#German submarine license#

Less than an hour later, he spotted and sank another tanker, the 8,000-ton Esso Baton Rouge.

Hardegen fired a torpedo and sank the 9,200-ton oil tanker Oklahoma. In the early morning hours of April 8, 1942, the Germans spotted a large tanker silhouetted against the illuminated shoreline. The U-123 moved to a position in the shallow waters just off St. Sailing southward down the Eastern Seaboard, the U-123 sank four ships before entering Georgia’s waters. On his next war patrol two months later, Hardegen once again steered his submarine from its base at Lorient, France, toward the United States. The 5,200-ton merchantman was based in Savannah, and many of the forty-three sailors who died in the attack were residents of the city. Lieutenant Commander Reinhard Hardegen, skipper of the German submarine U-123, had already drawn Georgian blood in January 1942, when his U-boat sank the freighter City of Atlanta off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The defenders were shaken from their complacency, however, when the U-boat threat finally hit home in the spring of 1942. Early antisubmarine patrols were sporadic and uncoordinated, and many Georgia coastal communities disobeyed orders for nighttime blackouts. War Comes to Georgia’s Shoresĭespite elaborate prewar plans for the defense of Georgia’s coastline, the area was still vulnerable to attack when the United States entered World War II. The port of Savannah itself hosted an assortment of small coastal patrol and antisubmarine warships. One of the most effective military bases in the U-boat war was Glynco Naval Air Station, located near Brunswick and home to both fixed-wing and lighter-than-air antisubmarine aircraft. Most important to the antisubmarine effort were Chatham and Hunter airfields, both located near Savannah. Because of its economic and industrial importance to the American war effort, the state was the site of several large military bases. HDW Class 212A air-independent submarine is compact and features high payloads for sensors, communication equipment, weapon control systems and weapons.Aside from geographic factors, Georgia was relatively well defended. Substitution of one periscope by an optronic mast. Superficial lateral antennas replacing flank array sonar. Installation of integrated German Sonar and Command and Weapon Control Systems. Integration of communication system suitable for use in Network Centric Warfare scenarios. Weapon tubes with water pressure launching systems. “Undisturbed” Combat Information Center (CIC). Low crew complements thanks to high degrees of automation. Integrated Weapon Command and Control Systems. Furthermore, the double-deck HDW Class 212A design excels with high availability quotas and the 2-crew manning concept.Providing superb capabilities to conduct independent long-term missions in deep seas as well as in extremely shallow waters, these boats are ideally suited for undetected reconnaissance and surveillance, also in areas where it is not possible or not desirable to employ other naval forces.īatch 1 and 2 of the HDW Class 212A Submarines incorporate: The HDW Fuel Cell System coupled to a PERMASYN® motor enables long submerged operational periods and low indiscretion rates. The combination of these factors together with the world-wide unique nonmagnetic construction and acoustically optimized equipment results in submarines that are nearly impossible to detect. Great attention has been paid to efficiency and energy management on board. In line with German basic design concepts, the HDW Class 212A air-independent submarine is compact and features high payloads for sensors, communication equipment, weapon control systems and weapons. Our pioneer of true successful European defense co-operation has numerous advantages on both sides and is open to welcome more members in its midst.

#German submarine license#

It has been built in Germany in two batches of four and two boats, as well as under license in Italy (four units). The HDW Class 212A can rightly be titled as a pinnacle of German submarine technology.