German submarine U-242

German submarine U-242 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

The submarine was laid down on 30 September 1942 at the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft yard at Kiel as 'werk' 676, launched on 20 July 1943 and commissioned on 14 August under the command of Oberleutnant Karl-Wilhelm Pancke.

After training with the 5th U-boat Flotilla at Kiel, she went to the 3rd flotilla to work operationally from 1 June 1944. She then returned to the 5th flotilla on 6 July and moved to the 8th flotilla for operations on 1 August. She was reassigned to the 5th flotilla a third time from 16 February 1945.

In seven patrols, U-242 sank two ships totalling 2,095 GRT and an auxiliary warship of 500 tons.

She was sunk by a mine in the St. George's Channel in April 1945.

1st patrol
U-242's first patrol, like most of the others, was carried out in Norwegian and Baltic waters. She had already made the short voyage from Kiel to Stavanger in Norway in May 1944; her first patrol proper started from the Norwegian port and terminated in Bergen, also in Norway. She then spent some time shuttling between Bergen, Stavanger, Kristiansand, Kiel, Reval (also known as Talinn in Estonia) and Helsinki in Finland.

2nd patrol
The boat's second foray was similar to the first, a series of short 'jabs' from Helsinki and Grand Hotel.

3rd patrol
U-242 sank the Soviet barges VRD-96 Del'fin and the KKO-2 on 25 August 1944; one day before returning to Helsinki.

4th, 5th and 6th patrols
More round-robin journeys were carried out, travelling between Paldiski (known to the Germans as Baltisch Port), Windau in Latvia (now known as Ventspils), Pillau (Baltiysk), Danzig (Gdansk in modern Poland), Horten in Norway and Kristiansand. It was during her fifth patrol that the Finnish ship, the Rigel, was sunk on 28 October 1944 by a mine laid by U-242 on 21 September.

7th patrol and loss
For her seventh sortie, she was sent to the waters off southwest Britain. This was to prove her undoing. On 5 April 1945, she struck a mine in the St. Georges Channel (between southeast Ireland and Wales), off St. David's Head. Forty-four men died; there were no survivors.