Qualla: German submarine U-244

German submarine U-244: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The first time U-244 was hit, it came out of a clear July sky in 1944. Two Norwegian-crewed de Havilland Mosquitoes of No. 333 Squadron RAF caught her on the surface between Horten and Bergen, came down low and fast, and put cannon fire into her conning tower. One of her men died. Seven more were wounded. The boat limped into Bergen, was patched up, and went on to complete four patrols across the autumn and winter of 1944-45. She never sank a ship. She surrendered at Loch Eriboll in May 1945. Her killer, when she finally died in the Operation Deadlight scuttling, was a Polish destroyer.

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German submarine U-244: Built at Krupp's Yard

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft yard at Kiel laid down U-244 on 24 October 1942 as yard number 678. She was a Type VIIC - the most produced submarine class in history, with 568 boats built between 1940 and 1945. By the time Oberleutnant zur See Ruprecht Fischer commissioned her...

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German submarine U-244: The Norwegian Mosquitoes

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On 25 July 1944, U-244 was running on the surface between Horten Naval Base and Bergen - short voyages along the Norwegian coast that were not officially patrols. The Coastal Command aircraft hunting the Norwegian fjords were not all British. No. 333 Squadron RAF was crewed by No...

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German submarine U-244: Atlantic and Channel

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Her first true patrol began with her departure from Bergen on 9 August 1944. Her route took her south of Iceland into the Atlantic, then back to Bergen on 1 November - eighty-four days at sea, mostly submerged, finding nothing worth a torpedo. The Atlantic of late 1944 was an All...

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German submarine U-244: Loch Eriboll

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Loch Eriboll on the north coast of Scotland was where many U-boats finished their war. Deep, sheltered, and within easy steaming distance of Bergen and Trondheim where the surviving German fleet was anchored, it became the principal Royal Navy reception point for surrendering sub...

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German submarine U-244: Killed by Piorun

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Later that same day - the day she surrendered - U-244 was hooked up for tow toward the deep-water scuttling area northwest of Donegal. The cable parted. She was finished off by gunfire from the ORP Piorun, a Polish destroyer that had earlier in the war helped sink the Bismarck. T...

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