German submarine U-164 (1941)

German submarine U-161 was a Type IXC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine built for service during World War II. The keel for this boat was laid down on 20 June 1940 at the Deutsche Schiff und maschinenbau AG, Bremen yard as 'werk' 703. She was launched on 1 May 1941 and commissioned on 28 November 1941 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Otto Fechner.

The U-boat's service began with training as part of the 4th U-boat Flotilla. She then moved to the 10th flotilla on 1 August 1942 for operations. She sank three ships, totalling 8,133 tons.

She was sunk by an American aircraft in January 1943.

1st patrol
The submarine's first patrol took her from Kiel on 18 July 1942, across the North Sea and into the Atlantic Ocean through the gap between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. She sank the Stad Amsterdam on 25 August in the eastern Caribbean. The first torpedoes hit, except they were duds, probably fired from too close-in; but a coup de grǎce caused the ship to sink stern-first. The boat also sank the John A. Holloway northwest of Curaçao. U-164 arrived at Lorient, in occupied France, on 7 October. She would be based at this Atlantic port for the rest of her brief career.

2nd patrol and loss
She sank the Brageland, a Swedish neutral, on 1 January 1943. A three-man boarding party inspected the ship and under the prize rules, she was torpedoed.

U-164 was sunk by an American PBY Catalina flying boat of VP-83 125mi from northwest of Ceará State shore line, Brazil on 6 January 1943. 54 men died, there were two survivors.