German submarine U-564
History | |
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Nazi Germany | |
Name | U-564 |
Ordered | 24 October 1939 |
Builder | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |
Yard number | 540 |
Laid down | 30 March 1940 |
Launched | 7 February 1941 |
Commissioned | 3 April 1941 |
Fate | Sunk on 14 June 1943[1] |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Type VIIC U-boat |
Displacement | |
Length |
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Beam |
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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 |
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Test depth |
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Complement | 44 to 52 officers and ratings |
Armament |
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Service record | |
Part of: |
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Identification codes: | M 40 175 |
Commanders: |
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Operations: |
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Victories: |
German submarine U-564 was a
Construction and commissioning
She was ordered on 24 October 1939 and was
Design
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).
Service history
Early patrols
Her first patrol took U-564 from Kiel to Brest in occupied France, spending a total of 41 days at sea. The patrol brought a number of successes; on 27 June Suhren came across convoy HX 133. He damaged the Norwegian tanker Kongsgaard and sank the Dutch Maasdam and the British Malaya II that day. He had one further success on that patrol, sinking the Icelandic merchantman Hekla on 29 June. U-564 put into Brest on 27 July, having sunk three merchant ships for 18,678 gross register tons (GRT), and damaged another for 9,467 GRT.[4]
She sailed again from Brest on 16 August, heading into the Atlantic. She came across
U-564 relocated to
Off the American coast
U-564 sailed from Brest on 4 April 1942, to cross the Atlantic and prey on shipping off the North American coast, including Florida. She was in position in early May and on 3 May, secured her first success, sinking the British Ocean Venus. On the 4 May, she damaged the British Eclipse, and on 5 May she damaged the American Delisle. On 8 May she sank the American merchantman Ohian, the following day she sank the Panamanian tanker Lubrafol. Her final success in American waters was to sink the Mexican tanker Potrero del Llano. U-564 arrived back in Brest on 6 June, having spent 64 days at sea and sunk four ships, for 24,390 GRT, and damaged two ships, for 13,245 GRT.[4]
U-564 repeated the exercise on her next patrol, departing Brest on 6 July to operate off the coast of South America. Whilst outward-bound across the Atlantic, Suhren came across
Fiedler takes charge
This was Suhren's last patrol as commander of U-564. He left on 1 October to become an instructor, Oberleutnant zur See Hans Fiedler took command.[4] He took the boat on two war patrols in 1943 but failed to hit any enemy ships. On one of these sorties events took a dramatic turn when the U-boat lost a crewman, Fähnrich zur See (Ensign) Heinrich Fuerhake. U-564 was transferred to operate out of Bordeaux in April 1943. She left the French port city for the final time on 9 June with four other outbound U-boats, U-185, U-358, U-634 and U-653.[4] A Royal Air Force Short Sunderland spotted the boats and attacked them off Cape Finisterre at 18.59 hours on 13 June. The aircraft targeted U-564 and dropped its bombs, but was shot down by anti-aircraft fire, killing all 11 of the crew. U-564 had sustained heavy damage and turned back, escorted by U-185.[4]
Wolfpacks
U-564 took part in six wolfpacks, namely:
- Brandenburg (16 – 19 September 1941)
- Breslau (2 – 29 October 1941)
- Natter (2 – 8 November 1942)
- Westwall (8 – 16 December 1942)
- Seeteufel (21 – 30 March 1943)
- Löwenherz (1 – 10 April 1943)
Sinking
An Armstrong Whitworth Whitley sighted the two U-boats in the Bay of Biscay the following day and shadowed them. U-564 was unable to dive due to the damage already sustained. By 16:45 hours the Whitley was running low on fuel and attacked U-564. The two U-boats damaged their attacker with anti-aircraft fire but the aircraft's depth charges fatally damaged U-564 and she sank at 17:30 hours. The damaged Whitley was forced to ditch, where a French trawler rescued the crew. There were 18 survivors from U-564 including the commander. U-185 picked them up and transferred them to the German destroyer Z24 two hours later.[4]
Summary of raiding history
Date | Ship Name | Nationality | Tonnage[Note 1] | Fate[6] |
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24 June 1941 | Kongsgaard | Norway | 9,467 | Damaged |
27 June 1941 | Maasdam | Netherlands | 8,812 | Sunk |
27 June 1941 | Malaya II | United Kingdom | 8,651 | Sunk |
29 June 1941 | Hekla | Iceland | 1,215 | Sunk |
22 August 1941 | Clonlara | Ireland | 1,203 | Sunk |
22 August 1941 | Empire Oak | United Kingdom | 484 | Sunk |
22 August 1941 | HMS Zinnia | Royal Navy | 900 | Sunk |
24 October 1941 | Alhama | United Kingdom | 1,352 | Sunk |
24 October 1941 | Ariosto | United Kingdom | 2,176 | Sunk |
24 October 1941 | Carsbreck | United Kingdom | 3,670 | Sunk |
11 February 1942 | Victolite | Canada | 11,410 | Sunk |
16 February 1942 | Opalia | United Kingdom | 6,195 | Damaged |
3 May 1942 | Ocean Venus | United Kingdom | 7,174 | Sunk |
4 May 1942 | Eclipse | United Kingdom | 9,767 | Damaged |
5 May 1942 | Delisle | United States | 3,478 | Damaged |
8 May 1942 | Ohioan | United States | 6,078 | Sunk |
9 May 1942 | Lubrafol | Panama | 7,138 | Sunk |
14 May 1942 | Potrero del Llano | Mexico | 4,000 | Sunk |
19 July 1942 | Empire Hawksbill | United Kingdom | 5,724 | Sunk |
19 July 1942 | Lavington Court | United Kingdom | 5,372 | Sunk |
19 August 1942 | British Consul | United Kingdom | 6,940 | Sunk |
19 August 1942 | Empire Cloud | United Kingdom | 5,969 | Sunk |
30 August 1942 | Vardaas | Norway | 8,176 | Sunk |
References
Notes
- gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.
Citations
- ^ Kemp 1999, p. 125.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Reinhard Suhren (Knight's Cross)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Hans Fiedler". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-564". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net.
- ^ a b c d Gröner 1991, pp. 43–46.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-564". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
Bibliography
- Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II : a biographical dictionary. Translated by Brooks, Geoffrey. London, Annapolis, Md: Greenhill Books, Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-186-6.
- Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999). Deutsche U-Boot-Verluste von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 [German U-boat losses from September 1939 to May 1945]. Der U-Boot-Krieg (in German). Vol. IV. Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn: Mittler. ISBN 3-8132-0514-2.
- Gröner, Erich; Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin (1991). U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels. German Warships 1815–1945. Vol. 2. Translated by Thomas, Keith; Magowan, Rachel. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-593-4.
- Paterson, Lawrence (2005). U 564 auf Feindfahrt—70 Tage an Bord [U 564 on War Patrol—70 Days on Bord] (in German). Stuttgart, Germany: Motorbuch-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-613-02528-8.
- Kemp, Paul (1999). U-Boats Destroyed - German Submarine Losses in the World Wars. London: Arms & Armour. ISBN 1-85409-515-3.
External links
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIC boat U-564". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- Hofmann, Markus. "U 564". Deutsche U-Boote 1935-1945 - u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 28 December 2014.