German submarine U-376

German submarine U-376 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

The submarine was laid down in April 1940 in Kiel, launched in July 1941, and commissioned in August 1941 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Friedrich-Karl Marks.

U-376 was attached to the 6th U-boat Flotilla, and was ready for front-line service from 1 March 1942. Operating from Norwegian bases, from July 1942 she served with the 11th U-boat Flotilla, and was transferred to the 3rd U-boat Flotilla, based in France, in early 1943.

U-376 sailed on eight combat patrols, sinking only two merchant ships totalling 10,146 tons before she went missing in the Bay of Biscay in April 1943.

Construction
U-376 was ordered by the Kriegsmarine on 16 October 1939. She was laid down about six months later at the Howaldtswerke yard in Kiel, on 3 April 1940. Just over a year and three months later, U-376 was launched in Kiel on 10 July 1941. She was formally commissioned into the Kriegsmarine later that year on 21 August.

Design
Like all type VIIC submarines, U-376 carried five 533 mm torpedo tubes (four located in the bow, one in the stern) and had one C35 88mm/L45 deck gun with 220 rounds. She could also carry 14 G7e torpedoes or 26 TMA mines and had a crew of 44-52 men. Her propulsion consisted of two supercharged Germaniawerft 6-cylinder 4-stroke M6V 40/46 diesel engines that had a total of 2800 - 3200 bhp. Her maximum rpm was between 470 and 490. She was also equipped with two electric motors totalling 750 shp and had a maximum rpm of 296. This power-train enabled U-376 to have a maximum speed of 17.7 kn while on the surface and 7.6 kn when submerged. She had range of 15170 km at 10 kn when she was surfaced and 150 km at 4 kn while submerged. Her test depth was 230 m; while her crush depth was 250 - 295 m.

1st patrol
U-376, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Friedrich-Karl Marks, left Kiel on 11 March 1942, arriving at Heligoland in the North Sea the next day. She sailed on her first combat patrol on the 15th, heading north into the Barents Sea. There, on 30 March she torpedoed and sank the 5,086 ton British merchant ship Induna, part of the Arctic convoy PQ-13, en -route to Murmansk.

Forty-one survivors, from the crew of 66, abandoned ship in two lifeboats in temperatures around -20°C and freezing winds. Only 30 were still alive on 2 April when they were picked up by a Russian minesweeper, two subsequently died of exposure.

The U-boat arrived at Kirkenes in the far northeast of Norway, on 1 April 1942.

2nd and 3rd patrols
U-376 sailed on two patrols from Kirkenes, from 7 to 20 April, and from 29 April to 6 May, without success, before sailing to Bergen in Norway in early May.

4th patrol
U-376 left Bergen on 7 June 1942, sailing to the waters north of Iceland before returning to the Barents Sea. where on 10 July, she sank the 5,060 ton American Hog Islander Hoosier, en route to Arkhangelsk with a cargo of 5,029 tons of machinery and explosives, and tanks as deck cargo. Part of Convoy PQ 17, the ship had been bombed the previous day by several Junkers Ju 88 aircraft of KG 30, which had disabled the engines. Taken in tow by HMS La Malouine (K46) she was abandoned when GS U-255 was sighted in pursuit. The drifting wreck of Hoosier was hit by two torpedoes from U-376 and sank.

The U-boat arrived at Narvik on 15 July, sailing to Bergen after three days, before spending August to October at Wilhelmshaven and Kiel. She returned to Bergen on 25 October, then sailed to Skjomenfjord on 3 November 1942.

5th patrol
U-376 left Skjomenfjord on 5 November to patrol the Barents Sea once more, arriving at Narvik on 8 December, having had no success.

6th patrol
She returned to Bergen before setting out once more on 26 January 1943, but was attacked by Allied aircraft the next day and was forced to return to base with several crewmen wounded.

7th patrol
The U-boat left Bergen on 30 January, but during the night her third watch officer was washed overboard. U-376 returned to Bergen to embark a replacement and departed the same day. This patrol took her out into the Atlantic, south of Greenland, before she arrived at her new home port of La Pallice in France on 13 March.

8th patrol and loss
U-376 sailed from La Pallice on 6 April 1943 on a mission codenamed Operation Elster ("Magpie"), to take on board German Naval officers who had escaped from a POW camp at North Point on Prince Edward Island, Canada. U-376 was preceded by the mission's backup boat, GS U-262, which had left from the same port on 27 March, but had had to return due to a defective air vent, and sailed again on 7 April.

While some believe that U-376 was sunk on 7 May 1943 off Prince Edward Island, the U-boat failed to send the mandatory radio signal to report that she had successfully exited the Bay of Biscay and was listed as having been lost on 13 April 1943.