German submarine U-2323

U-Boat Infobox
type=XXIII
fieldpost number=
yard number=
order date=
keel=April 11, 1944
launch=May 31, 1944
commission=July 18, 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 Flotilla
U_Boat Command
startdate=April, 1944
enddate=July, 1944
name=Kptlt. Walter Angermann
U_Boat Command
startdate=April, 1945
enddate=May, 1945
name=Kptlt. Diedrich Schultze
U_Boat Sink
type=Type of Ship Sunk
total=Number of Ships Sunk
tonnage=Gross Registered Tonnage
U_Boat Sink
type=Commercial Vessels
total=None
tonnage=0
U_Boat Sink
type=Military Vessels
total=None
tonnage=0

Unterseeboot 2323 (usually abbreviated to U-2323) was probably the shortest lived German U-boat during the whole of the Second World War. Constructed at Hamburg during the spring of 1944, she was a modern German Type XXIII submarine, completed on the 18 July and given to Kptlt. Walter Angermann to command. A fast high-technology coastal boat, "U-2323" was expected to be the new war-winning weapon in the Kriegsmarine's arsenal.

The seas around the German coastline were subject to very heavy allied attack during the final two years of the war, as the Royal Air Force sought to restrict German movement around their coasts by sowing thouasnds of air-dropped naval mines, thus delaying the production and training of new boats, disrupting coastal shipping and destroying several boats before they could become involved in the Second Battle of the Atlantic.

The "U-2323" was a victim of this campaign, when on the 26 July, at just eight days old, she was sunk off Moltenort at the entrance to Kiel harbour on her maiden voyage. Two of her crew were killed in the blast, although the survivors managed to safely reach the shore. They were then transferred to other units. The holed boat was raised in the spring of 1945, but was still undergoing repairs in Kiel at the time of the German surrender. It was broken up in situ post-war.

References

* Sharpe, Peter, "U-Boat Fact File", Midland Publishing, Great Britain: 1998. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.
* [http://www.uboat.net/boats/u2323.htm U-boat.net webpage for "U-2323"]

ee also

*List of U-boats