German submarine U-578

German submarine U-578 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

She carried out five patrols, sank four ships of 23,635 GRT and sank a warship of 1,090 tons.

She was posted missing in the Bay of Biscay from August 1942, with no explanation for her loss.

Service history
The submarine was laid down on 1 August 1940 at Blohm & Voss, Hamburg as 'werk' 554, launched on 15 May 1941 and commissioned on 10 July under the command of Fregattenkapitän Ernst-August Rehwinkel.

She served with the 5th U-boat Flotilla from 10 July 1941 and the 7th U-boat Flotilla for training from 1 September. She stayed with the latter organization for operations until her loss, from 1 October 1941 to 6 August 1942.

1st and 2nd patrols
U-432's first patrol was from Kirkenes in Norway, she was rammed by a Soviet escort on 25 November 1941 off the Kola Peninsula; damage was slight. She arrived back at Kirkenes on the 27th.

She then headed for the Atlantic Ocean via the 'gap' separating the Faroe and Shetland Islands. She arrived at St. Nazaire in occupied France, on 28 January 1942.

3rd patrol
Having left St. Nazaire on 3 February 1942, as part of Operation Drumbeat, (U-boat operations off the eastern seaboard of the United States), U-578 hit the R.P. Resor on the 27th with a torpedo 20 mi east of Manasquan Inlet, New Jersey. The tug USS Sagamore attempted to take the ship in tow, but she capsized and sank 48 hours after the initial attack 31 mi east of Barnegat, also New Jersey.

The next day she sank the American destroyer USS Jacob Jones. The 'four-stacker', completed in October 1919, was the first warship to be lost to enemy action in US waters.

On the return leg toward France, she sank the in-ballast Ingerto on 12 March 1942 in mid-Atlantic. She docked at St. Nazaire on the 25th.

4th patrol
Patrol number four was the boat's longest (58 days), but in terms of tonnage sunk, her most successful. She attacked the Polyphermus on 27 May 1942 340 mi north of Bermuda. She also sank theBerganger on 2 June southeast of Cape Cod.

5th patrol and loss
The boat set out from St. Nazaire for the last time on 6 August 1942. She was posted missing in the Bay of Biscay from that date, with no explanation for her loss.

Forty-nine men died with U-578; there were no survivors.

Previously recorded fate
Sunk on 10 August 1942 in the Bay of Biscay by depth charges from a Czechoslovakian aircraft of No. 311 Squadron RAF. This attack was on U-135. Damage was minor.