German submarine U-26 (1936)
- German submarine U-26 (1936)
"Unterseeboot 26" (also known as "U-26") was one of the two Type IA ocean going U-boats produced by the German Kriegsmarine. Constructed by AG Weser in Bremen, "U-26" was commissioned on May 6, 1936. It experienced a short, but successful combat career, sinking eleven enemy ships.
Until 1940, "U-26" was primarily used as training vessel and for propaganda purposes by the German government. During its trials it was found that the Type IA submarine was difficult to handle due to its 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 eight war cruises, sinking eleven enemy ships and badly damaging two. On its first war cruise laying mines, "U-26" sunk three merchant ships and damaged one British warship. On its second war cruise it became the first U-boat during World War II to enter the Mediterranean Sea. "U-26" participated in three other successful war patrols, sinking four additional merchant ships.
Fate
On its eighth war cruise the boat sunk three merchant ships and damaged another ship the following day. The attack on this ship led to severe depth-charging by the British warship, HMS Gladiolus. Unable to dive, "U-26" was forced to surface where it was bombed by a Sunderland flying boat. On July 1, 1940 the crew scuttled the submarine off the western coast of Ireland in position coord|48|03|N|11|30|W|scale:10000000. All members of the crew were able to escape and were rescued by the Allied warship, HMS "Rochester" and taken prisoner.
See also
* List of U-boats
* List of shipwrecks in 1940
References
*
* [http://www.ubootwaffe.net/ops/boat.cgi?boat=26 ubootwaffe.net webpage about "U-26"]
* [http://www.u-boot-archiv.de/dieboote/u0026.html u-boot-archiv.de webpage for "U-26"]
* Gordon Williamson. "Wolf Pack: The Story of the U-Boat in World War II", Osprey Publishing Limited, 2005.
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