German submarine U-805


German submarine U-805 was a Type IXC/40 U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

Design

were slightly larger than the original Type IXCs. U-805 had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. The U-boat had a total length of, a pressure hull length of, a beam of, a height of, and a draught of. The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke, nine-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of for use while surfaced, two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to.
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of. When submerged, the boat could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at. U-805 was fitted with six torpedo tubes, 22 torpedoes, one SK C/32 naval gun, 180 rounds, and a Flak M42 as well as two twin C/30 anti-aircraft guns. The boat had a complement of forty-eight.

Service history

U-805 was ordered in April 1941 from DeSchiMAG Seebeckwerft in Geestemünde under the yard number 714. Her keel was laid down on 24 December 1942, and the U-boat was launched the following year sometime in October 1943. In February 1944 she was commissioned into service under the command of Kapitänleutnant Richard Bernardelli in the 4th U-boat Flotilla. She spent the next year as a training boat with the flotilla, then was transferred to the 33rd U-boat Flotilla and deployed on her one and only war patrol in March 1945. At the end of the war U-805 was operating in the West Atlantic as part of the Seewolf group, when she received orders to make for an Allied port in order to surrender. The U-boat reached Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 14 May 1945, where the crew surrendered and handed the boat over to the US Navy.
The US Navy took U-805 on several Victory Visits to ports on the east coast of the United States before sinking her off the coast in position on 4 February 1946.