 The crew after return from seventh patrol | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Nazi Germany | |
| Name | U-575 |
| Ordered | 8 January 1940 |
| Builder | Blohm & Voss,Hamburg |
| Yard number | 551 |
| Laid down | 1 August 1940 |
| Launched | 30 April 1941 |
| Commissioned | 19 June 1941 |
| Nickname(s) | Liliput |
| Fate | Sunk on 13 March 1944[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Type VIICsubmarine |
| Displacement | |
| Length |
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| Beam |
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| Height | 9.60 m (31 ft 6 in) |
| Draught | 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed |
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| Range | |
| Test depth |
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| Complement | 4 officers, 40–56 enlisted |
| Armament |
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| Service record[2] | |
| Part of: |
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| Identification codes: | M 44 068 |
| Commanders: |
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| Operations: |
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| Victories: | |
German submarineU-575 was aType VIICU-boat in service ofNazi Germany'sKriegsmarine duringWorld War II. She carried out ten patrols, sailing for 472 days and sinking eight ships totalling 36,010 gross register tons (GRT) and damaged one other of 12,910 GRT. She was a member of 18 separatewolfpacks and was sunk north of theAzores by Allied ships and aircraft on 13 March 1944.[1]
German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorterType VIIB submarines.U-575 had a displacement of 769 tonnes (757 long tons) when at the surface and 871 tonnes (857 long tons) while submerged.[3] She had a total length of 67.10 m (220 ft 2 in), apressure hull length of 50.50 m (165 ft 8 in), abeam of 6.20 m (20 ft 4 in), a height of 9.60 m (31 ft 6 in), and adraught of 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in). The submarine was powered by twoGermaniawerft F46 four-stroke, six-cylindersuperchargeddiesel engines producing a total of 2,800 to 3,200 metric horsepower (2,060 to 2,350 kW; 2,760 to 3,160 shp) for use while surfaced, twoBrown, Boveri & Cie GG UB 720/8double-acting electric motors producing a total of 750 metric horsepower (550 kW; 740 shp) for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two 1.23 m (4 ft)propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to 230 metres (750 ft).[3]
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 17.7 knots (32.8 km/h; 20.4 mph) and a maximum submerged speed of 7.6 knots (14.1 km/h; 8.7 mph).[3] When submerged, the boat could operate for 80 nautical miles (150 km; 92 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph); when surfaced, she could travel 8,500 nautical miles (15,700 km; 9,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).U-575 was fitted with five 53.3 cm (21 in)torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and one at the stern), fourteentorpedoes, one8.8 cm (3.46 in) SK C/35 naval gun, 220 rounds, and a2 cm (0.79 in) C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had acomplement of between forty-four and sixty.[3]
The submarine waslaid down on 1 August 1940 atBlohm & Voss,Hamburg, as yard number 551. She waslaunched on 30 April 1941 andcommissioned on 19 June under the command ofKapitänleutnantGünther Heydemann.
She served with the7th U-boat Flotilla until her loss (from 1 September 1941 until 13 March 1944).
U-575's first patrol was fromTrondheim in Norway; she headed for the Atlantic Ocean via thegap betweenIceland and theFaroe Islands. She swept an area southeast of Greenland and sank theTuva on 2 October 1941. The ship's crew abandoned their vessel in a pair of lifeboats and two rafts, but had to leave one of their number who had been trapped underneath debris. The neutral USdestroyerUSS Winslow, escorting convoy ON 20, came to helpTuva. AsWinslow reached the area, she closed in onU-575 and began the tracing withdepth charges, butU-575 escaped without any damage.
The submarine was the target of an air attack on 7 October, but received minimal damage. She arrived atSt. Nazaire in occupied France, on 9 October.
Having left St. Nazaire on 9 November 1941,U-575 headed for theNewfoundland and Labrador coast.
On 1 December 1941 she encountered the American tankerAstral at 35°40´N/24°00´W (ca. grid square CF75-79). The tanker had departedAruba in Venezuela, and sailed to Lissabon with a cargo of 78,200 barrels of benzine and kerosine. For many hours,U-575 huntedAstral so that she could come into a good firing position; after doing so, Captain Heydemann recognized the neutral US flag, and refrained from attacking the tanker.
On the return leg, whenU-575 was looking to re-fuel at Vigo, Spain, she wasdepth charged. The damage was serious enough to prevent her entry into the Mediterranean; she was obliged to return to St. Nazaire, which she did on 17 December.
For her third foray,U-575 left St. Nazaire on 14 January 1942. On the 25th, a lookout broke an arm in bad weather.
