German submarine U-978

"U-978" was a World War II German Type VIIC submarine operated by the Kriegsmarine. U-978 holds the distiniction of having completed the longest underwater patrol of World War II.

U-978 was commissioned on 12 May 1943 and assigned to 5. Unterseebootsflottille (German submarine flotilla) for crew training. On 1 August 1944, U-978 was assigned to 3. Unterseebootsflottille for operational service, U-978 completed one patrol with 3. Unterseebootsflottille, on 4 September 1944 she was ordered to 11. Unterseebootsflottille. On 5 September U-978 began service with 11. Unterseebootsflottille, during her second war patrol, U-978 completed the longest underwater "Schnorchel" patrol of World War II, lasting 68-DaysBishop, p.116.] . The record-breaking patrol began on 9 October 1944 when U-978 left Bergen, Norway and ended on 16 December when she returned back to Bergen from her patrol. Note that the famed underwater patrol of U-977, during her surrender to Argentina, was not the longest, as sometimes stated, it lasted 66-days. During her two patrols U-978, did not sink any ships, but damaged one ship beyond repair, which totalled GRT|7,176. U-978 survived the war as did her whole crew, U-978 was sunk on 11 December 1945 during Operation Deadlight by torpedoes at location coord|55|50|N|10|05|W|scale:20000000.

Notes

References

*Bishop, C. "Kriegsmarine U-Boats, 1939 –45". Amber Books, 2006.
* [http://uboat.net/boats/u978.htm uboat.net] . Retrieved, 14 February 2007.