History | |
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Nazi Germany | |
Name: | U-852 |
Ordered: | 20 January 1941 |
Builder: | DeSchiMAG AG Weser, Bremen |
Yard number: | 1058 |
Laid down: | 15 April 1942 |
Launched: | 28 January 1943 |
Commissioned: | 15 June 1943 |
Fate: | Scuttled, 3 May 1944 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Type IXD2 submarine |
Displacement: |
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Beam: |
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Height: | 10.20 m (33 ft 6 in) |
Draught: | 5.40 m (17 ft 9 in) |
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Propulsion: |
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Speed: |
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Range: |
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Test depth: | 230 m (750 ft) |
Complement: | 55 to 63 |
Armament: |
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Service record | |
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Commanders: |
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Operations: | 1st patrol: 18 January – 3 May 1944 |
Victories: | 2 commercial ships sunk (9,972 GRT) |
German submarine U-852 was a Type IXD2 U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine, which was a special long-range version of the Type IX, had four bow and two stern torpedo tubes and a Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 Bachstelze cable-towed lookout gyroglider. It was laid down in Bremen and completed in June 1943. She was commanded by Kapitänleutnant Heinz-Wilhelm Eck, who led her through her sea trials and onto her first war patrol on 18 January 1944.
Eck and his officers were the only Kriegsmarine submariners to be tried for war crimes at the end of World War II in Europe. They were convicted at a British military tribunal in Hamburg, (held concurrently during the Nuremberg Trials) for killing the survivors of the torpedoed Greek steamer SS Peleus in 1944.
German Type IXD2 submarines were considerably larger than the original Type IXs. U-852 had a displacement of 1,610 tonnes (1,580 long tons) when at the surface and 1,799 tonnes (1,771 long tons) while submerged. The U-boat had a total length of 87.58 m (287 ft 4 in), a pressure hull length of 68.50 m (224 ft 9 in), a beam of 7.50 m (24 ft 7 in), a height of 10.20 m (33 ft 6 in), and a draught of 5.35 m (17 ft 7 in). The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke, nine-cylinder diesel engines plus two MWM RS34.5S six-cylinder four-stroke diesel engines for cruising, producing a total of 9,000 metric horsepower (6,620 kW; 8,880 shp) for use while surfaced, and two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of 1,000 shaft horsepower (1,010 PS; 750 kW) for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two 1.85 m (6 ft) propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to 200 metres (660 ft).