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Type IX submarine
German type of large ocean-going submarines From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Type IX U-boat a class of large attack U-boats built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine from 1936 to 1945. Derived from the preceding Type IA class[a], it was designed as a large ocean-going submarine for sustained operations far from the home support facilities. It appeared in various sub-types: the first four subtypes IXA, IXB and IXC and IXC/40 differed only by an ever widened and lengthened outer hull to increase fuel storage and range. The Type IXD had yet again a larger outer hull, but also a lengthened pressure hull to install different engines. The Type IXD came in three versions: the type IXD1 used its larger engine room to install more diesel power for higher top speed. The nearly identical IXD2 and IXD/42 used the extra engine space for economical cruising engines which extended their range to three times the range of the original type IXA design.
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Design
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The Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935 allowed Germany to build a U-Boat fleet of 22,050 t (21,700 long tons). Parts for two Type I, twenty-four Type II and ten Type VII U-boats had already been produced before the conclusion of the agreement and these thirty-six U-boats comprising 12,500 t (12,300 long tons) were built within the year. The German Navy wanted to spend the remaining 9,950 t (9,790 long tons) on a large 750 t (740 long tons) U-boat, capable of operating in the Mediterranean Sea. In order to speed up construction, the existing Type I design was modified to fulfill the extra requirements. To improve speed, a more powerful diesel engine was installed. To increase torpedo capacity, the upper deck was widened, providing space to store ten spare torpedoes below deck in water-tight containers.[2]
Armament
Type IXs had six torpedo tubes; four at the bow and two at the stern. They carried six torpedoes in the tubes, six reloads internally and ten spare torpedoes externally in pressure-tight containers. These boats could also be fitted for mine operations; as mine-layers they could carry 44 TMA or 60 TMB mines.[3]
Type IXs had a standard gun armament consisting of one 10.5 cm (4.1 in) deck gun mounted before the conning tower, one 3.7 cm SK C/30 mounted after the conning tower and one 2 cm (0.79 in) C/30 mounted on a platform aft of the conning tower. As from 1942, the deck gun was removed from most U-boats as it had little use anymore, except for U-boats operating in the Indian Ocean. At the same time the anti-airraft defense was reinforced by substituting the lone 2 cm gun by two twin 2 cm guns on the higher platform behind the conning tower, whilst the 3.7 cm gun was moved to a lower platform behind the conning tower. In order to compensate for the extra volume caused by the installation of extra anti-aircraft guns, some of the U-boats had a part of their forward deck removed.[4]
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Subclasses
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Type IXA
The first four Type IX U-boats were ordered on 29 July 1936 from DeSchiMAG AG Weser in Bremen,[5] and on 21 November a further four were ordered from the same yard.[6] The eight U-boats were commissioned in 1938-39. Six were lost in action and two were scuttled at the end of the war.[7]
Type IXB
On 17 July 1937 the British amended the Anglo-German Naval Agreement for an expansion of their submarine fleet. As a consequence Germany was also allowed more tonnage for their U-boats and part of this tonnage was used to order two Type IXB on 21 July. The Type IXB was nearly identical to the Type IXA, except for a wider outer hull,[6] which increased fuel storage to 165 t (162 long tons),[4] and for the deck gun being mounted closer to the conning tower.[4]
In 1938, the Germans invoked a clausule of the Anglo-German Naval- Agreement which allowed them to build submarines in parity with the British. A further eight Type IXB were ordered on 24 May 1938 and a ninth was ordered on 9 August.[8] A total of fourteen Type IXB was ordered from DeSchiMAG AG Weser in Bremen. These U-boats were commissioned in 1939-40. Thirteen were sunk in the course of the war, the remaining one was decommissioned and sabotaged when Lorient Submarine Base was evacuated in 1944.[9][10]
Type IXC
The Type IXC had again a wider outer hull, with storage for an additional 43 tonnes of fuel, increasing the boat's range. This series omitted the control room periscope leaving the boats with two tower scopes.[11] The 35 boats of U-162 through U-170 and U-505 through U-550 were not fitted for mine operations.[12]
The first ten Type IXC were ordered on 7 August 1939.[13] Three shipyards, DeSchiMAG AG Weser and Seebeckwerft of Bremen, and Deutsche Werft of Hamburg built 54 Type IXC submarines, which were commissioned in 1941-42. 49 Type IXC U-boats were lost. Two were decommissioned in French ports and could not be evacuated to Germany when the Allies overran France in 1944.[14] One was given to Japan as a gift from Hitler, one surrendered at the end of the war, and U-505 was captured at sea and survives at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.[15][14]
Type IXC/40
Type IXC/40 was an improved Type IXC with slightly increased range.[16] The 87 Type IXC/40 U-boats built at DeSchiMAG AG Weser and Seebeckwerft of Bremen, and Deutsche Werft of Hamburg were commissioned in 1942-44.[17] After the decision of Karl Dönitz on 13 August 1943 to focus on the construction of the new Elektroboote, on 30 September 1943, the outstanding order for 71 Type IXC/40 was cancelled.[18] 64 Type IXC/40 were lost in action, four were decommissioned before the end of the war, two were scuttled, one was transferred to the Japanese Navy and sixteen surrendered.[17] The Type IXC/40 U-534 was sunk on 5 May 1945, but raised and is on display at Woodside Ferry Terminal, Birkenhead.[19][20]
