German submarine U-173

German submarine U-173 was a Type IXC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

She was laid down at the AG Weser yard in Bremen as werk 1013, launched on 11 August 1941 and commissioned on 15 November with Fregattenkapitän Heinz-Ehler Beuke in command.

U-173 began her service career with training as part of the 4th U-boat Flotilla. She was re-assigned to the 2nd flotilla for operations on 1 July 1942.

1st patrol
The boat departed Kiel on 15 June 1942, moved through the North Sea and negotiated the 'gap' between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. She crossed the Atlantic Ocean and entered the Caribbean Sea. She entered Lorient, on the French Atlantic coast, on 20 September.

2nd patrol
The submarine attempted the disruption of the Operation Torch landings (the invasion of North Africa) on 11 November 1942. She attacked convoy UGF-1 which was at anchor in Fedhala Roads. She hit three ships, sinking one and damaging two more. One of the damaged vessels, the destroyer USS Hambleton, was towed to nearby Casablanca where Seabees cut the ship in two, removed about forty feet of hull, then joined the two halves together again. She survived the war.

A few days later and further north, U-173 torpedoed but did not sink, the USS Electra (AKA-4), on 15 November. This vessel also survived the war, not being broken up until 1974.

Loss
The boat was sunk by depth charges from the American destroyers USS Woolsey, Swanson and Quick on 16 November 1942.