| German submarine U-576 | |
|---|---|
| Career |  |
| Name: | U-576 |
| Ordered: | 8 January 1940 |
| Builder: | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |
| Yard number: | 552 |
| Laid down: | 1 August 1940 |
| Launched: | 30 April 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 26 June 1941 |
| Fate: | Sunk by US aircraft and a merchant ship, near the American east coast, July 1942[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Type VIIC submarine |
| Displacement: |
769 tonnes (757 long tons) surfaced 871 t (857 long tons) submerged |
| Length: |
67.1 m (220 ft 2 in) o/a 50.5 m (165 ft 8 in) pressure hull |
| Beam: |
6.2 m (20 ft 4 in) o/a 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) pressure hull |
| Draft: | 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion: |
2 × supercharged Germaniawerft 6-cylinder 4-stroke M6V 40/46 diesel engines, totalling 2,800–3,200 bhp (2,100–2,400 kW). Max rpm: 470-490 2 × electric motors, totalling 750 shp (560 kW) and max rpm: 296. |
| Speed: |
17.7 knots (20.4 mph; 32.8 km/h) surfaced 7.6 knots (8.7 mph; 14.1 km/h) submerged |
| Range: |
15,170 km (8,190 nmi) at 10 kn (19 km/h) surfaced 150 km (81 nmi) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h) submerged |
| Test depth: |
230 m (750 ft) Crush depth: 250–295 m (820–968 ft) |
| Complement: | 44–52 officers and ratings |
| Armament: |
• 5 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes (four bow, one stern) • 14 × G7e torpedoes or 26 TMA mines • 1 × C35 88mm gun/L45 deck gun (220 rounds) • Various AA guns |
| Service record[2] | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
7th U-boat Flotilla (26 June–1 September 1941) 7th U-boat Flotilla (1 September 1941–15 July 1942) |
| Commanders: |
Kptlt. Hans-Dieter Heinicke (26 June–15 July 1942) |
| Operations: |
1st patrol: 6 October–5 November 1941 2nd patrol: 11–23 December 1941 3rd patrol: 20 January–28 February 1942 4th patrol: 29 March–16 May 1942 5th patrol: 16 June–15 July 1942 |
| Victories: |
Four ships sunk, total 15,450 GRT; two ships damaged - 19,457 GRT |
German submarine U-576 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.
She carried out five patrols, sank four ships of 15,450 GRT and damaged two more of 19,457 GRT. The boat was sunk by depth charges from two US aircraft and gunfire from a merchant ship, near the American east coast, in July 1942.
Service history[]
The submarine was laid down on 1 August 1940 at Blohm & Voss, Hamburg as 'werk' 551, launched on 30 April 1941 and commissioned on 26 June under the command of Kapitänleutnant Hans-Dieter Heinicke.
She served with the 7th U-boat Flotilla from 26 June 1941 for training and stayed with that organization for operations until her loss, from 1 September 1941 to 15 July 1942.
1st and 2nd patrols[]
U-432's first patrol was from Kirkenes in Norway, she headed for the Barents Sea and swept that area off the Kola Peninsula. For her second foray, she made for the Atlantic Ocean via the 'gap' separating the Faroe and Shetland Islands. She arrived at St. Nazaire in occupied France, on 23 December 1941.
3rd patrol[]
Having left St. Nazaire on 20 January 1942, U-576 sank the Empire Spring, a catapult armed merchantman or CAM ship, on 14 February southeast of Sable Island (which itself lies off Nova Scotia).[3]
4th patrol[]
As one of the boats involved in Operation Drumbeat, (U-boat operations off the eastern seaboard of the United States),[4] U-576 sank the Pipestone County on 21 April 1942 475 mi (764 km) east of Cape Henry, Virginia. The German submariners gave the occupants of one lifeboat some provisions. She also sank the Taborfjell on the 30th 95 mi (153 km) east of Cape Cod. This ship went down in one minute.
5th patrol and loss[]
The boat set out from St. Nazaire for the last time on 16 June 1942. She made for the US Atlantic seaboard once more. Off North Carolina on 15 July, she sank the Bluefields and damaged the Chilore and the J.A. Mowinckel. She was sunk by depth charges from two American Kingfisher aircraft and gunfire from the Unicoi on the same day. Forty-five men died with U-576; there were no survivors.
Summary of raiding history[]
| Date | Name | Nationality | Tonnage (GRT) |
Fate[5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 February 1942 | Empire Spring |  United Kingdom |
6,946 | Sunk |
| 21 April 1942 | Pipestone County |  USA |
5,102 | Sunk |
| 30 April 1942 | Taborfjell |  Norway |
1,339 | Sunk |
| 15 July 1942 | Bluefields |  Nicaragua |
2,063 | Sunk |
| 15 July 1942 | Chilore | USA |
8,130 | Damaged |
| 15 July 1942 | J.A. Mowinckel |  Panama |
11,147 | Sunk |
References[]
- Notes
- ↑ Kemp, Paul: U-Boats Destroyed - German Submarine Losses in the World Wars, 1997, Arms & Armour, ISBN 1-85409-515-3, p. 84
- ↑ "The Type VIIC boat U-576 - German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net". www.uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/boats/u576.htm. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ↑ The Times Atlas of the World - Third edition, revised 1995, ISBN 0 7230 0809 4, p. 55
- ↑ Gannon, Michael - Operation Drumbeat - the dramatic true story of Germany's first U-boat attacks along the American coast in World War II, 1990, Harper and Row publishers, ISBN 0-060161155-8, p. 489
- ↑ http://uboat.net/boats/successes/u576/html
- Bibliography
See also[]
The original article can be found at German submarine U-576 and the edit history here.