Recognition Guide Warships of the Second World War
Kriegsmarine — Submarine

German submarine U-2502

Type XXI submarine

German submarine U-2502
Royal Air Force official photographer — http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib//9/media-9715/large.jpg This photograph C 5338 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons Plate Royal Air Force Coastal Command, 1939-1945. A German type XXI submarine, U-2502, comes under cannon fire from a De Havilland Mosquito FB Mark VI during an attack on four surfaced U-boats (U-251, U-320, U-2502, U-2335) and an M-class minsweeper escort (M403) in the Kattegat by 22 Mosquitos of the Banff Strike Wing. U-2502 received only slight damage, but a type VIIC submarine (U-251) was sunk, a ty

Service

  1. Kriegsmarine as U-250219 July 1944 — 9 May 1945294 days of the war
Type XXI submarine Particulars
Name
U-2502
Builder
Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
Ordered
6 November 1943
Laid down
25 April 1944
Launched
15 June 1944
Commissioned
19 July 1944
Fate
Surrendered on 9 May 1945 at Horten Naval Base, Norway
Sunk on 2 January 1946 during Operation Deadlight (1945)
Status
Wreck

Specifications

Displacement, surfaced
1,595 long tons (1,621 t)
Displacement, submerged
2,067 long tons (2,100 t)
Length
76.7 m (251.6 ft) OA
Beam
8 m (26.2 ft)
Draught
6.32 m (20.7 ft)
Speed
17.9 knots (33.2 km/h, 20.6 mph)
Range
15,500 nmi (28,706 km)
Complement
57
Main gun
20 mm (0.8 in)

U-2502 was a Type XXI submarine built for the Kriegsmarine. Her keel was laid at Blohm & Voss, Hamburg on 25 April 1944. Launched on 15 June 1944, she entered service on 19 July 1944.

118 ships of the class were built. The class followed the Type VII and was succeeded by the Type XXVI.

The boat displaced 1,595 long tons surfaced and 2,067 long tons submerged. She measured 76.7 m (252 ft) long with a beam of 8 m (26 ft). Her designed speed was 17.9 knots, and she carried a complement of 57.

Her main battery was four 20 mm (0.8 in) guns.

She was in commission for 294 days of the Second World War.

She was sunk on 9 May 1945, at 56°06′N 9°00′W. The wreck survives.

Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.

Armament and machinery

Armament and machinery
Propulsion
  • Diesel/Electric
  • 2 × MAN M6V40/46KBB supercharged 6-cylinder diesel engines, 2000 PS
  • 2 × SSW GU365/30 double-acting electric motors, 2500 PS
  • 2 × SSW GV232/28 silent running electric motors, 226 PS
Armament
  • 6 × bow torpedo tubes
  • 23 × 53.3 cm torpedoes (or 17 × torpedoes and 12 × mines)
  • 4 × 2 cm C/30 AA guns

Sister ships

93 more in the class

Sources

  • Facts harvested from German submarine U-2502 on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
  • Photograph: Royal Air Force official photographer — http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib//9/media-9715/large.jpg This photograph C 5338 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons