U-3

Type

IIA

 
Ordered2 Feb 1935
Laid down 11 Feb 1935 Deutsche Werke AG, Kiel (werk 238)
Launched19 Jul 1935
Commissioned6 Aug 1935Oblt. Hans Meckel
Commanders
6 Aug 1935 - 29 Sep 1937   Hans Meckel
30 Sep 1937 - Jul, 1938   Ernst-Günter Heinicke
29 Oct 1938 - 2 Jan 1940  Kptlt. Joachim Schepke (Knights Cross)
3 Jan 1940 - 28 Jul 1940   Gerd Schreiber
29 Jul 1940 - 10 Nov 1940  Kptlt. Helmut Franzke
11 Nov 1940 - 2 Jul 1941  Kptlt. Otto von Bülow (Knights Cross)
3 Jul 1941 - 2 Mar 1942  Oblt. Hans-Hartwig Trojer (Knights Cross)
3 Mar 1942 - 30 Sep 1942  Oblt. Joachim Zander
1 Oct 1942 - 18 May 1943  Oblt. Herbert Zoller
19 May 1943 - 9 Jun 1944  Oblt. Ernst Hartmann
10 Jun 1944 - 16 Jul 1944  Ltn. Hermann Neumeister
Career5 patrols 1 Aug 1935 - 1 Sep 1939  U-Bootschulflottille (school boat)
1 Sep 1939 - 1 Oct 1939  U-Bootschulflottille (front boat)
1 Oct 1939 - 1 Feb 1940  U-Bootschulflottille (school boat)
1 Mar 1940 - 1 Apr 1940  U-Bootschulflottille (front boat)
1 May 1940 - 30 Jun 1940  U-Bootschulflottille (school boat)
1 Jul 1940 - 31 Jul 1944  21. Flottille (school boat)
Successes2 ships sunk for a total of 2,348 GRT
Fate

Stricken 1 Aug, 1944 at Gotenhafen (Gdynia, Poland). Scrapped in 1945.

See the 2 ships hit by U-3 - View the 5 war patrols

Attacks on this boat

30 Sep 1939
The British submarine HMS H-34 fired two torpedoes at U-3 15 miles north of Kinnaird Head. The torpedoes missed their target. (Sources: Rohwer)

16 Apr 1940
The British submarine HMS Porpoise fired six torpedoes at U-3 about 10 miles southwest of Egersund, Norway and heard a detonation, which was a G7a torpedo from the U-boat that missed the submarine and detonated at the end of its run.This attack was for a long time believed to have caused the sinking of U-1 but was in fact against U-3 which was not damaged.

(Sources: Dr. Axel Niestlé.)

2 recorded attacks on this boat.

Men lost from U-boats

Unlike many other U-boats, which during their service lost men due to accidents and various other causes, U-3 did not suffer any casualties (we know of) until the time of her loss.


We have emblem entries for this boat!

You can view the emblems here. (The emblem on the left is not the emblem for this boat).



U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 2
Wynn, Kenneth


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Books dealing with this subject include:

German U-Boat Losses During World War II. Niestle, Axel, 1998.
Hitler's U-boat War. Blair, Clay, 1996.
Hitler's U-boat War, Vol II. Blair, Clay, 1998.
U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 1. Wynn, Kenneth, 1998.
U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 2. Wynn, Kenneth, 1998.


There was another U-3 in World War One
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 27 Mar 1909 and commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 29 May 1909. The Naval war in WWI was brought to an end with the Armistice signed on 11 Nov, 1918. Read about the U 3 during WWI.