U-3 (1935)

She made five military campaigns, in which she sank two ships, with a total tonnage of 2,348 gross tonnage. The rest of the time it was used as a training submarine. July 1, 1944 transferred to 21 training flotilla . Withdrawn from the fleet on August 1, 1944 in Gotenhafen . Cut to metal in 1945 .

Emblem

U-3 is known as a submarine that had three emblems. One of them was an oak leaf with an anchor and a knife or dagger. This emblem was also worn by U-29 , U-120 , U-747 , U-1274 and U-1308 . ^[2]

First and second campaigns

Both campaigns were unremarkable. Both began and ended in Wilhelmshaven , with the task of patrolling the coastal waters.

• First: September 4, 1939 to September 8, 1939 in the coast of Germany. ^[3]
• Second: September 13, 1939 to September 24, 1939 off the coast of eastern England. ^[four]

Third Campaign

September 27, 1939 U-3 left Wilhelmshaven in the direction of the southern coast of Norway with the order to control the flow of smuggling carried by neutral vessels.

At 10:17 a.m. on September 30, 1939, U-3 , approximately 35 nautical miles (65 km) northwest of Hanstholm , surfaced near the neutral ( Danish ) ship Vendia under the command of P. Lund, who followed without an escort, and ordered the flag to stop. At first, the officers on duty with Vendia had serious difficulties with recognizing the U-boat , since it walked in the solar path in a parallel course behind the stern, and could not read the flag signal. However, after several warning shots from the machine gun, at 10:40 the ship stopped the cars. Further developments are still the subject of controversy. According to Shepke, the ship slowly stopped, and nothing else happened, when suddenly at 11:24 Vendia again set in motion, unambiguously unfolding for the ram U-3 . Shepke hurriedly fired a poorly aimed torpedo that hit the back of the ship and tore off the stern, which instantly sank. The part that remained afloat sank after the explosion at 12:05. Six survivors, including the captain, were taken aboard by the Germans after 45 minutes and were soon landed on the Danish cargo ship Svava to return to their homeland.

The Danish Maritime Court later investigated the claim of the German naval officials that the Danish ship was trying to ram the U-boat during an inspection that was consistent with naval warfare . The captain and the remaining survivors denied the intention to ram the U-boat due to the lack of reasons to conduct any aggressive actions against it. The captain claimed that he ordered the helmsman to keep Vendia on course until she stopped, however, due to the excitement and wind, her nose began to drift southward until the ship was turned in a direction approximately between southwest and west southwest, while the nose of the submarine was directed at its left shell from a distance of about 150 m. Then the captain asked in German if he should lower the boat, but did not receive an answer until the torpedo suddenly hit. The helmsman was not given any commands and the machine telegraph was not used. In addition, the captain signed a paper with the name and tonnage of his ship, but this paper was later presented as evidence with German text stating that he was trying to ram the U-boat . The Danish Foreign Ministry sent an official note of protest to the German consulate in 1939 ^[5] .

At 9:08 p.m. September 30, 1939 , approximately 30 nautical miles (56 km) northwest of Hanstholm , U-3 stopped another neutral vessel - the Swedish cargo ship Gun . The captain switched to a submarine with papers that confirmed that the ship was transporting contraband. While the Germans were interrogating the captain, the ship suddenly set in motion and turned on a U-boat. Already taught an unpleasant experience with Vendia , the U-3 evaded and sent a boarding crew of 4 to the ship, which landed at approximately 10 p.m. Soon, the U-3 was forced to sink, noticing the approach of the ship, which turned out to be the British submarine HMS Thistle (N24) . At 22:56 U-3 fired at the enemy torpedo G7a , which passed by. Not noticing this attack, the submarine plunged and passed under the stern of a standing steamer. The British did not know that there was a boarding crew on board and was preparing him for flooding. An hour later, the submarine surfaced and left the area, meeting a lifeboat with the Swedish crew. The British ordered the team to return to the ship, as it remained afloat. Meanwhile, the Kingstones were opened on the Gun and subversive charges were laid . The boarding crew left the ship in another lifeboat, which was soon picked up by the Danish cargo ship Dagmar along with the Swedish sailors. At 05:30 U-3 stopped this steamboat and took the members of its crew, and then returned to the drifting Gun and sunk it with a torpedo at 9:10 ^[6] .

