German submarine U-516

German submarine U-516 was a Type IXC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

She was laid down at the Deutsche Werft (yard) in Hamburg as 'werk' 312 on 12 May 1941, launched on 16 December 1941 and commissioned on 21 February 1942 with Korvettenkapitän Gerhard Wiebe in command.

U-516 began her service career with training as part of the 4th U-boat Flotilla from 10 March 1941. She was re-assigned to the 10th flotilla for operations on 1 September 1942, then the 33rd flotilla on 1 October 1944.

She carried out six patrols, sank 16 ships and damaged one more. She surrendered in May 1945 at Loch Eriboll in Scotland and was transferred to Lisahally in Northern Ireland for Operation Deadlight. She was sunk in January 1946.

1st patrol
U-516'es first patrol was preceded by a short trip from Kiel in Germany to Kristiansand in Norway. The patrol itself began with the boat's departure from Kristiansand on 15 August 1942. She passed through the 'gap' separating Iceland and the Faroe Islands before heading out into the Atlantic Ocean.

She damaged the Port Jackson with 14 rounds from her deck gun 480 mi west of Cape Clear, (at the southern tip of Ireland], on the 27th, after a spread of four torpedoes had missed. A small fire was started on the ship, but her accurate return fire discouraged the U-boat which broke off the attack. Port Jackson escaped at top speed into haze.

The boat moved to the waters off northern South America where her success rate shot-up, although one target required seven torpedoes to sink her.

She entered Lorient, on the French Atlantic coast, on 14 November.

2nd and 3rd patrols
For her second foray, U-516 headed toward South Africa. She sank three ships in the vicinity of East London and a fourth off the coast of southern Namibia.

Her third sortie was also in a southerly direction; its furthest point was reached between South America and the Cape Verde Islands.

4th patrol
Patrol number four took the boat to the Caribbean Sea. One of her victims was the Colombian sailing ship Ruby, which was sunk with the deck gun on 18 November 1943.

Another was the Elizabeth Kellog. This ship, which had been torpedoed and abandoned on the 23rd, ran around the survivors (she was still underway because the engines could not be secured). Her after magazine exploded and she burned for 12 hours before sinking.

The U-boat was damaged by an unidentified aircraft on 19 December 1943.

5th patrol
The boat's fifth patrol saw her sink the Esso Harrisburg 200 mi northwest of Aruba in the Caribbean. She then made her way to Flensburg via the Denmark Strait that separates Greenland and Iceland. She docked at the German harbour on 4 October 1944.

6th patrol and fate
Having moved from Kiel to Horten, (south of Oslo) and then Kristiansand, she left the Norwegian port on 5 April 1945. She surrendered at Loch Eriboll on 14 May and was then transferred to Lisahally in Northern Ireland for Operation Deadlight. She was sunk on 2 January 1946 at 56.06N 09.00W.