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U-530 file photo [10343]

U-530

CountryGermany
Ship ClassType IX-class Submarine
BuilderDeutsche Werft AG, Hamburg, Germany
Laid Down8 Dec 1941
Launched28 Jul 1942
Commissioned14 Oct 1942
Sunk28 Nov 1947
Displacement1,120 tons standard; 1,232 tons submerged
Length252 feet
Beam23 feet
Draft15 feet
MachineryTwo MAN M9V40/46 supercharged 9-cylinder diesel engines rated at 4,400hp each; two SSW GU345/34 double-acting electric motors rated at 1,000hp each
Speed19 knots
RangeSurface: 25,620nm at 10 knots; Submerged: 117nm at 4 knots
Crew56
Armament4x55cm bow torpedo tubes, 2x55cm stern torpedo tubes, 22 torpedoes, 44 TMA mines, 1x105mm/45 deck gun
Submerged Speed7.3 knots

Contributor:

ww2dbaseGerman Type IXC/40 submarine U-530 was commissioned into service in late 1940. She served with the 4th, 10th, and then the 33rd Submarine Flotilla. On 22 May 1944, she departed Lorient, France to attack Allied shipping in the Trinidad area. Aboard, she carried a Naxos radar detector which was to be given to the Japanese when she would meet with the Japanese submarine I-52; she was also to transfer a German radar operator and a navigator to the Japanese submarine. The two submarines met on 23 Jun about 850 miles west of Cape Verde Islands; U-530 proceeded with her journey for the Trinidad area after the equipment and personnel transfer (I-52 would be sunk by aircraft of escort carrier USS Bogue before she was able to reach home). When the war ended, she disobeyed President Karl Dönitz's order for all submarines to return home. Instead, she sailed on to Argentina and surrendered to the Argentineans on 10 Jul 1945. U-530's commanding officer Oberleutnant Otto Wermuth failed to explain why he chose to surrender to the Argentineans, why the journey took more than two months, why the submarine had jettisoned her deck gun, and why the ship's log book was missing. She was eventually towed to the United States and was used as a torpedo target ship; she was sunk by a torpedo from USS Toro. Her WW2 record showed that she sank two Allied ships totaling 12,063 gross register tons (GRT) and damaged one 10,195 GRT ship.

ww2dbaseConspiracy theorists often suspected that U-977 had carried Adolf Hitler and/or gold from Nazi German reserves to Argentina.

ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia

Last Major Revision: Jun 2010

Photographs

Argentinean Navy personnel inspecting captured German submarine U-530, Mar del Plata, Argentina, mid-Jul 1945

U-530 Operational Timeline

14 Oct 1942 U-530 was commissioned into service under the command of Kapitänleutnant Kurt Lange and was assigned to the 4. Unterseebootflottille (4th Submarine Flotilla).
1 Mar 1943 U-530 was assigned to the 10. Unterseebootflottille (10th Submarine Flotilla).
22 May 1944 U-530 departed Lorient, France for Trinidad. Aboard, she carried a Naxos radar detector to be given to the Japanese when she was to meet with Japanese submarine I-52.
23 Jun 1944 German submarine U-530 and Japanese submarine I-52 made rendezvous in the mid-Atlantic 850 miles west of Cape Verde islands. U-530 transferred a Naxos radar detector, a radar operator, and a navigator to I-52.
1 Oct 1944 U-530 was assigned to the 33. Unterseebootflottille (33th Submarine Flotilla).
1 Jan 1945 Some time during this month, Oberleutnant Otto Wermuth took command of German submarine U-530.
10 Jul 1945 U-530 arrived at Mar del Plata, Argentina and surrendered to the Argentineans.




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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. LoboSolo says:
10 Jul 2011 07:39:19 PM

I wonder why the Argentineans didn't keep the submarine for their own navy.

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Submarine U-530 Photo Gallery
Argentinean Navy personnel inspecting captured German submarine U-530, Mar del Plata, Argentina, mid-Jul 1945


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