German submarine U-62 (1939)

German submarine U-62 was a Type IIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine that served in World War II. She was built by Deutsche Werke AG, Kiel, and commissioned on 21 December 1939.

U-62 was initially assigned to the 5th U-boat Flotilla during her training period, until 1 January 1940, when she was re-assigned to the 1st flotilla for a front-line combat role.

U-62 carried out five war patrols, sinking one warship in May 1940 and one merchant ship in July.

The U-boat was scuttled in Wilhelmshaven in May 1945.

1st and 2nd patrols
U-62's first patrol began with her departure from the German island of Helgoland (also known as 'Heligoland'), on 13 February 1940. She crossed the North Sea to the Orkney and Shetland Islands. The return journey terminated in Wilhelmshaven on 6 March.

Her second sortie was also through the North Sea but stayed closer to Norway, beginning in Wilhelmshaven and ending in Kiel.

3rd patrol
The boat was attacked by an unidentified submarine on 24 May 1940, but U-62 evaded the torpedoes. She went on to sink the destroyer HMS Grafton off the Kwinte Buoy northwest of Ostend in Belgium on 29 May. The British warship had been employed on Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). As a result, many of the dead included soldiers.

4th and 5th patrols
Her fourth foray was through the 'gap' between the Faroe and Shetland Islands as far as Northern Ireland, but finished in Bergen in Norway on 7 July 1940.

U-62's final patrol was marked by the sinking of the Pearlmoor 62 mi on 19 July 1940 west of Malin Head, (the most northerly point on the Irish mainland). Disaster almost struck on the return leg to Bergen when she was attacked by the British submarine HMS Dolphin on the 29th. She avoided the attack and entered Bergen with just 27 minutes of battery life remaining.

Training and fate
U-62 was assigned to the 21st U-boat Flotilla as a training boat on 1 October, and was briefly commanded by Waldemar Mehl between 5 November and 19 November 1941.

She was scuttled in Wilhelmshaven on 2 May 1945, shortly before the German surrender.