On October 3, 1939, U-3 came to Kiel , completing its only productive campaign. ^[7]

Fourth and Fifth Campaigns

From March 16 to March 29, 1940, U-3 again participated in the military campaign, leaving Kiel and returning to Wilhelmshaven upon completion. It was intended to hunt enemy submarines, but was able to detect only its own U-boat. ^[8]

On April 12, 1940, U-3 left Wilhelmshaven to support the invasion forces in Operation Weserubung (invasion of Norway). Together with U-2 , U-5 and U-6 made up the Eighth Group . After the exit, the submarine briefly returned to the port for repair of the periscope and on April 13, 1940 again set sail.

April 16, 1940 British submarine HMS Porpoise (N14) fired 6 torpedoes along the U-3 10 miles southeast of Egersund . Torpedoes didn’t hit the target, although the British heard an explosion: it exploded at the end of the run, the German G7a torpedo fired at them, also passing by. For a long time it was believed that in the course of this attack, HMS Porpoise (N14 was sunk by U-1 .

On April 16, 1940, the U-boat successfully returned to Wilhelmshaven . ^[9]

Fate

U-3 was expelled from the fleet on August 1, 1944 in Gotenhafen . May 19, 1945 was captured by Great Britain and in the same year it was cut into metal.

• August 6, 1935 - September 29, 1937 - Oberleutnant zur See Hans Meckel ( German: Oberleutnant zur See Hans Meckel )
• September 30, 1937 - July 1938 - Lieutenant zur See Ernst-Gunter Heinicke ( German Oberleutnant zur See Ernst-Günter Heinicke )
• October 29, 1938 - January 2, 1940 - Lieutenant tsur zee See Joachim Schepke ( German Oberleutnant zur See Joachim Schepke ) ( Knight of the Knight's Iron Cross )
• January 3, 1940 - July 28, 1940 - Captain-Lieutenant Gerd Schreiber ( German Kapitänleutnant Gerd Schreiber )
• July 29, 1940 - November 10, 1940 - captain-lieutenant Helmut Franzke ( German: Kapitänleutnant Helmut Franzke )
• November 11, 1940 - July 2, 1941 - Captain-Lieutenant Otto von Bülow ( German Kapitänleutnant Otto von Bülow ) ( Knight of the Knight's Iron Cross )
• July 3, 1941 - March 2, 1942 - Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Hartwig Trojer ( German Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Hartwig Trojer ) ( Cavalier of the Knight's Iron Cross )
• March 3, 1942 - September 30, 1942 - Lieutenant Zur See Joachim Zander ( German Oberleutnant zur See Joachim Zander )
• October 1, 1942 - May 18, 1943 - Lieutenant zur See (since April 1, 1943 Ober-Lieutenant zur See) Herbert Zolle ( German Oberleutnant zur See Herbert Zoller )
• May 19, 1943 - June 9, 1944 - Lieutenant zur See (since February 1, 1944, Lieutenant Zur See) Ernst Hartmann ( German Oberleutnant zur See Ernst Hartmann )
• June 10, 1944 - July 16, 1944 - Lieutenant zur See See Hermann Neumeister ( German: Leutnant zur See Hermann Neumeister )

• August 1, 1935 - August 31, 1939 - Unterseebootsschulflottille (training)
• September 1, 1939 - September 30, 1940 - Unterseebootsschulflottille (military service)
• October 1, 1940 - February 1, 1940 - Unterseebootsschulflottille (training)
• March 1, 1940 - April 1, 1940 - Unterseebootsschulflottille (military service)
• May 1, 1940 - June 30, 1940 - Unterseebootsschulflottille (training)
• July 1, 1940 - July 31, 1944 - 21st Flotilla (training)

• List of submarines of the Third Reich

• U-3 at Uboat.net