Scuttled:	2 May 1945
Raised:	October 1952 Broken up at Neptun Dockyard, Rostock Rostock Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...

U-1308

German submarine U-1308

U-1308 was the last Type VII/41 submarine to be laid down, launched and commissioned by the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The Oberkommando der Marine or OKM, , had decided near the end of World War II to put all of its resources into building newer types of Unterseeboot, such as the...

 was the last Type VII/41

German Type VII submarine

Type VII U-boats were the most common type of German World War II U-boat. The Type VII was based on earlier German submarine designs going back to the World War I Type UB III, designed through the Dutch dummy company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag which was set up by Germany after...

 submarine to be laid down, launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 and commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 by the German

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 Kriegsmarine

Kriegsmarine

The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The Oberkommando der Marine

Oberkommando der Marine

The Oberkommando der Marine was Nazi Germany's Naval High Command and the highest administrative and command authority of the Kriegsmarine. It was officially formed from the Marineleitung of the Reichswehr on 11 January 1936. In 1937 it was combined with the newly formed Seekriegsleitung...

 or OKM, (the German naval high command), had decided near the end of World War II to put all of its resources into building newer types of Unterseeboot, such as the types XXI

German Type XXI submarine

Type XXI U-boats, also known as "Elektroboote", were the first submarines designed to operate primarily submerged, rather than as surface ships that could submerge as a means to escape detection or launch an attack.-Description:...

 and XXIII

German Type XXIII submarine

German Type XXIII submarines were the first so-called elektroboats to become operational. They were small coastal submarines designed to operate in the shallow waters of the North Sea, Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea, where larger Type XXI Elektro boats were at risk in World War II. They were so...

. U-1308 was part of a batch of eight U-boats (U-1301 to U-1308) ordered on 1 August 1942 to be built at Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft

Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft

Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft is a German shipbuilding company located in Flensburg. The company is trading as Flensburger and commonly abbrevated FSG.-History:...

, Flensburg

Flensburg

Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...

 (54.80833°N 9.435173°W). She was laid down on 16 February 1944 and launched on 22 November. The eight boats were commissioned over a 15-month period between February 1944 and 17 January 1945 .

As U-1308 was the last Type VII, the Kriegsmarine fitted her out to be one of the most advanced. U-1308 was one of nine Type VIIs that the Kriegsmarine fitted with an experimental synthetic rubber skin of anechoic tile

Anechoic tile

Anechoic tiles are rubber or synthetic polymer tiles containing thousands of tiny voids, applied to the outer hulls of military ships and submarines, as well as anechoic chambers...

s known as Alberich, which had been designed to counter the Allies

Allies of World War II

The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

' asdic/sonar devices. U-1308 was also one of two Type VIIC/41s that was equipped with a new design of passive sonar hydrophones, thus increasing detection ranges by approximately 70% over the older designs.

A few days before Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945, U-1308 was taken approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) north-west of Warnemünde

Warnemünde

Warnemünde is a sea resort and northmost district of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, situated on the Baltic Sea in the northeast of Germany at the estuary of the river Warnow.- History :...

 and scuttled

Scuttling

Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull.This can be achieved in several ways—valves or hatches can be opened to the sea, or holes may be ripped into the hull with brute force or with explosives...

 on 2 May at approximately 54.216667°N 12.033333°W. During the final days of Nazi Germany there was a plethora of U-boats which suffered the same fate. In the last week of the war, 28 other boats joined her.

Emblem

U-1308s emblem was an oak leaf, with an anchor and a knife or dagger. She shared this emblem with , , , U-747 and U-1274.

Commander

Heinrich Besold was born on 18 October 1920 in Nürnberg. He rose through the ranks of Offiziersanwärter (16 September 1939), Fähnrich zur See (1 July 1940), Oberfähnrich zur See (1 July 1941), Leutnant zur See (1 March 1942) and Oberleutnant zur See (1 October 1943). He also served aboard two other U-boats, between March and May 1944 and between July and November 1944. He commanded U-1308 during her working-up at the 4th U-boat Flotilla. He was decorated on 29 October 1944 with the Iron Cross

Iron Cross

The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....

 2nd Class and the U-boat War Badge

U-boat War Badge

The U-Boat War Badge was a German war badge that was awarded to U-boat crew members during World War I and World War II.-History:The U-boat War Badge was originally instituted during the First World War on February 1, 1918. It was awarded to recognize U-boat crews who had completed three war patrols...

 1939.

Other crew members

• Bernhard Hamann
• Helmut Hoffmann; Born 28 June 1921; Serial/entry UO.10437/40.T.
• Josef Stumbaum; Born 1926

Bridge

The bridge was equipped with a UZO (Ünderwasserzieloptik) pedestal located forward. While making a surface attack, a set of large, heavy binoculars

Binoculars

Binoculars, field glasses or binocular telescopes are a pair of identical or mirror-symmetrical telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point accurately in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes when viewing distant objects...

 were mounted on top of the pedestal. Information of the bearing to the target was transmitted to the control room, where an electro-mechanical computer calculated the exact angle for firing the torpedoes. Sometime late in World War II, an updated version of the UZO entered service with the Type VIIC boats. U-1308 would have mounted the latest version.

