German submarine U-581

German submarine U-581 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

She carried out two patrols and sank one auxiliary warship of 364 tons.

She was sunk by a British warship near the Azores, in February 1942.

Service history
The submarine was laid down on 25 September 1940 at Blohm & Voss, Hamburg as 'werk' 557, launched on 12 June 1941 and commissioned on 31 July under the command of Kapitänleutnant Werner Pfeifer.

She served with the 5th U-boat Flotilla from 31 July 1941 for training and moved to the 7th flotilla for operations until her loss, from 1 December 1941 to 2 February 1942.

1st patrol
The boat departed Kiel on 13 December 1941, moved through the North Sea, negotiated the 'gap' between the Faroe and Shetland Islands and entered the Atlantic Ocean. She docked at St. Nazaire on the French Atlantic coast on the 24th.

2nd patrol and loss
For her second foray, U-581 left St. Nazaire on 11 January 1942. On the 19th, she likely sank the British armed trawler HMS Rosemondenortheast of the Azores. There is an element of doubt because the small warship was not reported missing until this date. The boat was sunk by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Westcott near the Azores, in February 1942.

Four men died; there were 41 survivors.

One of U-581's officers, Walter Sitek, swam six kilometres to land. He was repatriated to Germany through neutral Spain. Sitek survived the war.