German submarine U-457

German submarine U-457 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

She carried out three patrols. She sank two ships and damaged one more.

She was a member of two wolfpacks.

She was sunk northeast of the North Cape by a British warship, in September 1942.

Service history
The submarine was laid down on 26 October 1941 in the Deutsche Werke, Kiel as 'werk' 288, launched on 4 October 1941 and commissioned on 5 November under the command of Korvetten Kapitän Karl Brandenburg.

She served with the 6th U-boat Flotilla from 5 November 1941 for training and the 11th flotilla from 1 July 1942 for operations.

1st patrol
U-457's first patrol was preceded by two short journeys from Kiel in Germany to Trondheim in Norway. The patrol itself commenced with her departure from Trondheim on 28 June 1942.

She sank the Christopher Newport 35 mi east of Bear Island on 4 July. The ship, from the ill-fated convoy PQ-17, had already been hit by an aerial torpedo in the Barents Sea. A 'coup de gráce' torpedo from the British submarine P-614 failed to sink the ship; but one from U-457 succeeded.

The boat then went on to sink the Aldersdale on 7 July 1942; after the merchantman, also a member of PQ-17, had been bombed. U-457 came across the abandoned tanker and after firing 75 rounds from her deck gun, finished the wreck off with a single torpedo.

2nd patrol
Her second foray was relatively uneventful - starting in Narvik on 8 August 1942 and finishing in Trondheim on 7 September.

3rd patrol and loss
The submarine damaged the Atheltemplar on 14 September 1942 south of Spitsbergen (Svalbard), but was sunk on the 16th by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Impulsive.

Forty-five men died in U-457; there were no survivors.