German submarine U-2321

U-Boat Infobox
type=XXIII
fieldpost number=
yard number=
order date=
keel=March 10, 1944
launch=April 17, 1944
commission=June 12, 1944
yard=Deutsche Werft, Hamburg
U-Boat Patrol
startdate=Start Date
enddate=End Date
assigned unit=Assigned Unit
U-Boat Patrol
startdate=No Patrols
enddate=
assigned unit=4th FlotillaU-Boat Patrol
startdate=No Patrols
enddate=
assigned unit=32nd FlotillaU-Boat Patrol
startdate=March 9, 1945
enddate=April 13, 1945
assigned unit=11th FlotillaU_Boat Command
startdate=March, 1944
enddate=May, 1945
name=Kptlt. Hans-Heinrich Barschkis
U_Boat Sink
type=Type of Ship Sunk
total=Number of Ships Sunk
tonnage=Gross Registered Tonnage
U_Boat Sink
type=Commercial Vessels
total=1
tonnage=1,406
U_Boat Sink
type=Military Vessels
total=None
tonnage=0

The German submarine "U-2321" was the first of the highly advanced Type XXIII submarines built for the Kriegsmarine in 1944 and 1945. As the first of this class, "U-2321" was one of a handful of such boats to undertake an operational patrol, in March 1945. She was successful in this operation, and sank a British freighter, one of just five ships sunk by the new fully submarine (as opposed to just submersible) boats.

She was constructed as an experiment in Hamburg and her small size meant that she was completed in just four months, following which she conducted extensive trials in the Baltic Sea and off the Norwegian coast in an effort to gain an idea of the capabilities of the boat. In this duty, and through her entire life, "U-2321" was commanded by Kptlt Hans-Heinrich Barschkis. By the first few months of 1945, with the war drawing to a close, it was hoped new lessons could be learnt, and defeat potentially delayed by the insertion of some of these boats into the coastal waters of the United Kingdom. To this end, "U-2321" and a few of her sisters were dispatched to the Eastern coast of Scotland.

War patrol

The boats were unsuccessful, largely because the professional nature of veteran Allied naval commanders in their construction of convoys and their preparation of escorts. The North Sea proved largely barren, as most shipping was concentrated in the heavit defended English Channel, as so it was nearly a month after leaving Horten in Norway that "U-2321" scored her first and only victory, torpedoing the unescorted 1,400 ton ship SS "Gasray" [ [http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/3483.html uboat.net - Allied Ships hit by U-boats - Gasray (Steam merchant) ] ] .

Four days later, "U-2321" was back in port at Kristiansand, where she was still berthed when Germany surrendered on the 9 May. Sailed to Loch Ryan in Scotland, "U-2321" was allowed to rust and rot, the decaying hull destroyed as a naval gunfire target on the 27 November 1945 along with all the other surrendered Norwegian U-boats.

Raiding career

References

* Sharpe, Peter, "U-Boat Fact File", Midland Publishing, Great Britain: 1998. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.
* [http://www.uboat.net/boats/u2321.htm U-boat.net webpage for "U-2321"]

ee also

*List of U-boats