- Unterseeboot 511
Unterseeboot 511 or U-511 was a German
World War II Type IXC submarine commissioned on8 December 1941 . U-511 served with4. Unterseebootflottille (U-Boat Flotilla) for training and later with10. Unterseebootflottille from1 August 1942 to1 September 1943 .In the summer of 1942 U-511 was used for testing the possibility of launching "Wurfkörper 42 Spreng" artillery rockets from U-Boats. A rack of six rockets were mounted to U-511’s deck, and were successfully launched on the surface and submerged up to 12-metres. However, as the rockets were not particularly accurate, and the racks on the deck had a negative effect on the U-Boat’s underwater handling and performance, the project was abandoned.
U-511 completed four patrols, sunk five ships totalling 41,373 Gross Registered Tonnage or GRT, and damaged one ship totalling 8,773 GRT. On U-511’s last patrol she was used to transport personnel from
Lorient ,France toPenang , Malaya, including the Germanambassador toTokyo , theJapan eseNaval Attaché inBerlin , and German scientists and engineers. U-511 was sold toJapan on16 September 1943 and became Japanese submarine RO-500. She surrendered atMaizuru in August 1945 and was scuttled inMaizuru Bay on30 April 1946 by U.S. Navy.Commanders
*Kptlt. Friedrich Steinhoff (December 1941 to December 1942)
*Kptlt. Fritz Schneewind (December 1942 to November 1943)References
*Bishop, C. "Kriegsmarine U-Boats, 1939-45". Amber Books, 2006.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.