German submarine U-656

U-Boat Infobox
type=VIIC | fieldpost number=
yard number=805
order date=9 October, 1939
keel=
launch=8 July, 1941
commission=17 September, 1941| yard=Howaldtswerke, Hamburg
U-Boat Patrol
startdate=Start Date
enddate=End Date
assigned unit=Assigned Unit
U-Boat Patrol
startdate=No Patrols
enddate=Training boat
assigned unit=5. Unterseebootflottille| U-Boat Patrol
startdate=15 January, 1942
enddate=28 January, 1942
assigned unit=1. Unterseebootflottille| U-Boat Patrol
startdate=4 February, 1942
enddate=1 March, 1942
assigned unit=1. Unterseebootflottille| U-Boat Patrol
startdate=
enddate=
assigned unit=
U_Boat Command
startdate=August, 1941
enddate=1 March, 1942
name=Kptlt. Ernst Kröning| U_Boat Command
startdate=
enddate=
name=
U_Boat Sink
type=Type of Ship Sunk
total=Number of Ships Sunk
tonnage=Gross Registered Tonnage
U_Boat Sink
type=Commercial Vessels
total=-
tonnage=-
U_Boat Sink
type=Military Vessels
total=-
tonnage=-

German submarine "U-656" was a German World War II Type VIIC submarine. Her creation was ordered on 9 October 1939, and the keel was laid on 4 September 1940. Construction on U-656 was carried out by Hamburg company Howaldtswerke in Yard 805. She was launched on 8 July 1941 and commissioned on 17 September 1941.

U-656 went into service initially with 5. Unterseebootflottille (U-Boat Flotilla) for training from September 1941 until December 1941. She moved into operational service with 1. Unterseebootflottille on 1 January 1942, and was commanded by Ernst Kröning.

U-656 made two patrols, but did not sink any ships. Her first patrol lasted almost two weeks: after departing Kiel on 15 January 1942, she put in at Brest, France on 28 January. The submarine departed Brest on 4 February 1942, but never completed her second patrol. On 1 March 1942, while in the North Atlantic Ocean south of Cape Race, Newfoundland, Canada, she was sunk with all hands by depth charges dropped by a United States Navy Lockheed Hudson of patrol squadron VP-82, making U-656 the first U-boat to be sunk by the U.S. Navy in World War II.

References

*Bishop, C. "Kriegsmarine U-Boats, 1939-45" Amber Books, 2006
* [http://www.uboat.net/boats/u656.htm "U 656" at Uboat.net]
*cite web |url= http://www.ubootwaffe.net|title= ubootwaffe.net: Kriegsmarine and U-Boat history |accessdate=2007-01-18 |work= ubootwaffe.net