German submarine U-68 (1940)

German submarine U-68 was a Type IXC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 20 April 1940 at the AG Weser yard at Bremen as 'werk' 987, launched on 22 October and commissioned on 1 January 1941 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Karl-Friedrich Merten as part of the 2. Unterseebootsflottille.

U-68 conducted ten combat patrols, sinking 32 merchant ships, for a total of ; she also sank one auxiliary warship of 545 GRT. She was a member of one wolfpack. On 10 April 1944, during her tenth patrol, she was sunk northwest of Madeira by US aircraft from the escort carrier USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60).

1st patrol
U-68 left Kiel on 30 June 1941 for the Atlantic Ocean via the 'gap' between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. She was unsuccessfully attacked with 24 depth charges by the British corvette HMS Rhododendrun west northwest of Cape Finisterre in Spain. She docked at the port of Lorient, on the French Atlantic coast, on 1 August. She would be based there for the rest of her career.

2nd patrol
Heading for the south Atlantic, the boat came across the Silverbelle southwest of the Canary Islands and sank her on 22 September 1941. A month later, she sank the Darkdale while the unfortunate ship was at anchor in Jamestown harbour, St. Helena on 22 October. Her third victim, the Hazelside, was destroyed on the 28th, 600 mi southeast of St. Helena. U-68 also sank the Bradford City west of South West Africa (now Namibia) on 1 November. The U-boat collided with the stricken ship while diving underneath her. The submarine's bow was bent.

Nevertheless, the submarine returned to Lorient on 25 December.

3rd patrol
U-68's third sortie was also conducted off the west coast of Africa. She sank the Helenus on 3 March 1942 200 mi south of Freetown in Sierra Leone, followed by the Baluchstan on the 8th. The boat's crew were kept busy, sinking the Baron Newlands on the 16th and the Ile de Batz on the 17th; all the vessels met their end in the vicinity of Liberia.

She also sank the Scottish Prince about 180 mi west of Takoradi in Gold Coast and the Allende, both on the 17th.

U-68 had turned for home when she sank the Muncaster Castle with two torpedoes south southwest of Monrovia. More than ten lifeboats were seen by the Germans; there were 329 survivors.

4th patrol
For her fourth patrol U-68 moved to the Caribbean Sea, leaving Lorient on 14 May 1942. On the night of 5 June she sank MV C.O. Stillman, which was then the largest oil tanker in the World.

On the night of 10 June, northeast of the Panama Canal, she torpedoed the 8,600-ton British freighter Surrey. 5,000 tons of dynamite in the cargo detonated after the ship sank. The shock wave lifted the U-boat out of the water as if she had suffered a torpedo hit; both diesel engines and the gyrocompass were disabled.

Another victim was the Port Montreal. She was sunk with what Merten noted in the boat's war diary as a lucky [torpedo] hit.

In all, U-68 sank seven ships during this patrol before returning to Lorient on 10 July.

5th patrol
The submarine left Lorient on her fifth patrol on 20 August 1942. She would not see her base again until December. At 109 days, this was to be her longest and most successful sally. Heading once more into the South Atlantic, she attacked and sank the Trevilley east northeast of Ascension Island on 12 September. The Master and Chief Officer were taken prisoner.

She travelled further south, sinking ships such as the Gaasterkerk on 8 October and the Sarthe on the same date, both in the area of the Cape of Good Hope. She also disposed of the Belgian Fighter on the 9th.

Turning for home on 16 October, she sank the City of Cairo on 6 November. U-68 returned a month later to Lorient on 6 December.

6th patrol
The boat's sixth patrol in the first half of 1943 was again to northern South America. Having sunk two ships, she was attacked by a US Mariner flying boat on 2 April; damage was slight.

7th and 8th patrols
U-68 was attacked by one of four British De Haviland Mosquitos on the western edge of the Bay of Biscay on 14 June 943. One man was killed, three were wounded

Patrol number eight was relatively uneventful.

9th patrol
The boat returned to her most successful hunting ground - the South Atlantic. In another mammoth patrol (107 days), she sank four more ships.

One of them, the Norwegian tanker Litiopa, had numerous torpedoes and rounds from the deck gun fired at her, but stubbornly refused to succumb. Having been initially encountered at night on 21 October 1943, it was not until the following day that she sank.

The Litiopa's sole escort was the mine-sweeping trawler HMS Orfasy. She was sunk relatively easily on 21 October before the attack on the tanker.

The other two ships were the New Columbia, (sunk southwest of Bingerville, Ivory Coast) on 31 October and the French Fort de Vaux on 30 November. The latter vessel met her end after 'Aphrodite' radar decoys had been used to lure the escort vessels away.

U-68's inbound route took her close to the northwest Spanish coast. She docked at Lorient on 23 December 1943.

10th patrol and loss
The boat left Lorient for the last time on 22 March 1944. On 10 April, she was sunk northwest of the Portuguese island of Madeira, by depth charges and rockets from Avenger and Wildcat aircraft from the United States escort carrier USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60). U-68 was lost at position 33.4°N, -18.98333°W.

56 men died; there was one survivor.