At the end of January,U-575 was involved withU-123 in trying, in the mid-ocean 'air-gap', to rendezvous with theSpreewald, a German blockade runner whose doctor might be able to treat one ofU123's crew members who had been injured. On the 31st,U-123 metU-575, but there was no sign of theSpreewald. She had been sunk, but it was not then known by whom.[4]
U-575's only target on this patrol was theRobin Hood, which she sank about 300 nautical miles (560 km; 350 mi) southeast ofNantucket Island (off the eastern US coast).
U-575 performed a steady stream of sinkings on her fifth sortie. TheNorlandia was sunk on 4 July 1942 andEmpire Explorer on the ninth. Additionally, she sunk two sailing ships (Comrade andGlacier) with gunfire on the 18th.
She also damagedSan Gaspar offManzilla,Trinidad[5] on the 18th. It was assumed at that time that this ship had been sunk, but she was taken in tow by the tugHMS Roode Zee toPort of Spain,[5] repaired, and returned to service in October 1943.
On the boat's sixth patrol, a man was lost overboard on 5 October 1942.
U-575 tallied another kill when she sank the troopshipMV Abosso which was sailing unescorted about 700 nautical miles (1,300 km; 810 mi) northwest of theAzores. 362 people were killed.Abosso's top speed was only 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) and therefore normally sailed only in convoys. One passenger,Dutch Navy submarine commanderLieutenant ter zee der 1e klasse H.C.J. Coumou had warned against this but the British authorities overruled him.On board were 162 crew, 20DEMS gunners to defend the ship and 210 passengers. The passengers were 149 military, 44 internees and 17 civilians, including 10 women with children. The cargo was 3,000 tons of wool and mailbags. Among the military passengers were 44 newly trained pilots of the23rd Service Flying Training School inSouthern Rhodesia and 34 Dutch submariners on their way to crew the submarineHr. Ms.Haai, which was then under construction.Haai had been laid down asHMS Varne for theRoyal Navy but had been reallocated to the Dutch Navy. 30 of the submariners were killed onAbosso and the Dutch were unable to replace them. The British authorities therefore reallocated the submarine again, and she was launched as theNorwegian NavyHNoMS Ula.
OnU-575's seventh mission, she sank the US shipCity of Flint from the convoy UGS 4 about 300 nmi (560 km; 350 mi) southeast of the Azores on 25 January 1943.
Her eighth sortie, which commenced on 22 April 1943 and finished on 11 June, was relatively uneventful.
U-575 had a new Captain,Oberleutnant zur See Wolfgang Boehmer, since September 1943, in time for her ninth patrol.
The expedition was split into four parts; the first three were only a couple of days' duration. The fourth was longer and included an approach by aB-24 Liberator which turned away when engaged by the U-boat's anti-aircraft guns. Nevertheless, she crash-dived.
U-575 was fitted with aSnorkel. On this journey she was used as weather-boat.U-575 left St. Nazaire for the last time on 29 February 1944. After sinkingHMS Asphodel northwest ofCape Finisterre on 10 March, the boat was hunted for 18 hours by convoy escorts, but escaped.
Her luck ran out on the 13th when she was sunk by the combined efforts of the Canadian frigateHMCS Prince Rupert, the American destroyerUSS Hobson and destroyer escortUSS Haverfield, a BritishVickers Wellington ofNo. 172 Squadron RAF, twoB-17 Flying Fortresses of206 and208 squadrons and aTBM Avenger fromUSS Bogue.Depth charges were used in the attack.
18 men died withU-575; there were 37 survivors.
U-575 took part in 18wolfpacks, namely:
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| Date | Ship Name | Nationality | Tonnage[Note 1] | Fate[6] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 October 1941 | Tuva |  Netherlands | 4,652 | Sunk |
| 16 April 1942 | Robin Hood |  United States | 6,887 | Sunk |
| 4 July 1942 | Norlandia |  United Kingdom | 2,689 | Sunk |
| 9 July 1942 | Empire Explorer | United Kingdom | 5,345 | Sunk |
| 18 July 1942 | Comrade | United Kingdom | 69 | Sunk |
| 18 July 1942 | Glacier | United Kingdom | 75 | Sunk |
| 18 July 1942 | San Gaspar | United Kingdom | 12,910 | Damaged |
| 29 October 1942 | Abosso | United Kingdom | 11,330 | Sunk |
| 25 January 1943 | City of Flint | United States | 4,963 | Sunk |
| 10 March 1944 | HMSAsphodel |  Royal Navy | 1,015 | Sunk |
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in March 1944 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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