German submarine U-75 (1940)

U-Boat Infobox
type=VIIB
fieldpost number=
yard number=
order date=
keel=15 December 1939
launch=18 October 1940
commission=9 December 1940
yard=Bremer Vulkan, Vegesack
U-Boat Patrol
startdate=Start Date
enddate=End Date
assigned unit=Assigned Unit
U-Boat Patrol
startdate=10 April 1944
enddate=12 May 1944
assigned unit=7th FlotillaU-Boat Patrol
startdate=29 May 1944
enddate=3 July 1944
assigned unit=7th FlotillaU-Boat Patrol
startdate=29 July 1944
enddate=25 August 1941
assigned unit=7th FlotillaU-Boat Patrol
startdate=27 September 1944
enddate=2 November 1941
assigned unit=7th FlotillaU-Boat Patrol
startdate=22 December 1941
enddate=28 December 1941
assigned unit=10th FlotillaU_Boat Command
startdate=December 1940
enddate=December 1941
name=Kptlt. Helmuth Ringelmann
U_Boat Sink
type=Type of Ship Sunk
total=Number of Ships Sunk
tonnage=Gross Registered Tonnage
U_Boat Sink
type=Commercial Vessels
total=6
tonnage=21,046
U_Boat Sink
type=Military Vessels
total=None
tonnage=0

Unterseeboot 75 (usually abbreviated to U-75) was a German submarine built during World War II. A VII Type U-boat, "U-75" was moderately successful her early career in the Second Battle of the Atlantic, but in autumn 1941 she was dispatched to the Mediterranean Sea with poor results leading to the eventual destruction of the boat and its crew.

War Patrols

Completed in December 1940, "U-75" was available for service from April following the completion of her working-up period and sea trials. Her captain, Kplt Helmuth Ringelmann, was a good sea officer, who made an impact within three weeks of her initial patrol starting, when on 29 April "U-75" torpedoed and sank the 10,000 ton liner SS "City of Nagpur" in the Central North Atlantic Ocean, killing sixteen sailors [ [http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/892.html uboat.net - Allied Ships hit by U-boats - City of Nagpur (Steam passenger ship) ] ] .

This success was followed in her second patrol with another victim, this time a Dutch freighter, and her third patrol scored a British cargo ship as well. These operations were conducted from the new submarine base at St Nazaire, which provided type VII boats like "U-75" with a greater patrol range and cruising ability, thus conferring an essential advantage. The boat’s fourth patrol was more unusual, requiring her to slip unnoticed through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean to attack allied shipping operating from Gibraltar, Malta and Egypt. She was accompanied in this task by " U-371, U-559, U-97, U-79 " and "U-331 ", which together formed the Goeben group, so named for the German battleship of the same name which had terrorised the Mediterranean in 1914.

For the operations in the Mediterranean, "U-75"’s home base was now Salamis Island in Greece, where she arrived on the 2 November. On the journey there, the boat had taken a successful detour along the Libyan coast to see if she could catch any British resupply convoys. On 12 October she had seen just such a convoy and managed to sink two coastal barges with gunfire before she escaped. Her final patrol was in December 1941, and consisted of a similar sweep along the Libyan coast. On 28 December, six days since leaving Salamis, a small coastal convoy was spotted off Mersa Matruh and "U-75" launched an attack which sank a small British freighter. The convoy's escorts had spotted the boat however, and HMS "Kipling" ran the submarine down and dropped depth charges on the boat. The explosions forced "U-75" to the surface, where 30 of her crew were rescued and taken prisoner by her erstwhile opponent before the boat heeled over and sank, taking 15 men down with her, including her only captain.

Raiding career

References

* Sharpe, Peter, "U-Boat Fact File", Midland Publishing, Great Britain: 1998. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.
* [http://www.uboat.net/boats/u75.htm U-boat.net webpage for "U-75"]

*See Also: List of U-boats
*For other U-boats designated "U-75", see Unterseeboot 75