German submarine U-3505
XXI
Schichau works, Gdansk
August 25, 1944
October 7, 1944
October 7, 1944 - April 3, 1945 Oblt.z.S. Horst Willner
No patrols
No
U 3505 was a German U -Boat U- Boat - class XXI, which was used in World War II by the German Navy. It was planned for use in the Atlantic.
U 3505 was not used after its commissioning on 7 October 1944 except for torpedo exercises to combat.
The only official missions were from 7 October 1944 to February 15, 1945 (planned) monitoring the 8th Flotilla during a training cruise as well as of 16 February 1945 to April 3, 1945 the training cruise in the 5th U- Flotilla. The latter was not carried out until the end but already canceled on 27 March.
U 3505 as a refugee boat was known. His commander Oblt.z.S. Horst Willner was contrary to the provisions for submarines on March 28, 1945 his wife Ursula dressed as a sailor and his three -month-old daughter, Barbara, who was hidden in a duffel bag, carried on board and hidden in his cabin. This preference for relatives was a capital offense in military law. Will former family should flee to the Wilhelm Gustloff, but Horst Willner decided to return the reserved seats and thus saved his family's life, as the Wilhelm Gustloff, a short time after the expiry was sunk by a Soviet submarine.
After leaving the port of Danzig, the boat headed west towards Gdynia, where Commander Willner took 110 children and young people, mainly members of the Hitler Youth on board. The ride went on about Bornholm, in which inventories were replenished on board, to Lübeck -Travemünde. There, the refugees went on 2 April 1945 by board, even the family of Horst Willner.
The crew steered the boat still in the port of Kiel, where U 3505 should attend torpedo exercises. But that did not. On April 3, 1945, at 17.25 clock the boat was sunk during an allied air raid of the 8th Air Force USAAF keel by a hit on the port side. Here, the radio operator of the boat was mortally wounded. All other crew members survived, as the boat was occupied at the time of the attack with only four men guards.