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voor de liefhebbers van ware duikbootgevechten is dit een zeldzaam gevecht tussen twee ondergedoken duikboten :)

Submarines Versus U-boats (1986)

U-864
9 Feb 1945. On 9 Feb, 1945 the British submarine HMS Venturer, commanded by James S. Launders, torpedoed and sank this boat. This is the only known incident in all of naval warfare in which one submarine sinks another while both are submerged.

U-864: Schnorchel-fitted U-boat
This boat was fitted with a Schnorchel underwater-breathing apparatus in October 1944

Review:
What prompted me to check out the fate of this boat was an obituary in "The Daily Telegraph" this past week. The obit was that of Lt-Cmdr. Andy Chalmers whose spotting of the scope of the U-864 at 5000 yards range led to the destruction of the U- Boat. 

Since I have a copy of that splendid book "Submarines versus U-Boats" by Geoffrey Jones, I knew that this combat would be covered in detail and, as is my wont, I clipped out Chalmer's obit for filing in the book. Although the obit is in no doubt as to fate of the U-Boat, claiming it to be the only known sinking of one sub by another when both boats were submerged, curiously enough, Jones's otherwise very accurate book gives a confusing account of the fate of the U-864, so I thought it necessary to confirm it. 

Unfortunately Chalmers, who spotted the U-864's scope at very long range and who kept "HMS Venturer" silently and perfectly trimmed during the 3 hour stalk of U-864, gets no mention in Jones's book, which gives all the credit to Lt. J. Launders -Captain of the "Venturer". 

Incidentally, the U-864 was at the time carrying a cargo of a ME 163 rocket fighter/64 tons of heavy water and mercury/plus a lot of Luftwaffe officers and German and Japanese engineers. Her C.O. was making "suicidal" use of his scope and the intercept was made using "Ultra" signals. All in all, a nice bit o'work by the Andrew ! 

Post info:
William Kimber & Co | 1986 | English | 211 Pages | PDF | 64,3 MB

Thanks to Dimarik & Silent Running :)