Unterseeboot 515

Unterseeboot 515 (or U-515) was a World War II German Type IXC submarine commissioned in 1942 and sunk in 1944. U-515 completed six operational patrols and sunk 23 ships, badly damaged two ships which later sank, and damaged two additional ships.

Early history

The keel of U-515 was laid down on 8 May 1941 at Deutsche Werft AG in Hamburg, Germany. U-515 was commissioned on 21 February 1942 and issued to the 4th submarine flotilla (German: "4. Unterseebootsflottille" ) for training. During training U-515 conducted listening tests in early May, torpedo firing tests, and in early July tactical exercises with other U-boats. U-515 served with the 4th submarine flotilla until 31 August 1942.

Operational history

On 1 September 1942 U-515 was assigned to an operational submarine unit, the 10th submarine flotilla (German: "10. Unterseebootsflottille").

First patrol

U-515 left for her first patrol on 8 September 1942 from Stettin, but stopped at Kiel to top-off with fuel. On 11 September U-515 left Kiel for her first patrol; during this patrol U-515 sank ten ships, six of which have been identified.
*"Stanvac Melbourne" - Panamanian tanker, sunk on 12 September by torpedoes
*"Woensdrecht" - Dutch tanker, sunk on 12 September by torpedoes
*"Ocean Vanguard" - British freighter sunk on 13 September by torpedoes
*"Mae" – American freighter, sunk on 17 September with deck gun
*"Reedpool" - British freighter, sunk on 20 September by torpedoes
*"Lindvangen" - Norwegian freighter, sunk on 23 September by torpedoes On 20 October U-515 returned to her base at Lorient, France.

econd patrol

On 7 November U-515 left Lorient for her second patrol. While patrolling the African coast, on the night of 11 November, U-515 attacked a British depot ship (probably "HMS Hecla", which was attacked on 11 November and sank on 12 November), and was subsequently depth-charged by a British destroyer (probably "HMS Venomous"). While patrolling the mid-Atlantic on 6 December U-515 spotted and sunk the passenger ship SS Ceramic. U-515 patrolled the Azores for about a week, then returned to Lorient on 5 or 6 January 1943.

Third patrol

Minor repairs were carried out on U-515, and on 20 February 1943, U-515 left Lorient for her third patrol. While patrolling the West coast of Africa, on 4 March U-515 sunk the British freighter, "SS California Star". U-515 sank a second ship on her third patrol, but it could not be identified. On 29 April U-515 was attacked by Catalina Flying-boats. U-515 fired at the aircraft with her 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, but did not shoot any aircraft down. The aircraft did not cause any damage to U-515, and U-515 submerged after the attack. During a 12-hour period on the night of 30 April and 1 May, U-515 attacked convoy TS 37 off Freetown and sunk seven ships. The ships sunk by U-515 were:
*"Kota Tjandi" – Dutch freighter, sunk on 30 April by torpedoes
*"Bandar Shapour" – British freighter, sunk on 30 April by torpedoes
*"Corabella" – British freighter, sunk on 30 April by torpedoes
*"Nagina" – British freighter, sunk on 30 April by torpedoes
*"Mokambo" – Belgian freighter, attacked on 1 May with torpedoes, sunk on 2 May
*"City of Singapore" – British freighter, sunk on 1 May by torpedoes
*"Clan Mac Pherson" – British freighter, sunk on 1 May by torpedoesA few days after the attack on convoy TS 37, U-515 was re-supplied with fuel and torpedoes by U-460. U-515 continued on her patrol and on 9 May sank the Norwegian freighter Cornville with torpedoes. On 23 June, U-515 completed her third patrol, returning to Lorient. In recognition of U-515’s successful third patrol, all crewmen were given long leaves and many awarded the Iron Cross, Second class.

Fourth patrol

Extensive repairs were carried out on U-515; she was ready to sail again in later August 1943. U-515 left Lorient on 29 August to patrol the West coast of Africa. About one week into her patrol U-515 spotted a convoy off the Azores and started to attack; however, she was detected by a convoy escort and damaged by depth charges. U-515 was badly damaged in the attack and forced to return to base for repairs, U-515 reached Lorient on 12 September.

