German submarine U-79 (1941)

German submarine U-79 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Kriegsmarine built by the Bremer Vulkan-Vegesacker Werft, Bremen-Vegesack. Her keel was laid down on 17 April 1940, by Bremer Vulkan of Bremen-Vegesack, Germany as 'werk' 7. She was launched on 25 January 1941 and commissioned on 13 March, with Kapitänleutnant Wolfgang Kaufmann in command until the U-boat's loss.

The boat was sunk on 23 December 1941 north of Sollum, by two British warships.

Operational history
U-79 conducted three patrols whilst serving with 1st U-boat Flotilla from 13 March 1941 to 30 September. She was then reassigned to the 23rd U-boat Flotilla from 1 October until she was sunk.

1st patrol
The boat's first patrol began with her departure from Kiel on 5 June 1941. Her route took her north 'up' the North Sea and through the 'gap' separating Iceland and the Faroe Islands toward the Atlantic Ocean.

She sank the Havtor west of Iceland on the 11th and damaged the Tibia at 59° 55N 39°W (southwest of the island), on the 27th.

U-79 then docked at the newly captured port of Lorient on the French Atlantic coast on 5 July.

2nd and 3rd patrols
The boat's second foray was further south than her first. She sank the Kellwyn about 350 mi northwest of Cape Finisterre in Spain on 27 July 1941.

She was unsuccessfully attacked with depth charges by convoy escorts near the Portuguese coast on 12 August.

U-79's third sortie hardly left the Bay of Biscay and only lasted five days (14-18 September 1941).

4th and 5th patrols
Patrol number four necessitated the boat getting past the heavily defended British base at Gibraltar to reach the Mediterranean Sea which she had by 5 October 1941. She then negotiated the Straits of Messina [between Sicily and the Italian mainland] and moved toward the North African coast. There she encountered the British gunboat HMS Gnat and sank her 30 mi northeast of Bardia (Al Burdi) on 21 October. She reached Salamis in Greece on 23 October 1941.

U-79 returned to the North African coast for her fifth patrol at the end of November but her luck had deserted her. She returned to Salamis with nothing to show for her efforts on 8 December.

6th patrol and loss
Leaving Salamis for the last time on 21 December 1941, she was sunk a couple of days later (on the 23rd), by depth charges dropped by the British destroyers HMS Hasty and Hotspur. All U-79's crewmembers (44 men) survived the attack.