German submarine U-758

German submarine U-758 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for the German Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. Commissioned on 5 May 1942, she served with the 6th U-boat Flotilla until 1 November as a training boat, and as a front boat until 14 October 1944 mostly under the command of Kapitänleutnant Gerhard Bigalk before joining the 33rd U-boat Flotilla as a training boat for the remainder of her service in the war.

Service Record
Built in werk 131 of the Kriegsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven, U-758 served on seven patrols with the 6th U-boat Flotilla.

The submarine's first patrol of 41 days between 14 November and 24 December 1942 from Kiel to St. Nazaire was uneventful. Her second patrol from 14 February to 30 March 1943 was not. Midway across the Atlantic ocean on 17 March, U-758 with Wolf pack Raubgraf made contact with and attacked convoy "HX-229" which was eastbound, delivering goods from the United States to the United Kingdom. U-758 destroyed two ships from the 37-ship convoy: The Dutch ship Zaanland (6,813 GRT) and the American Liberty Ship James Oglethorpe (7,176 GRT). Torpedoes fired at the Dutch motor tanker Magdala missed their mark.

U-758 undertook five more combat patrols but did not sink or damage any further ships.

Fate
The veteran submarine was caught in the open during a British raid on the port of Kiel. Badly damaged, she was stricken from the navy list on 16 March, 1945. At the cessation of hostilities she was surrendered to the allies. Deemed too badly damaged to be sunk as part of Operation Deadlight, she was instead broken up for scrap beginning in 1946.

Table
Departure
 * Kiel
 * St. Nazaire
 * Bordeaux
 * St. Nazaire
 * Lorient
 * St. Nazaire
 * St. Nazaire

Time
 * 14 Nov 1942
 * 14 Feb 1943
 * 15 May 1943
 * 1 Sep 1943
 * 16 Dec 1943
 * 6 Jun 1944
 * 23 Aug 1944

Arrival
 * St. Nazaire
 * Bordeaux
 * St. Nazaire
 * Lorient
 * St. Nazaire
 * St. Nazaire
 * Bergen

Time
 * 24 Dec 1942
 * 30 Mar 1943
 * 16 May 1943
 * 24 Oct 1943
 * 20 Jan 1944
 * 15 Jun 1944
 * 10 Oct 1944

Days
 * 41 days
 * 45 days
 * 33 days
 * 54 days
 * 36 days
 * 10 days
 * 49 days