German submarine U-461

German submarine U-461 was a Type XIV supply and replenishment U-boat ("Milchkuh") of the of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

Her keel was laid down on 9 December 1940, by Deutsche Werke in Kiel as 'werk' 292. She was launched on 8 November 1941 and commissioned on 30 January 1942 with Oberleutnant zur See Hinrich-Oscar Bernbeck in command. Bernbeck was promoted to Kapitänleutnant by 21 April 1942, when he was relieved by Korvettenkapitän Wolf-Harro Stiebler.

Operational career
U-461 conducted six patrols. As a supply boat, she avoided combat.

1st and 2nd patrols
U-461's first patrol took her from Kiel to St. Nazaire in occupied France, via the gap between Iceland and the Faeroe Islands and out into the mid-Atlantic.

Her second patrol was much like her first; the most westerly point in the vast Atlantic wastes was reached on 30 September 1942.

3rd and 4th patrols
U-462's third sortie commenced with her departue from St. Nazaire on 19 November 1942. Travelling south, she reached the furthest spot in the patrol which was roughly between South America and Africa. There, she spent two days (according to her position reports), before moving a short distance west on 11 December 1942. She returned to her French base on 3 January 1943.

She steamed to a point west of the Canary Islands, which she reached on 2 March 1943. Having departed St. Nazaire on 13 February, she returned there for the last time on 22 March.

5th patrol
She left St.Nazaire on 20 April 1943, but was attacked on the return leg on 23 April by a Canadian Wellington of 172 squadron RAF, equipped with a Leigh Light. Three bombs were dropped, resulting in slight damage and, more seriously, a trail of oil. She returned to France, but this time to Bordeaux.

6th patrol and loss
She had left Bordeaux on 27 July 1943, but was hardly out of the Bay of Biscay, northwest of Cape Ortegal, Spain, when she was sunk on 30 July by an Australian Sunderland flying boat from No. 461 Squadron RAAF piloted by Flight Lieutenant Dudley Marrows. Coincidentally this aircraft had the registration "U", also making it known as 'U-461'. As a result of the attack, the pilot dropped an inflatable dinghy, fifteen of her crew survived; 53 were killed.