U-1308, like most Type VIIs, IXs and XXIs, was equipped with two periscope

Periscope

A periscope is an instrument for observation from a concealed position. In its simplest form it consists of a tube with mirrors at each end set parallel to each other at a 45-degree angle....

s, one for the attack, the second for the purposes of navigation and search. This observation periscope was frequently used during twilight and night attacks, as it let in more light and had better light transmission. The observation periscope had two magnifications - 1.5× and 6×. The attack periscope was used exclusively for that purpose. To make it less visible to the enemy and to reduce the wake

Wake

A wake is the region of recirculating flow immediately behind a moving or stationary solid body, caused by the flow of surrounding fluid around the body.-Fluid dynamics:...

, the periscope head and neck-size were keep to a minimum. The attack periscope was fitted with a heating system that served to prevent fogging of the lenses.

U-1308s Direction Finder Antenna Loop

Radio direction finder

A radio direction finder is a device for finding the direction to a radio source. Due to low frequency propagation characteristic to travel very long distances and "over the horizon", it makes a particularly good navigation system for ships, small boats, and aircraft that might be some distance...

 was located on the starboard side of the bridge. It was used to detect and get bearings from the radio signals of Allied surface ships. U-1308 would have been outfitted with a late-war version which look slightly different from the earlier model.

Thetis

Thetis

Thetis (decoy)

Thetis was the name of a floating radar decoy used by German U-boats during the Second World War.The device was stored dismantled in the bow compartment as a pole about two metres long. Assembly usually took place in the U-boat's conning tower, and could be assembled in about four minutes...

 was the name of a floating decoy

Decoy

A decoy is usually a person, device or event meant as a distraction, to conceal what an individual or a group might be looking for. Decoys have been used for centuries most notably in game hunting, but also in wartime and in the committing or resolving of crimes.-Duck decoy:The term duck decoy may...

 used by U-Boats to confuse Allied warship

Warship

A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...

 radars. The device was stored, dismantled, in the bow compartment, as a pole about 2 metre long. Assembly usually took place in the conning tower

Conning tower

A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....

, it could be put together in about four minutes. Later versions could be launched from the standard torpedo tube

Torpedo tube

A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...

. When deployed it was extended to a total length of 4 metre, half of which was submerged. The upper half had a series of radar reflectors that were tuned to Allied anti-submarine radar wavelengths to give the same return signal as a U-boat. U-1308 typically carried between 15 and 20 of these decoys.

Electric Motor

U-1308 was powered by two Siemens-Schuckert

Siemens-Schuckert

Siemens-Schuckert was a German electrical engineering company headquartered in Berlin, Erlangen and Nuremberg that was incorporated into the Siemens AG in 1966....

 Type GGUB 720/8 electric motor

Electric motor

An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...

s. Each motor weighed 8130 kilograms (17,923.6 lb), without its fan 7900 kilograms (17,416.5 lb). Each rotor

Rotor (electric)

The rotor is the non-stationary part of a rotary electric motor, electric generator or alternator, which rotates because the wires and magnetic field of the motor are arranged so that a torque is developed about the rotor's axis. In some designs, the rotor can act to serve as the motor's armature,...

 weighed 3200 kilograms (7,054.8 lb). The Type GGUB 720/8 electric motor could create 1,540 A (560 kW) at between 7.5 Hz (450 RPM) and 10.3 Hz (620 RPM).

Schnorchel

U-1308 was the last Type VIIC/41 to be built and would have been fitted with a schnorchel

Submarine snorkel

A submarine snorkel is a device which allows a submarine to operate submerged while still taking in air from above the surface. Navy personnel often refer to it as the snort.-History:...

, (This apparatus enhanced the U-boats' performance below the surface and made its position more difficult to detect). Later model Type VIIC/41 boats were built with the device from the start. She would have been constructed with the final version of the schnorchel.

Passive sonar

U-1308 was one of four Type VIIC/41s to be fitted with a Balkongerät (literally 'Balcony apparatus or equipment'). The Balkongerät was standard on the Type XXI and the Type XXIII

German Type XXIII submarine

German Type XXIII submarines were the first so-called elektroboats to become operational. They were small coastal submarines designed to operate in the shallow waters of the North Sea, Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea, where larger Type XXI Elektro boats were at risk in World War II. They were so...

. Nonetheless, it was also fitted to several Type VIICs and Type IXs and one Type X

German Type X submarine

Type X U-boats were a special type of German submarine . Although intended as long-range mine-layers, they were later used as long-range cargo transports, a task they shared with the Type IXD and Italian Romolo-class submarines.-History:...

.

Anti-sonar coating

U-1308 was one of nine Type VIIs that the Kriegsmarine fitted with an experimental synthetic rubber skin of anechoic

Anechoic tile

Anechoic tiles are rubber or synthetic polymer tiles containing thousands of tiny voids, applied to the outer hulls of military ships and submarines, as well as anechoic chambers...

 tiles, designed to counter the Allies' sonar devices. The code name

Code name

A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage...

Alberich was given to the coating. The OKM named it after the dwarf with the helmet of invisibility in Wagner's Ring Cycles. It was the first coating for any submarine.

Torpedoes

• five × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes (four bow, one stern)
• 14 × torpedoes