German submarine U-513

U-513 was a Nazi German type IXC U-boat built for service in the Kriegsmarine during World War II.

She was laid down on 26 May 1941 by the naval construction firm Deutsche Werft AG in Hamburg as 'werk' 309, and commissioned on 10 January 1942. Her commanders were Korvettenkapitän Rolf Rüggeberg (January 1942 to April 1943) and Kapitänleutnant Friedrich Guggenberger (15 May to 19 July 1943). Her training period was from 10 January 1942 to 31 August, as part of the 4th U-boat Flotilla. She was then assigned to the 10th U-boat Flotilla for operations.

She sank six ships with a total tonnage of and damaged two more with a total tonnage of. The boat was a member of two wolfpacks. She was sunk by depth charges from a US aircraft in the South Atlantic Ocean in July 1943.

In 2011 after nine years research and two years of seagoing searches, the expedition led by the explorers of Schurmann Family located U-513, 85 km east of their hometown of Florianópolis. The find was announced worldwide on June 17, 2011, when the Schürmanns produced images of a Side-scanning sonar. A dive was made in 2012, where photos and video images where recorded.

1st patrol
U-513's first patrol began when she departed Kiel on 7 August 1942 and headed for the Atlantic by way of the gap between Iceland and the Faeroe Islands. Her first two successes came in Conception Bay, Newfoundland on 5 September. She arrived in Lorient, in occupied France on 22 October.

2nd patrol
Her second sortie took her far out into mid-Atlantic, but she returned to her French base empty-handed. The captain was replaced with the young captain Friedrich Guggenberger.

3rd patrol
Her third and last foray saw her close to the Brazilian coast. She was sunk southeast of São Francisco do Sul, Santa Catarina state on 19 July 1943 by a US Navy Mariner (Squadron VP-74/P-5). 46 men died; there were seven survivors, including her captain, Friedrich Guggenberger.

Discovery
The wreck was found on 14 July 2011, at a depth of 75 m, by Brazilian underwater archeologists from the Instituto Kat Schurmann and the Universidade do Vale do Itajaí (Univali). The search for U-513 was conducted with a sail boat and took two years. Another ten German submarines remain to be discovered in Brazilian coastal waters.

U-513 Found/Underwater Footage
A Brazilian project has searched Brazilian waters for the sunken U-513. She was finally found in 2011, and the first underwater videos of the boat were released in March 2012.