German submarine U-1023

German submarine U-1023 was a German Type VIIC/41 U-boat of the Kriegsmarine. She was laid down on 20 May 1943 by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, Germany, and commissioned on 15 June 1944 with Oberleutnant Wolfgang Strenger in command. U-1023 sank one ship and damaged one more for a total of 7680 gross register tons. After the war she was sunk in Operation Deadlight.

Construction and design
U-1023 was ordered by the Kriegsmarine on 13 June 1942. She was laid down about one year later at Blohm & Voss, Hamburg on 20 May 1943. Almost a year later, U-1023 was launched from Hamburg on 3 May 1944. She was formally commissioned later that year on 15 July. U-1023 carried 5 × 533 mm torpedo tubes (4 located in the bow, 1 in the stern) and had one C35 88mm/L45 deck gun with 220 rounds. She could also carry 14 G7e torpedoes or 26 TMA mines and had a crew of 44–52 men. She was one of the U-boats that used the Schnorchel underwater breathing apparatus.

Service history
After her redesignation as a front-line U-boat, U-1023 left port on her first and only patrol. By that time, she had moved from Kiel to her current location in Bergen via a stopover in Horten on two minor patrols. After she left on her first patrol, U-1023 intercepted the Riverton, a 7345 t British steam merchant. She was damaged and beached off of St. Ives Bay. Later, U-1023 found the 335 ton Norwegian minesweeper HNOMS NYMS 382, which was sunk with 22 dead. Three days later, the ship surrendered at Weymouth, England. After the war she was paraded up the west cost of the UK visiting a number of ports including: Plymouth, Brixham, Falmouth, Bristol, Swansea, Liverpool, Holyhead, Manchester, Fleetwood, Belfast, Glasgow, Greenock, Rothsay, Oban. Several hundred thousand visitors were given a tour of the boat during this time. U-1023 was then used in Operation Deadlight and sunk by the Allies.