ubootwaffe.netKriegsmarine and U-Boat history
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| The Loss of U 305, U 377 and U 641 — Axel Niestlé |
After the war the Allied Assessment Committee attributed the loss of U 641 to the attack of the corvette HMS Violet on 19 January 1944 in position 50°25'n/18°49'w. The corvette was part of the escort group B3 escorting the outbound convoy OS 65/KMS.39 on its way to Gibraltar. At 1901 Violet located a U-boat three miles behind the convoy. The radar operator picked up a signal on the surface and later confirmed it as a U-boat. Violet altered course, headed for the U-boat and reduced speed to 5 knots. With the contact still on the surface, it was decided to ram the U-boat if the corvette could get close enough. Apparently the corvette was observed by the U-boat as it crash dived at the time when Violet fired one round from her four inch gun. Thereafter the boat was picked up by the asdic operator. Slow speed was maintained as the contact was heard turning away under the prevailing favourable asdic conditions. Shortly afterwards a Hedgehog attack ware carried out and after an interval of sixteen seconds two, almost simultaneous, explosions were heard. A third followed two seconds later, indicating that three of the 24 projectiles had hit. At 1935 an oil patch was observed and three minutes later a second Hedgehog attack was carried out. After passing over the contact a violent muffled explosion was heard, later followed by breaking up noises. On searching the area strong smell of diesel oil and an oil patch covering an area of one by one-and-a-half cables was observed. However, efforts to obtain a sample of it failed in the prevailing heavy sea. Based on the available evidence the attack was graded “B — believed sunk”. When post-war analysis of German records revealed the loss of U 641 at about this time in the general area of the attack, its loss was eventually attributed to this attack. According to the available information the losses of U 305, U 377 and U 641 must have occurred to the west of or in the Bay of Biscay at some time between the 14th January and 4th February 1944 at latest. During this time span the following anti-submarine attacks including those already mentioned above, took place along the assumed routes of the three boats:
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