U-117 (1941)

She made 5 military campaigns, damaged 1 ship (7,177 gross ) and damaged without restoring another 1 ship (7,092 gross ). Sunk on August 7, 1943 at a point with coordinates during the transfer of supplies to the U-66 with FIDO depth charges and torpedoes from the TBF Avenger and F4F Wildcat aircraft, USS Card wing (CVE-11) . The whole team of 62 people died.

First trip

September 19, 1942 the submarine left Kiel on its first trip.

September 27 reached the coast of Iceland and, from 06:06 to 23:30, set 66 min SMA in minefields near the cities of Seydisfjörюрur and Reydarfjörрur in AE 5299, after which she headed back.

On October 5, U-117 returned safely to Kiel . ^[2]

Refueling and replenishing supplies, the boat made a small transition to Königsberg , arriving there on October 11 .

Second Campaign

On October 12, the submarine left the port of Konigsberg , setting off on its second voyage. Her goal again was to set mines off the coast of Iceland .

On October 27 , reaching its destination, from 08:45 to 01:23 on October 28, it set 66 min SMA in the Isa Fjord in AE 1770 square.

On the way back, on November 8 , I met U-454 to refuel the latter. During this procedure, lieutenant zursee in the Helmut Schwenzel reserve ( German: Leutnant zur See der Reserve Helmut Schwenzel ) was washed overboard.

On November 14, the boat met another submarine. This time it was U-84 with which she took on board two medical cases.

On November 22, U-117 completed this campaign, safely arriving in Lorient . ^[3]

Third Campaign

December 23, the submarine left Lorient on the third campaign. For 47 days spent at sea, absolutely nothing remarkable happened, and as a result of February 7, 1943, the boat returned to Lorient . ^[four]

A month later, U-117 made the transition to Brest , arriving there on March 8 .

Fourth Campaign

The next U-117 campaign began on March 31, 1943 , leaving Brest in the direction of Morocco .

On April 10, the boat reached its destination and, from 06:17 to 19:31, set 66 min SMA in the ports of Fedal and Casablanca , and then turned back.

On April 11, at 15:40, the cargo ship Matt W. Ransom (under the command of John Metsall ) while driving as part of the UGS-6A convoy at station # 32, was blown up near Casablanca , immediately on two mines installed the day before the mine detonated field in the area of ​​the first hold. The explosion threw the cargo into the air for 30 meters and led to flooding of holds # 1 and # 3 for an hour. The keel broke, the steam lines were broken, and the equipment of the vessel was damaged. A crew of 26 sailors , 28 armed guards (one 5-inch was installed on the ship howl, one 3-inch gun and eight 20mm guns) and two passengers left the ship in six boats after 25 minutes, misinterpreting the captain’s command to take their emergency seats. One of the boats turned over due to descent errors. People were taken aboard the American USS PC-481 and USS PC-471 submarine hunters , and then landed in Casablanca, the ship's commander and six crew members subsequently returned to the ship, and six hours later brought him to Casablanca , where it was undergoing temporary repairs until September 20 . After that, the ship went to Gibraltar for further repairs, arriving there the next day. On November 7, this Liberty-type vessel entered the GUS-20 convoy in the direction of New York , safely arriving there on November 25

On April 25, the Empire Morn freighter was severely damaged in the same minefield. It was towed to Gibraltar , but no repairs were made, and it was used as a warehouse. The youngest of those who died in the UK military service, cook Raymond Steed , who died on Empire Morn , was 14 years old and 207 days old.

May 13, U-117 safely arrived in Bordeaux . ^[5]

Fifth Campaign

July 22, the submarine left Bordeaux on its last trip.

Suffered from an attack by an aircraft carrier on August 3, U-66 requested medical attention. On August 6, Dr. U-117 , Lieutenant Paul Frereks ( German Oblt Paul Frerks ), who was also a deputy commander, as well as supplies and provisions, were transferred to her. Thanks to this doctor, Schenk ( German: Dr Schenk ) managed to save the lives of two wounded sailors.

The next day, at 11:54, during the refueling of the U-66 with the U-117 , both boats were taken aback by the TBF Avenger aircraft wing USS Card (CVE-11) . Two depth charges with TBF Avenger ( Lieutenant A.H. Sollinger ( Eng. Lt (jg) AH Sallenger )) exploded between boats, damaging the U-117 . U-66 tried to help, but then was forced to crash abruptly, moving away from the FIDO torpedo attack from the same TBF Avenger . About 20 minutes later, two more TBF Avenger and two F4F Wildcat arrived from the aircraft carrier, forcing the U-117 to also plunge, and then dropped depth charges . At about 12:45, one of the two FIDO torpedoes hit the boat, causing it to die along with the entire crew. ^[6]

• October 25, 1941 - August 7, 1943 - corvetten capitan (from August 7, 1943 frigatten capitan ) Hans-Werner Neumann ( German Korvettenkapitän Hans-Werner Neumann )

• October 25, 1941 - January 31, 1942 - 2nd Flotilla (training)
• February 1, 1942 - September 30, 1942 - 1st Flotilla (training)
• October 1, 1942 - October 14, 1942 - 1st Flotilla (combat service)
• October 15, 1942 - November 30, 1942 - 11th Flotilla (combat service)
• December 1, 1942 - August 7, 1943 - 12th Flotilla (combat service)

• List of submarines of the Third Reich

• U-117 on Uboat.net