Type IXD1
After the cancelling of the Type XI U-cruisers at the beginning of the war which were intended for patrols against independently sailing vessels in remote areas, Dönitz sought a way to replace these U-cruisers with an existing design that could be modified without much impact on existing U-boat production. The solution was to adapt the Type IXC into two designs : a high-speed Type IXD1 and a long-range Type IXD2. On 28 May 1940 the first IXD U-boats were ordered.[21] Only two Type IXD1 U-boats were built,[22] U-180 was commissioned on 10 December 1941 and U-195 on 8 April 1942.[23]
The Type IXD1 was significantly longer and heavier than the IXC/40. It had three pairs of 20-Cylinder, four-stroke Daimler Benz MB501 diesels, which were also used for E-boats, with a total of 9,000 bhp (6,700 kW).[22] This installation was not successful: it produced too much exhaust smoke, and the heat in the engine room was unbearable because of defective cooling.[24][25] Since they were not fit for war patrols, it was decided in the autumn of 1943 to convert the two Type IXD1 U-boats into transport U-boats. They had their torpedo tubes removed and the six diesel engines were replaced with two Type VIIC 3,200 bhp (2,400 kW) Germaniawerft F46 diesel engines.[26] As a consequence top speed dropped to 15.8 kn (29.3 km/h; 18.2 mph).[27] In their new role they could transport 252 tonnes of cargo.[26]
Type IXD2 and IXD/42
Apart from the two standard MAN M9V40/46 diesel engine totalling 4,400 hp (3,300 kW; 4,500 PS), the Type IXD2 had two extra six-cylinder, four-stroke MWM RS34S diesel generators totalling 1,000 hp (750 kW; 1,000 PS) for economical cruising.[28]The IXD2 had a range of 23,700 nautical miles (43,900 km; 27,300 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)[29] and 31,500 nautical miles (58,300 km; 36,200 mi) 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph). The IXD/42 was almost identical.[30] Most of the Type IXD2 were sent to patrols in the Indian Ocean as part of the Monsun Gruppe and were equipped with a Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 rotor kite which was stored in two watertight vertical canisters behind the conning tower.[31]
The first two Type IXD2 U-boats were ordered on 15 August 1940.[16] DeSchiMAG AG Weser of Bremen built 28 Type IXD2 U-boats, which were commissioned in 1942-44.[28] Following the decision by Dönitz to stop building conventional U-boats, the orders for 22 Type IXD/42 U-boats was cancelled. Only two that were already under construction by DeSchiMAG AG Weser of Bremen, were continued. Only U-883 was launched on 28 April 1944 and commissioned 27 March 1945, and surrendered at the end of the war. The other Type IXD/42 U-884 was launched on 17 May 1944 but was badly damaged on 30 March 1945 by US bombs while still in the dockyard and never commissioned.[18][30]
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Operational history
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On 1 September 1939 only nine Type IXA and one Type IXB were in service. Due to the lack of available U-boats, most of the Type IX were used for patrols in British waters and only rarely operations were mounted to the more distant waters of West-Africa. Type IX U-boats were first put to good use when the united States entered the war in December 1941. During the Second Happy Time Type IXs mounted very successful operations to the East Coast of the United States and the Caribbean Sea. In October 1942 these U-boats started operations as far south as Cape Horn and ventured into the Indian Ocean.[32] Eventually in 1943 a German base was established in Penang from where Type IXC and type IXD2 U-boats could operate.[33] Operating from that base, the Type IXD2 U-862 executed a unique patrol around Australia, reaching Tasmania and New Zealand, and was the only U-boat to sink a ship in the Pacific Ocean.[34]
Type IX U-boats sank two escort carriers and two cruisers,[35] but their most efforts were directed against merchant shipping: of the twenty most successful U-boats, fourteen were Type IXs.[36] The most successful patrol of the war was executed by Type IXB U-107, sinking fourteen ships for 86,699 GRT.[37]
In foreign service
- U-123 had been scuttled in Lorient but was raised by the French after the war, repaired and recommissioned as Blaison.[9]
- U-510 was returning from the Far East to Saint-Nazaire submarine base when the war ended and was captured there by the French.[38] The U-boat was commissioned into the French Navy as Bouan.[39]
- U-511 was a gift from Hitler to Japan, she arrived on 16 September 1943 in Japan and was renamed Ro-500.[40]
- U-1224 was another gift from Hitler to Japan. A Japanese crew was brought to Germany to commission her on 14 February 1944.[41] She sailed for Japan on 30 March and was lost on her way.[42]
- U-181, U-862 and U-195 were in the Far East when Germany surrendered in May 1945, were captured by the Japanese and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as I-501, I-502 and I-506 respectively.[43]
- U-1231 surrendered at the end of the war and was given as a war prize to the Soviet Union. She was commissioned in the Soviet Navy as N.26.[44]
- U-190 and U-889 were on patrol in the North Atlantic when Germany surrendered. They put into a Canadian port and both were commissioned in the Royal Canadian Navy, but U-889 was later transferred to the United States Navy.[45][46]
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Specifications
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Notes
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Further reading
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