German submarine U-425

German submarine U-425 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

She carried out nine patrols. She sank no ships.

She was a member of eight wolfpacks.

She was sunk by British warships, near Murmansk in February 1945.

Service history
The submarine was laid down on 23 May 1941 at the Danziger Werft at Danzig (now Gdansk) as 'werk' 126, launched on 19 December 1942 and commissioned on 21 April 1943 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Heinz Bentzien.

She served with the 8th U-boat Flotilla from 21 April 1943 for training and the 9th flotilla from 1 November for operations. She was reassigned to the 11th flotilla on 1 January 1944, then the 13th flotilla on 15 September of that year.

1st patrol
U-425's first patrol began with her departure from Kiel on 20 November 1943. Having cleared the Kattegat and Skagerrak, the boat followed the Norwegian coast to Bergen; arriving there on the 25th.

2nd patrol
The submarine criss-crossed the Norwegian and Barents Seas between the North Cape and Bear Island before docking in Hammerfest on 2 February 1944.

3rd and 4th patrols
The boat's third and fourth patrols were relatively uneventful; the latter following short trips from Hammerfest to Bergen, to Narvik. The patrol itself was carried out between Jan Mayen and Bear Islands.

6th, 7th, 8th and 9th patrols and loss
A regular pattern then emerged between Hammerfest and Narvik. Part of her sixth sortie took U-425 as far north and east as the southern end of Novaya Zemlya in the Pechoskoye More.

The boat was sunk by depth charges dropped by the British sloop HMS Lark and the corvette Alnwick Castle near Murmansk on 17 February 1945.