German submarine U-450

The German submarine U-450 was a Type VIIC U-boat in the service of Nazi Germany during World War II. The submarine was laid down in July 1941 in Danzig, Germany (now Poland). She was launched in July 1942 and commissioned in September that year. During her career with the Kriegsmarine, U-450 never sank any ships.

Construction and Design
U-450 was ordered by the Kriegsmarine on 21 November 1940. She was laid down about eight months later at F Schichau GmbH, Danzig on 22 July 1941. Just under a year later, U-450 was launched on 4 July 1942. She was formally commissioned on 12 September. U-450 carried five × 533 mm torpedo tubes, (four located in the bow, one in the stern) and had a C35 88mm/L45 deck gun with 220 rounds. She could also carry 14 G7e torpedoes or 26 TMA mines and had a crew of 44-52 men. Her emblem was a laughing sawfish, similar to that of U-96.

Patrols
On 27 May 1943, three days after she was redesignated from a training vessel to a front-line service boat, U-450 set out for her first patrol from Kiel, the home base of the 9th U-boat Flotilla under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Kurt Böhme. As the boat surfaced off the coast of Iceland on 6 June, she came under attack from a British B-17 Flying Fortress squadron, which wounded seven men. 16 days later, (with assistance from other boats due to the damage caused by the attack), she arrived at Brest in France. The patrol lasted 27 days, the longest of her career.

On 17 October 1943, U-450 left Brest for Toulon. She arrived at the port city 23 days later.

On 10 February 1944, ten days after a fire in her engine room had swept one man overboard and forced her to return to base, U-450 left Toulon for the Italian coast, presumably to attack support ships coming to reinforce Allied troops which had just landed at Anzio. Exactly one month later, she came under depth charge attack by the British escort destroyers HMS Blankney, HMS Blencathra (L 24), HMS Brecon (L76) and HMS Exmoor and the American escort destroyer USS Madison (DD-425). The submarine sank, but all 42 crew members were rescued by the destroyers and became prisoners of war.