Unterseeboot 862
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Unterseeboot 862 (U-862) was a Type IXD2 submarine of the Kriegsmarine. Her keel was laid down on 15 August 1942 by AG Weser of Bremen. She was commissioned on 7 October 1943 with Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Timm in command. Timm commanded U-862 for her entire career in the Kriegsmarine, receiving a promotion to Korvettenkapitän on 1 July 1944.
U-862 conducted two patrols, sinking seven ships totalling 42,374 tons.
U-862 was one of the most travelled of all U-boats. She sailed from Germany in May 1944 and eventually reached Japanese-controlled Penang Island in September 1944 where U-flotilla 33 was based. In the South Atlantic she launched a Zaunkoneig acoustic homing torpedo at a tanker. The Zaunkoneig came around full circle to home in on U-862 itself. Only an emergency crash dive saved the U-boat from it's own torpedo. On the way there, she also shot down a British Catalina aircraft on 20 August 1944 and then escaped an intense search for her. She sank several merchant ships in the Mozambique Channel between Africa and Madagascar. She sailed down the west coast of Australia, across the Great Australian Bight, around the southern coast of Tasmania and then north towards Sydney where she sunk a Liberty ship Robert J Walker on Christmas 1944. She then travelled around New Zealand and actually entered the port of Napier at night undetected. Returning west across the Bight, she sank an American ship Peter Silvester, loaded with mules bound for Burma. U-862 was also a trial boat for the Hohentweil radar system. This was cranked out of a casing on the port side of the conning tower and rose on a mast. The aerial was hand trained onto targets whilst the U-boat was at the surface. The radar had a range up to 7 nautical miles and was very effective where there was little risk from air attack on the U-boat.
Upon Germany's surrender, 6 May 1945, she put into Singapore and was taken over by Japan. On 15 July 1945 she became the Japanese submarine I-502. I-502 surrendered at Singapore in August 1945 and was scuttled there on 13 February 1946.
The crew of U-862 suffered no casualties, and returned to Germany several years after the war.
See Also: List of U-boats