German submarine U-336

German submarine U-336 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 28 March 1941 at the Nordseewerke yard at Emden as 'werk' 208, launched on 4 December and commissioned on 14 February 1942 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Hans Hunger.

Service history
After training with the 5th U-boat Flotilla, she moved to the 1st flotilla for front-line service in December 1942.

The boat carried out five patrols, sinking one ship.

She was a member of ten wolfpacks.

1st patrol
The boat's first patrol was very brief; starting and finishing in Kiel on the 12th and 13 November 1942.

2nd patrol
Her second foray also started in Kiel, but terminated in Brest in occupied France after passing between the Faroe and Shetland Islands. She sank the Belgian tanker President Francqui on 29 December 1942 north of the Azores. The ship had already been hit by two torpedoes. U-336 finished her off with a 'coup de grâce'.

3rd patrol
The submarine's third sortie was again into the mid-Atlantic. She spent days scouring the empty wastes, but returned to Brest without success.

4th patrol
U-336s fourth patrol was, at 71 days, her longest. She was attacked by an unidentified aircraft on 10 July 1943 west of Lisbon. Slight damage was the result.

5th patrol and loss
U-336 left Brest for the last time on 14 September 1943. Initially she headed west, out of the Bay of Biscay. On the 24th, she turned north. On 5 October, she was sunk by rockets fired by a British Lockheed Hudson of No. 269 Squadron RAF in the Denmark Strait, (between Greenland and Iceland).

Fifty men died; there were no survivors.