German submarine U-448

German submarine U-448 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

She carried out four patrols. She sank no ships.

She was a member of ten wolfpacks.

She was sunk by Allied warships, northeast of the Azores, in April 1944.

Service history
The submarine was laid down on 1 July 1941 at F. Schicau GmbH in Danzig (now Gdansk) as 'werk' 1508, launched on 23 May 1942 and commissioned on 1 August under the command of Oberleutnant Helmut Dauter.

She served with the 8th U-boat Flotilla from 1 August 1942 for training and the 7th flotilla from 1 February 1943 for operations.

1st patrol
U-432's first patrol was split in two and started with her departure from Kiel in Germany. She docked in Bergen in Norway at the end of the first part on 4 February 1943.

Part two began from Bergen on 6 February; she headed for the Atlantic Ocean via the 'gap' separating the Iceland and Faroe. She arrived at St. Nazaire in occupied France on 25 March.

2nd and 3rd patrols
For her second sortie, she covered the area northwest of the Azores.

On her third foray, she was attacked southwest of Iceland by a Canadian Sunderland flying boat of No. 422 Squadron RCAF. The aircraft was also fired-at on its first run by U281; the depth charges fell short. The aircraft crashed, five men died. U448 also suffered casualties - one dead and two men wounded. Due to the damage sustained, the boat was compelled to abort the patrol.

4th patrol and loss
Having left St. Nazaire on 14 February 1943, she travelled as far as the Denmark Strait (between Greenland and Iceland). The submarine's fourth sally was, at 61 days, her longest. On 14 April, she was northeast of the Azores when she was sunk by depth charges from the Canadian frigate HMCS Swansea and the British sloop HMS Pelican.

Nine men went down with U-448; there were forty-two survivors.