U-A
| Type | ||
| Laid down | 10 Feb 1937 | Germaniawerft, Kiel |
| Commissioned | 20 Sept 1939 | Kptlt. Hans Cohausz |
| Commanders |
09.39 - 10.40 11.40 - 02.42 02.42 - 05.42 05.42 - 08.42 08.42 - 03.43 03.43 - 04.44 04.44 - 03.45 |
Krvkpt. Hans Cohausz
Frgkpt. Hans Eckermann Krvkpt. Hans Cohausz Kptlt. Ebe Schnoor Krvkpt. Friedrich Schäfer Krvkpt. Georg Peters Oblt. Ulrich-Philipp Graf von und zu Arco-Zinneberg |
| Career | 9 patrols | 09.39 - 03.41 7th Flotilla (Kiel) front boat 04.41 - 12.41 2nd Flotilla (Lorient) front boat 12.41 - 08.42 7th Flotilla (St. Nazaire) front boat 08.42 - 03.43 U-Abwehrschule (Gotenh.) school b. 03.42 - 11.44 4th Flotilla (Stettin) trial boat 11.44 - 01.45 24th Flotilla (Gotenhafen) school boat 01.45 - 03.45 18th Flotilla (Hela) school boat 03.45 24th Flotilla (Eckernförde) school boat |
| Successes | 7 ships sunk with a total of 40,706 tons
including the British Armed Merchant Cruiser Andania (13,950 tons) 1 ship damaged for 7,524 tons |
|
| Fate | Taken out of service in May 1944 at Neustadt, Holstein. Scuttled on 3 May 1945 at the Kiel Arsenal. Wreck broken up. | |
The boat was almost ready as the Turkish Batiray (the second of 4 ordered from Germaniawerft, the first, Saldiray, had been delivered in June 1939) when the war in Europe broke out and she was not handed to the Turkish but rather commissioned into the German Navy.
The remaining two boats, Atilay and Yildiray, were laid down in Turkish yards under German supervision. Altiray was commissioned in 1940 but with the German engineers and designers gone due to the war Yildiray was much delayed and was not commissioned until Jan, 1946. Altiray was lost with all hands to a moored mine on 14 July, 1942.
She was briefly named Optimist by the Germans but given her UA name on 21 Sept, 1939. She was the most successful foreign U-boat in German service by far, credited with 7 of the 9 ships sunk by those boats. Cohausz sank all those 7 ships and Eckermann sank one.