Fifth patrol

Repairs on U-515 took six weeks and were completed by late October. On 1 November 1943, U-515 left Lorient. U-515 stopped at St. Nazaire to pick up two "T5 Zaunkönig" torpedoes, which were designed to zigzag to improve their chances of finding a target within a convoy. U-515 left St. Nazaire on 9 November and started patrolling off the Azores and Portuguese coast. About a week into her patrol, U-515 spotted a convoy, but was in turn spotted by aircraft. U-515 submerged, but was detected by destroyers. Three destroyers depth-charged U-515 for several hours and caused major damage. The main ballast tank and reserve oil tank were ruptured; several batteries, the electronics, and the forward hydroplane motor were also damaged. Several more attacks were made on U-515. U-515 had nearly run out of air when the attacks stopped, and she was finally able to surface. Despite extensive damage, the crew decided to repair U-515 at sea [Navy department Office, p.37] and on 22 November U-515 was repaired. U-515 started to patrol the West coast of Africa, on 17 December, and U-515 torpedoed a freighter (possibly the British ship "Kingswood"). Two days later U-515 sunk another ship, possibly the British freighter "Phemus". While returning to base, U-515 sank a third ship, possibly the British freighter "Dumana" on 24 December. On 16 January 1944 U-515 reached Lorient. As she was sailing into port, two British Mosquito bombers were spotted, but anti-aircraft fire from U-515's 2-cm guns drove them away.

ixth and final patrol

Major repairs were carried out on U-515, including installation of new batteries. Repairs were completed by late March and on 30 March 1944, U-515 left Lorient. On 8 April U-515 spotted a carrier-based plane and submerged; an hour later U-515 surfaced and was attacked by another plane. U-515 fired at the plane with her 3.7-cm anti-aircraft. The plane's bombs missed U-515 and U-515 failed to shoot down the plane, then again submerged. On 9 April U-515 was sunk north of Madeira by rockets fired from Avenger and Wildcat aircraft from the escort carrier USS "Guadalcanal" and depth charges from the destroyers USS "Pope", USS "Pillsbury", USS "Chatelain" and USS "Flaherty". Sixteen of U-515's crew were killed, but 44 survived the attack. [Miller, p.188] The survivors were picked up by the destroyers and later transferred to the USS "Guadalcanal". [Navy department Office, p.45] The commander of U-515, Werner Henke, was among the survivors. Later, in June 1944, he was shot and killed trying to escape Fort Meade, while being held as a prisoner of war in the United States. [Williamson, p.233]

Tonnage sunk

During U-515's career, she sank 23 ships and damaged two others which later sank, plus damaging another two ships which did not sink. Of the 25 total ships sunk, 21 were freighters totaling GRT|131,769|metric|first=yes; two warships totaling GRT|19,277|metric; one freighter which later sunk totaling GRT|4,668|metric; and one warship which later sunk totaling 1,350 tons [Bishop, p.102] . U-515 also damaged one freighter totaling GRT|6,034|metric and damaged one warship totaling 1,920 tons [Bishop, p.102] .

Footnotes

References

*Bishop, C. "Kriegsmarine U-Boats, 1939 -45". Amber Books, 2006.
*Helgason, G. "U-515". UBoat.Net Accessed 30 May 2007. From http://uboat.net/boats/u515.htm.
*Miller, D. "U-Boats: the Illustrated History of the Raiders of the Deep". Washington: Brassey’s Inc, 2000.
*Navy department Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Washington. "Report of the interrogation of survivors from U-515 sunk on 9 April, 1944 and U-68 sunk on 10 April 1944". Washington, 17 June 1944. Accessed 30 May 2007. From http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-515INT.htm
*Williamson, G. "Wolf Pack: The Story of the U-Boat in World War II". Osprey, 2005.