdate=July 14,1942
enddate=August 19, 1942
assigned unit=9th FlotillaU-Boat Patrol
startdate=September 21,1942
enddate=October 22, 1942
assigned unit=9th FlotillaU-Boat Patrol
startdate=November 21,1942
enddate=December 8, 1942
assigned unit=9th FlotillaU_Boat Command
startdate=October, 1941
enddate=December, 1942
name=Kptlt. Hans Gilardone
U_Boat Sink
type=Type of Ship Sunk
total=Number of Ships Sunk
tonnage=Gross Registered Tonnage
U_Boat Sink
type=Commercial Vessels
total=3
tonnage=18,967
U_Boat Sink
type=Military Vessels
total=None
tonnage=0

Unterseeboot 254 (usually abbreviated to U-254) was a German Type VIIC U-boat of the Kriegsmarine, built for service in the Second World War and the Second Battle of the Atlantic. She was a mildly successful boat on her three war patrols, but fell victim to a freak accident during an attack on an allied convoy in the mid-Atlantic Ocean on her third patrol and was lost.

Built in 1941 at Vegesack, "U-254" was commanded for all her brief career by Kptlt. Hans Gilardino, except for a brief period of illness, when Kptlt. Odo Loewe took command for a month between her first and second patrols. She conducted her warm-up and training period in the Baltic Sea in the first half of 1942, before she was despatched to Kiel from where she participated in her first war operations.

War Patrols

The first war patrol of "U-254" was a simple one, entailing a passage between Kiel and her new home base in Brest in France. During this month-long journey, "U-254" was ordered to spend sometime cruising off Reykjavík in iceland, hoping to catch some stragglers from northern convoys or supply ships running to the allied forces stationed on the island. She had one success, sinking a small British freighter on the 2 August before she headed for her new home. The second patrol was even more eventful, when on the 3 October, after twelve days of cruising, she spotted the 11,000 ton American tanker SS "Robert H Colley" in the central North Atlantic and sank her with one torpedo, killing 28. [ [http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/2233.html uboat.net - Allied Ships hit by U-boats - Robert H. Colley (Steam tanker) ] ] This was followed six days later by another success in a similar area, when the 6,000 ton British ship SS "Pennington Court" was sunk by three torpedoes with all 40 sailors on board. [ [http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/2254.html uboat.net - Allied Ships hit by U-boats - Pennington Court (Steam merchant) ] ]

The promising career of "U-254" was almost cut short on the same cruise, when the Norwegian naval ship HNoMS Eglantine damaged her with depth charges during an attack on a convoy in the same area as her previous victories. Returning for repairs, "U-254" departed again in later November 1942, and returned to her old operating grounds of the North Atlantic routes. In December, the weather in the region is atrocious and visibility practically nil, so as "U-254" manoeuvered to attack Convoy HX-217, which she had been directed to on the 8 December, it is perhaps unsurprising that she failed to see "U-221" come steaming out of the gloom and straight into her broadside. The two submarines had become lost in the dark and collided with one another in a freak accident, which claimed 41 of "U-254"'s crew, who were spilled into the ocean as the boat heeled over and sank. Sailors from the "U-221" dived into the trurbulent sea tied to ropes, and succeeded in rescuing four bedraggled survivors of the sinking. "U-221" was only slightly damaged in the collision, and continued the remainder of her patrol, surviving until September the following year.

Raiding career

References

* Sharpe, Peter, "U-Boat Fact File", Midland Publishing, Great Britain: 1998. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.
* [http://www.uboat.net/boats/u254.htm U-boat.net webpage for "U-254"]

See Also: List of U-boats