German submarine U-66 (1940)

German submarine U-66 was a Type IXC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 20 March 1940 at the AG Weser yard at Bremen, launched on 10 October and commissioned on 2 January 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Richard Zapp as part of the 2. Unterseebootsflottille.

After her transfer from a training organization to front line service in May 1941, until her sinking in May 1944, U-66 conducted nine combat patrols, sinking 33 merchant ships, for a total of, and damaged two British motor torpedo boats. She was a member of four wolfpacks.

U-66 was the seventh most successful U-boat in World War II.

On 6 May 1944, during her ninth patrol, she was sunk west of the Cape Verde Islands by depth charges, ramming and gunfire from Avenger and Wildcat aircraft of the US escort carrier USS Block Island (CVE-21) and by the destroyer escort USS USS Buckley (DE-51).

1st patrol
On 13 May 1940, three days after the start of the invasion of France, U-66 departed her homeport of Kiel under the command of Richard Zapp, a future Knights Cross recipient, on her first patrol. After about 10 days she rounded the northern coast of Britain and made her way into the mid-Atlantic ocean. After another 20 days, U-66 headed for her new base at Lorient, on the French Atlantic cost, where the Keroman Submarine Base was just about to begin construction and where the U-boat was based for the rest of her career.



2nd patrol
After refitting and refueling, U-66 set off to the Cape Verde islands. Following an uneventful six day voyage, she came upon convoy SL-78, a convoy designated to give supplies to Allied African countries. It had been attacked just recently by U-123 and U-69, one of which (U-123) was in her flotilla. U-66 managed to sink the George J. Goulandris and Kalypso Vergotti, two Greek merchantmen of 4,345 and 5,686 GRT, respectively, west of the Canary Islands. She extended her tonnage sunk with the torpedoing of the Saint Anselm on the following day, which was a British steam merchant ship of 5,614 tons. More than two weeks later, she picked off the Holmside, a 3,433-ton straggler from the convoy OG-67 northeast of the Cape Verde Islands. The remainder of the patrol was unsuccessful; she returned to Lorient in about a month.

3rd patrol
On 28 August, U-66 left Lorient for north-eastern South America. The patrol was mostly uneventful, but the boat managed to locate the Panamanian steam tanker I.C. White (7,052 GRT), off the eastern coast of Brazil on 24 September. After a two day chase, the tanker was hit with one torpedo, U-66 continued the remainder of the patrol without any further incident. She returned to Lorient on 9 November.

4th patrol
U-66's fourth sortie was part of Operation Drumbeat, a German attempt to hinder American convoys off the east coast of the United States. U-66, leaving on 25 December 1941 and in compliance with orders, positioned herself off Cape Hatteras on 15 January 1942 and started to hunt for a target. She found the 6,635-ton American steam tanker Allan Jackson three days later and sank her with two torpedoes 60 mi north-east of Diamond Shoals, North Carolina. The next day, she came upon the Lady Hawkins, a 7,988 GRT Canadian steam passenger ship, which was sunk by two stern-launched torpedoes. Casualties amounted to 250 crew and passengers. The 71 survivors were picked up five days later by the USS Coamo. Three days later, the Olympic, a 5,335 GRT Panamanian steam tanker, was hit twice with stern-launched torpedoes and broke in two after one minute. Two days after that, the Empire Gem and Venore (a 8,139 GRT British motor tanker and an 8,017 GRT American steam merchant ship, the latter following the former), were both sunk by U-66. The Empire Gem was hit amidships and aft by two torpedoes, whilst the Venore, 20 miles behind, had only one torpedo hit that set her boilers on fire. U-66 then continued eastward back to Lorient, where she arrived on 10 February.

5th patrol
On 21 March, U-66 left for what would be her most successful patrol, resulting in 43,956 gross metric tons sunk and 12,502 gross metric tons damaged in the Caribbean Sea. 24 days after departure, she encountered the Korthion, a 2,116 GRT Greek steam merchantman just south of Barbados. This ship sank after one torpedo hit her amidships. Two days later, the boat came across the Amsterdam, a 7,329 GRT Dutch steam tanker. The ship split in two parts after a double hit of torpedoes, one amidships, and one in the engine room. Most of the survivors were picked up near Port of Spain, (Trinidad) by the Ivan, a Yugoslavian steam merchant vessel. The next day, U-66 attacked the Heinrich von Riedemann, an 11,020-ton Panamanian motor tanker. The ship proved tough to sink, as the first torpedo severely damaged the steering control of her portside engine and ruptured a tank of oil, making much of it leak out. Twenty minutes after the first hit, just after the starboard engine was stopped, the ship was abandoned when the crew took to the lifeboats. An hour later, U-66 fired another torpedo at the ship, setting her on fire. It extinguished itself within twenty five minutes. Fifty minutes later, the submarine launched a third torpedo, which set the ship on fire again. She remained that way for about an hour and 10 minutes before she finally sank. Nine days later, the 5,513 GRT American Alcoa Partner was sunk by U-66 following a torpedo and a shot from her deck gun.

