German submarine U-844

History
Nazi Germany
Name	U-844
Ordered	20 January 1941
Builder	DeSchiMAG AG Weser, Bremen
Yard number	Werk 1050
Laid down	21 May 1942
Launched	30 December 1942
Commissioned	7 April 1943
Fate	Sunk by aircraft, 16 October 1943
General characteristics
Type	Type IXC/40 submarine
Displacement	1,144 t (1,126 long tons) surfaced 1,257 t (1,237 long tons) submerged
Length	76.76 m (251 ft 10 in) o/a 58.75 m (192 ft 9 in) pressure hull
Beam	6.86 m (22 ft 6 in) o/a 4.44 m (14 ft 7 in) pressure hull
Height	9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draft	4.67 m (15 ft 4 in)
Propulsion	2 × MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged 9-cylinder diesel engines, 4,400 hp (3,281 kW) 2 × SSW GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors, 1,000 hp (746 kW)
Speed	19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) surfaced 7.3 knots (13.5 km/h; 8.4 mph) submerged
Range	13,850 nmi (25,650 km; 15,940 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced 63 nmi (117 km; 72 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth	230 m (750 ft)
Complement	4 officers, 44 enlisted
Armament	6 × torpedo tubes (four bow, two stern) 22 × 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedoes 1 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 deck gun (180 rounds) anti-aircraft guns
Service record
Part of:	4th U-boat Flotilla (7 April–30 September 1943) 10th U-boat Flotilla (1–16 October 1943)
Commanders:	Oblt.z.S. Günther Möller (April 1943–October 1943)
Operations:	1st patrol: 6–16 October 1943
Victories:	None

German submarine U-844 was a Type IXC/40 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine, built for service during the Second World War. An extremely short-lived boat, U-844 served just ten days on her only patrol and was sunk with two other boats whilst preparing for a failed attack on a well-defended convoy within range of allied air support.

Built by the large DeSchiMAG AG Weser shipyards in Bremen, U-844 was rapidly completed and readied for service, her entire building program taking just under a year. Given to Oberleutnant zur See Günther Möller, she passed her initial working-up and training schedule well, and was dispatched to her first patrol in the Atlantic Ocean in the first week of October 1943 to try to stem the terrible losses being incurred by U-boats at this time.

War Patrol

Ten days after her departure whilst she sailed south of Iceland she received orders to attach herself to U-470 and U-964 and to proceed southwards to attack Convoy ON 206 in the North Atlantic. The boats had to travel on the surface to have any hope of reaching their target, and it was this which caused disaster, as the three submarines were spotted in broad daylight by a RAF B-24 Liberator aircraft, which rapidly called allies in the form of more Liberators from 59 Squadron and 86 Squadron Royal Air Force amongst other forces.

Fate

During the day-long battle which followed, the anti-aircraft weapons of the boats were brought into use, downing two Liberators and killing a number of crewmen. It was not however enough to stave off the inevitable, and one by one the boats were separated and sunk, having been prevented from diving by constant attention from Allied aircraft. U-844 was eventually lost to a direct hit from a bomb dropped by a Liberator, the boat blowing to pieces and killing all 53 of her crew.

Wolf Packs

U-844 took part in one wolfpack, namely.

• Schlieffen (16 October 1943)

Bibliography

• Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999). Deutsche U-Boot-Verluste von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 (in German). Vol. IV. Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn: Mittler. ISBN 3-8132-0514-2. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Gröner, Erich (1985). U-Boote, Hilfskreuzer, Minenschiffe, Netzleger, Sperrbrecher (in German). Vol. III. Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe. ISBN 3-7637-4802-4. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Sharpe, Peter (1998). U-Boat Fact File. Great Britain: Midland Publishing. ISBN 1-85780-072-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type IXC/40 boat U-844". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 7 December 2014.