German submarine U-753

German submarine U-753 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for the German Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. Commissioned on 18 June 1941, she served with 3rd U-boat Flotilla until 30 November as a training boat, and as a front boat until 13 May 1943 under the command of Alfred Manhardt von Mannstein.

Service Record
On her sixty-five day fourth Patrol, U-753 sank two vessels and damaging a further two in the West Indies. Her first victim was twenty-eight days into her voyage, an American merchant vessel, the George Calvert on 20 May 1942. George Calvert was destroyed by three torpedoes off the coast of Cuba, killing three of her fifty-one man crew.

Two days later, E.P. Theriault, a British sailing ship, was attacked by U-753. She did not sink, however, and was taken back to Cuba and repaired. Three days later, on the morning of the 25th, the Norwegian tanker Haakon Hauan was hit by one of U-753's torpedoes. This vessel also survived and was repaired. The Norwegian tanker Hamlet, however, did not escape when she encountered the U-boat two days later. Three torpedoes were fired between eleven o'clock and noon. All thirty-six crewmembers survived the sinking and were rescued by nearby fishing boats.

U-753's sixth patrol had her patrolling the North Atlantic, on the European side. Twenty-five days into her forty-two day voyage on 22 February, U-753 found the ON-166 convoy in the mid-Atlantic, her target: the Norwegian Whale ship N.T. Nielsen-Alonso. The vessel had in fact been abandoned earlier that day after an attack from GS U-92 (1942). U-753 fired two coups de grâce and one torpedo at the ship, failing to sink it. The submarine was forced to leave after a Corvette took notice.

Fate
U-753 set off on her seventh and final patrol on 5 May 1943. Nine days in, she was discovered ten miles away from convoy HX-237 by a Sunderland aircraft of No. 423 Squadron RCAF. After a twenty-minute exchange of fire with the aircraft, U-753 dove when the corvette HMCS Drumheller joined the engagement. The aircraft dropped two depth charges immediately after. An aircraft from the escort carrier HMS Biter (D97) marked the location of the Submarine with smoke flares. HMS Lagan caught up to the Drumheller and the two dropped depth charges, finally sinking U-753, all 47 crewmen were lost at sea.