Unterseeboot 303
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| U-303 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | VIIC
|
||
| Launch Date | May 16, 1942 | ||
| Commission Date | July 7, 1942 | ||
| Construction yard | Flenderwerft, Lübeck | ||
| Patrols | |||
| Start Date | End Date | Assigned Unit | |
| December 31, 1942 | March 8, 1943 | 8th Flotilla | |
| April 1, 1943 | April 15, 1943 | 7th Flotilla | |
| May 21, 1943 | May 21, 1943 | 29th Flotilla | |
| Commanders | |||
| July, 1942 | May, 1943 | Kptlt. Karl-Franz Heine | |
| Successes | |||
| Type of Ship Sunk | Number of Ships Sunk | Gross Registered Tonnage | |
| Commercial Vessels | 1 | 4,959 | |
| Military Vessels | None | 0 | |
Unterseeboot 303 (usually abbreviated to U-303) was a German U-boat built during World War II. She saw service in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, and sank one frighter of 5,000 tons in her three short and uneventful war patrols. Built in 1941 and 1942 at Lübeck, U-303 was a VIIC type submarine, capable of lengthy ocean patrols and of operating in distant environments.
[edit] War Patrols
She departed Kiel under her captain Kptlt Karl-Franz Heine on New Year's Day 1942 and moved to Lorient after a two an a half month cruise. The spring of 1943 was the turning point for the Second Battle of the Atlantic, and targets were getting harder and harder to come by for German units, and U-303 was no exception, managing to sink only one ship, the 5,000 ton American cargo ship SS Expositor. Her second patrol was uneventful and very brief, simply a fourteen day passage between Lorient and La Spezia in Italy, where she was to join a new flotilla operating in the Mediterranean.
From La Spezia she moved to Toulon in occupied France, from where she was to operate against British shipping aiding in operations following the evacuation of Tunisia. On her first attempt to do this, on the 21 May 1943 she exited Toulon harbour on the surface and ran straight into the British submarine HMS Sickle, which torpedoed the U-boat before escaping. U-303 began to settle and list, and Heine ordered an immediate evacuation into life rafts which eventually carried the surviving crew to the French coast ten miles away. Ten sailors were less lucky, having been killed in the torpedo impact, and went down with their boat.
[edit] Raiding career
| Date | Ship | Nationality | Tonnage | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 February 1943 | SS Expositor | American | 4,959 | Sunk |
[edit] References
- Sharpe, Peter, U-Boat Fact File, Midland Publishing, Great Britain: 1998. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.
- U-boat.net webpage for U-303
See Also: List of U-boats
