U-1020

Ordered by the German Navy on 13 June 1942 and laid down 30th April 1943 the Type VIIC/41 steel submarine U-1020 was launched form the yard of Blohm and Voss, Hamburg (Yard No 220) on 22nd March 1944. She measured 220.4’ x 20.3’ x 15.5’ and displaced 871 tons (submerged), 769 tons (surface). She was powered by 2 x Germaniawerft F46 6 cylinder diesel engines delivering 3160 shaft horse power (surface use) and 2 x Brown, Beveri double acting electric motors delivering 740 shaft horse power (underwater use). This gave her a maximum surface speed of 18 knots and underwater speed of 8 knots. She was fitted with 5 x 21 inch torpedo tubes (four at bow, one at stern) and carried fourteen torpedoes. She was also armed with 1 x 8.8 cm SK C/35 naval gun, 1 x 3.7 cm M42 Flak gun and 2 x 2 cm C/30 anti-aircraft guns.

She was commissioned on 17th May 1944 and for the next few months undertook and shake down and training cruise before she set out on her first (and last) war patrol departing from her base at Keil on 14th November proceeding to Horten, Norway before setting out on her North Sea patrol on 22nd November. She was under the command of Oberleutnant Otto Oberlein with a crew of 51 sailors aboard. Oberlien
Set out across the North Sea and north west reaching the area north west of Shetland on 4th December. The patrol continued with no sightings of Allied vessels so he continued reaching the Pentland Firth by 12th December, his main target patrol area. No reports of attacks on Allied shipping were received from the U-boat up to this date. The last recorded report from Oberlein was on 30th December then the submarine disappeared.

Subsequent research indicated that U-1020 then proceeded down the Scottish east coast, perhaps intent on intercepting Allied shipping or perhaps taking a shorter route to return to base. In any case, it appears that U-1020 strayed into a British minefield and was lost with all hands.

The location of the wreck of U-1020 was a mystery until a mark, suspected to be a U-boat, appeared on a Hydrographic survey in 2007. The wreck in position 56° 32.684’N, 001° 18.892’W oriented 080/260 degrees lies in 62 metres rising 5 metres from the seabed. When the wreck was dived it revealed a Type VIIC fitted with Schnorcel underwater breathing apparatus with severe damage to the port side stern of the vessel. The wreck was lying at a 45 degrees angle but otherwise fairly in tact. Subsequent dives revealed that the submarine was also fitted with radar revealing it was a Type VIIC/41 narrowing down the possibilities even further. The only Type VIIC/41 submarine believed lost in the west North Sea was U-1020. The mystery was solved.

We’d like to thank Peter Baker for his permission to use his underwater photographs of the wreck in this article.