German submarine U-972

Type VIIC submarine

Service

Kriegsmarine as U-9728 April 1943 — 15 December 1943251 days of the war

Type VIIC submarine Particulars

Name: U-972
Builder: Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
Ordered: 5 June 1941
Laid down: 15 June 1942
Launched: 22 February 1943
Commissioned: 8 April 1943
Fate: Missing since 15 December 1943 in the North Atlantic. No explanation for her loss. (1943)
Status: Unknown

Specifications

Displacement, submerged: 851 long tons (865 t)
Length: 67.1 m (220.1 ft) OA
Beam: 6.18 m (20.3 ft)
Draught: 4.74 m (15.6 ft)
Speed: 17.6 knots (32.6 km/h, 20.3 mph)
Range: 8,500 nmi (15,742 km)
Complement: 44
Main gun: 88 mm (3.5 in)

U-972 was a Type VIIC submarine built for the Kriegsmarine. Her keel was laid at Blohm & Voss, Hamburg on 15 June 1942. Launched on 22 February 1943, she entered service on 8 April 1943.

Her class ran to 612 ships. The class followed the Type UB III, Vetehinen class and was succeeded by the Type XXI (Late-war replacement).

The boat displaced 851 long tons submerged. She measured 67.1 m (220 ft) long with a beam of 6.2 m (20 ft). Her designed speed was 17.6 knots, and she carried a complement of 44.

Her main battery was one 88 mm (3.5 in) guns.

She was in commission for 251 days of the Second World War.

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

Armament and machinery

Propulsion: 2 shafts
2 × 4-stroke M6V 40/46 Germaniawerft
2 x 62 batteries
2 x six-cylinder supercharged diesel engines
2 × electric motors
Power: 2800 - 3200 PS (diesels)
750 PS (electric)
Armament: 5 × 53.3 cm torpedo tubes (four bow, one stern)
14 × torpedoes
1 × 8.8 cm deck gun (220 rounds)
1 x 3.7 cm Flak M42 anti-aircraft gun

Sister ships

587 more in the class

Sources

Facts harvested from German submarine U-972 on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
Photograph: UK Government — This photograph A 16040 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons