German submarine U-662

German submarine U-662 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was laid down on 7 May 1941 by Deutsche Werft, Hamburg as yard number 811, launched on 22 January 1942 and commissioned on 9 April 1942 under Korvettenkapitän Wolfgang Hermann.

Design
German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines. U-662 had a displacement of 769 t when at the surface and 871 t while submerged. She had a total length of 67.10 m, a pressure hull length of 50.50 m, a beam of 6.20 m, a height of 9.60 m, and a draught of 4.74 m. The submarine was powered by two Germaniawerft F46 four-stroke, six-cylinder supercharged diesel engines producing a total of 2800 to 3200 PS for use while surfaced, two Siemens-Schuckert GU 343/38–8 double-acting electric motors producing a total of 750 PS for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two 1.23 m propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to 230 m.

The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 17.7 kn and a maximum submerged speed of 7.6 kn. When submerged, the boat could operate for 80 nmi at 4 kn; when surfaced, she could travel 8500 nmi at 10 kn. U-662 was fitted with five 53.3 cm torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and one at the stern), fourteen torpedoes, one 8.8 cm SK C/35 naval gun, 220 rounds, and an anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty.

Service history
The boat's career began with training at 5th U-boat Flotilla on 9 April 1942, followed by active service on 1 October 1942 as part of the 7th Flotilla for the remainder of her service.

In 4 patrols she sank 3 merchant ships, for a total of and damaged one merchant ship.

Wolfpacks
U-662 took part in eleven wolfpacks, namely
 * Panther (6–12 October 1942)
 * Leopard (12–19 October 1942)
 * Südwärts (24–26 October 1942)
 * Delphin (4–5 November 1942)
 * Spitz (22–31 December 1942)
 * Jaguar (18–31 January 1943)
 * Without name (27–30 March 1943)
 * Adler (7–13 April 1943)
 * Meise (13–22 April 1943)
 * Specht (22 April – 4 May 1943)
 * Fink (4–6 May 1943)

Convoy ONS 154
On the night on 26 December 1942 U-662 reported sighting Convoy ONS 154.

U-662 sunk the crippled and straggling Ville de Rouen which had been attacked earlier by GS U-225.

July 1943
On 19 July a US Liberator bomber dropped four depth charges, but broke off the attack after sustaining flak damage. U-662 escaped undamaged. The next day, U-662 was again attacked by US aircraft, this time a Douglas B-18 Bolo aircraft, but again she escaped undamaged. She was sunk the following day.

Fate
U-662 was sunk on 21 July 1943 in the North Atlantic in position 3.93333°N, -48.76667°W, by depth charges from US Catalina from Patrol Squadron VP-94. Apart from the commander and two other crew members, all hands were lost.

Oberleutnant zur See Heinz-Eberhard Müller was so severely injured that he was repatriated to Germany in March 1944 as he was no longer fit for combat.