German submarine U-254

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German submarine U-254 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine, built for service in the Second World War and the Battle of the Atlantic. She was a mildly successful boat which carried out three war patrols, but fell victim to a freak accident during an attack on an Allied convoy in the mid-Atlantic Ocean on her third patrol and was lost.

Built in 1941 at Vegesack, U-254 was commanded for all her brief career by Kapitänleutnant Hans Gilardone, except for a brief period of illness, when Kptlt. Odo Loewe took command for her second patrol. She conducted her warm-up and training period in the Baltic Sea in the first half of 1942, before she was despatched to Kiel from where she participated in her first war operations.

1st patrol
Her first war patrol was a simple one, entailing a passage between Kiel and her new home base in Brest in occupied France. During this month-long journey, U-254 was ordered to spend sometime cruising off Reykjavík, Iceland, hoping to catch some stragglers from northern convoys or supply ships running to the Allied forces stationed on the island. She had one success, sinking a small British freighter on 2 August before she headed for her new home.

2nd patrol
Her second patrol was more eventful, when on 3 October, after twelve days of cruising, she spotted the 11,000 ton American tanker SS Robert H. Colley in the central North Atlantic and sank her with one torpedo, killing 28. This was followed six days later by another success in a similar area, when the 6,000 ton British ship SS Pennington Court was sunk by three torpedoes with all 40 sailors on board.

The promising career of U-254 was almost cut short on this cruise, when the Norwegian Flower class corvette HNOMS Eglantine damaged her with depth charges during an attack on a convoy in the same area as her previous victories.

3rd patrol
After repairs, U-254 departed in late November 1942, returning to her old operating grounds of the North Atlantic routes. In December, the weather in the region is atrocious and visibility practically nil, so as U-254 manoeuvered to attack Convoy HX-217, to which she had been directed on 8 December, it is perhaps unsurprising that her crew failed to see GS U-221 come steaming out of the gloom and straight into her broadside. The two submarines had become lost in the dark and collided with one another in a freak accident, which claimed 41 of U-254's crew, who were spilled into the ocean as the boat heeled over and sank. Sailors from U-221 dived into the turbulent sea tied to ropes, and succeeded in rescuing four bedraggled survivors of the sinking. U-221 was badly damaged. Unable to dive, Oberleutnant Trojer aborted the patrol and returned to St. Nazaire, France.