U-309

Type

VIIC

Ordered

5 Jun 1941

Laid down

24 Jan 1942

Flender Werke AG, Lübeck (werk 309)

Launched

5 Dec 1942

Commissioned

27 Jan 1943

Oblt. Hans-Gert Mahrholz

Commanders

27 Jan 1943	-	Aug, 1944		Oblt. Hans-Gert Mahrholz (German Cross in Gold)
Aug, 1944	-	16 Feb 1945		Oblt. Herbert Loeder

Career
9 patrols

27 Jan 1943	-	31 Jul 1943	8. Flottille (training)
1 Aug 1943	-	31 Oct 1943	11. Flottille (active service)
1 Nov 1943	-	1 Oct 1944	9. Flottille (active service)
1 Oct 1944	-	16 Feb 1945	33. Flottille (active service)

Successes

1 ship a total loss, total tonnage 7,219 GRT

Fate

Sunk on 16 February 1945 in the North Sea east of Moray Firth, in position 58.09N, 02.23W, by depth charges from the Canadian frigate HMCS Saint John. 47 dead (all hands lost).

Loss position

See the 1 ships hit by U-309 - View the 9 war patrols

Boat has been discovered
The wreck of this boat has almost certainly been discovered in early 2001 off the east coast of Scotland. See photos from that wreck at http://www.scapaflow.com/u309.html.

This boat is a dive site

July 2001. 63 metres to the seabed, 60 metres on the wreck. Dive team: John Thornton, Stuart Murray, Ian Huntington, Tim Hayes, Wolfgang Kanig. The team were diving a mixture of open circuit and closed circuit trimix

(this is not fully confirmed but very likely U-309)

Depth: 200 feet (61 meters)
Position (lat, long): 58.09, -2.23

See more U-boat dive sites.

Wolfpack operations

U-309 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
   Rossbach (6 Oct 1943 - 9 Oct 1943)
   Schlieffen (14 Oct 1943 - 22 Oct 1943)
   Siegfried (22 Oct 1943 - 26 Oct 1943)
   Rügen 7 (28 Dec 1943 - 2 Jan 1944)
   Rügen 6 (2 Jan 1944 - 7 Jan 1944)
   Rügen (7 Jan 1944 - 26 Jan 1944)
   Stürmer (26 Jan 1944 - 3 Feb 1944)