11th Kriegsmarine Submarine Flotilla

The eleventh Kriegsmarine submarine flotilla was formed in May 1942 with a base in the Norwegian city of Bergen . Her commander was frigate-captain Hans Kochausch. The original purpose of deploying submarines in Norway was to protect against the possible landing of the Allies, which would lead to the cessation of iron ore supplies to Germany from Scandinavia. Later, boats of the 11th flotilla went on campaigns from Norwegian ports to intercept convoys from Great Britain and the USA to the USSR with Lend-Lease supplies . The results achieved were much lower than those of submarines in the Atlantic, but this was partially offset by the fact that all transport ships were carrying military cargo for the Soviet army, which added value to each ship. The submarines also performed meteorological observations, which are extremely important for aviation operations, checked the state of the ice border, and placed meteorological stations on islands in the northern seas. Some boats made trips to the Siberian shores in order to attack ships following the northern sea route.

The 11th flotilla included a number of boats, relocated from the disbanded fleets, stationed in France. A group of submarines of the 11th flotilla participated in the attack on the convoy PQ-17 , while the U-255 sank four of the eight vessels recorded in that operation at the expense of the submariners. At the end of the war, the flotilla began to receive the latest “electric boats” of types XXI and XXIII , so the 11th flotilla became the only kriegsmarin to manage to get into service the boats of type XXI.

May 3, 1945 U-2511 went on alert the first among boats of the XXI type, heading to the Caribbean Sea . May 4, all submarines were given the order of Grand Admiral Dönitz on the cessation of hostilities. A few hours after receiving the order, U-2511 found a group of British warships, undetected approached the heavy cruiser Norfolk at a distance of 500 meters and made a training attack, unnoticed. After a conditional attack, the boat withdrew in a submerged position at a speed of 16 knots and returned to Bergen on May 5 .

In May 1945, after the surrender of Germany, the flotilla was disbanded and most of the remaining boats were subsequently sunk by the British fleet as part of the Deadlight operation .

In different years, 189 submarines passed through the 11th flotilla, including:

• 11 flotilla at uboat.net

• Bishop K. Submarines Kriegsmarine. 1939-1945. Reference Guide for Flotillas = Kriegsmarine U-boats 1939-1945. - M .: Eksmo , 2007 .-- 192 p. - (Military equipment of the III Reich). - ISBN 978-5-699-22106-6 .