6th patrol
After her fifth patrol, Richard Zapp left U-66 to take command of the 3rd U-boat Flotilla. This meant that Kapitänleutnant Friedrich Markworth would be in charge. The submarine started her sixth patrol with the sinking of the Triglav, a 6,396 GRT Yugoslavian steamer, after depositing a sick crew-member in Spain. After a couple of weeks, U-66 ran across the 4,942-ton Brazilian merchant ship Tamandarē, sinking her with a torpedo hit in her stern. The survivors were picked up by the USS PC-492. Two days after the attack on Tamandaré, U-66 found the Weirbank, a 5,150 GRT British merchantman on 28 July 1942, sinking her with the second of two torpedoes launched at her. Four days after her previous sinking, two mines from U-66 severely damaged two British motor torpedo boats that had left on a patrol from Port Castries, St. Lucia. Those two mines had been laid, along with four others, on 20 July. U-66 subsequently sank the 766 ton Polish Rozewie on 6 August and the Liberian 5,356 GRT Topa Topa on the 29th. The next day she sank both the 6,049 GRT Panamanian Sir Huon and the 5,637 GRT American West Lashaway in separate attacks. A raft with survivors from the West Lashaway was spotted by three aircraft on 18 September; HMS Vimy, one of the escorts of a small convoy went to investigate. Deciding that the raft could be a disguised U-boat, Vimy opened fire, luckily with no result. The raft's sail was hastily cut down, upon which the British destroyer rescued 17 people.

U-66 also sank the 8,621 GRT Winamac on 31 August and the Swedish 6,390 GRT Peiping on 9 September. She returned to Lorient on 29 September.

7th patrol (aborted)
On 9 November 1942, U-66 left Lorient on what should have been her 7th war patrol. Soon after departure, leaks were encountered, and she decided to return. On 10 November, the day before she returned, a British Wellington bomber, equipped with a Leigh Light, spotted her and dropped four depth charges. The U-boat escaped without serious damage.

7th patrol
U-66 left Lorient on 6 January 1943 for what was officially her seventh patrol. On 20 January, the ship landed an espionage agent on the coast of Mauritania, but the agent and two crewmen were immediately captured. Her first sinking came with the attack on the 113-ton French Joseph Elise on 1 February. On the 27th, U-66 attacked the 4,312-ton British coal merchant ship St. Margaret in mid-Atlantic near Bermuda, sinking her with one torpedo and, after several misses, a shell. Several survivors were captured and taken to the prison camp Marlag und Milag Nord. U-66 then returned to port, arriving on 24 March 1943.

8th patrol
U-66's eighth patrol started after a quick refit on 7 April 1943 when she left Lorient. At 148 days, it was to be her longest. She first sank the 10,173-ton American Esso Gettysburg, which was carrying crude oil, on 10 June after unsuccessfully attempting to attack several other American tankers. On 2 July, she successfully sank the 10,195-ton Bloody Marsh (this ship was on her maiden voyage), with a torpedo. The last ship encountered on the patrol was the 10,172-ton Cherry Valley, also American, which she sank on 22 July. U-66 then returned to Lorient.

9th patrol
On 16 January 1944, U-66 left Lorient for what would be her last patrol and the last command of Oberleutnant zur See Gerhard Seehausen (posthumously promoted to Kapitänleutnant). A month and ten days after departure, U-66 spotted the Silvermaple, a 5,313-ton British motor merchant in the convoy ST-12. She was sunk after one torpedo hit. Four days later, the boat came upon the French 5,202-ton St. Louis, which she sank with two torpedoes off Accra, Ghana. The ship broke into three sections which sank in less than 50 seconds. Four days after the sinking of the St. Louis, 'U-66 came upon the 4,964-ton British John Holt. After sinking her with two torpedoes, the submarine managed to take the captain and a passenger prisoner. These men were later lost with the U-boat. Nearly three weeks after the sinking of the John Holt, the U-boat came across the 4,257-ton British Matadian, which she torpedoed and sank. After the attack, U-66 was forced to bottom out in the mud as British patrol craft engaged her. U-66 was supposed to be resupplied by U-488, but this boat, a 'Milch cow' supply submarine, was sunk on 26 April.

Sinking


On 1 May 1944, U-66 came under attack by American ships from an antisubmarine hunter-killer group formed around USS Block Island. Three Fido homing torpedoes were dropped near the boat, and numerous aircraft from the Block Island, along with smaller craft, were designated to hunt for her. On the morning of 6 May, the destroyer escort USS Buckley found the submarine. After an exchange of gunfire and torpedoes, Buckley, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Brent Abel, rammed the submarine.



With the two vessels stuck fast, a party of Germans, under the command of U-66's first officer, Klaus Herbig, attempted to climb onto the American escort's forecastle to create a diversion while Seehausen and the remainder of the U-boat's crew worked to free the boat. As American sailors saw the boarding party climbing on deck, hand-to-hand fighting broke out in which a number of Germans were killed or wounded before the U-boat was able to make good its escape. Five armed Germans remained on deck of the destroyer but they were quickly over-powered and taken prisoner. Buckley's 3-inch gun was unleashed on the U-boat as the Americans chased after her, but U-66 then turned and rammed the Buckley near her engine room, damaging the ship's starboard screw. Soon afterward, U-66 was scuttled on Seehausen's orders to prevent her secret equipment from being captured. Buckley then began rescue operations, which lasted three hours.

U-66 was lost at position 17.28333°N, -32.48333°W with 24 dead and 36 survivors, all of whom were captured by the Buckley. Seehausen was not among the survivors, who were later transferred to Block Island. For his act of ramming U-66, Brent Abel received the Navy Cross.