German submarine U-211

German submarine U-211 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 29 March 1941 by the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft yard at Kiel as 'werk' 640, launched on 15 January 1942 and commissioned on 7 March under the command of Korvettenkapitän Karl Hause.

A member of eight wolfpacks, she sank one warship of 1,350 tons and damaged three commercial vessels totalling in five patrols.

She was sunk on 19 November 1943 by a British aircraft in the North Atlantic. 54 men died; there were no survivors.

1st patrol
Having moved to Bergen via Arendal in Norway in August 1942, U-211's first patrol began from the larger Nordic port on 26 August. Her route took her through the 'gap' between Iceland and the Faroe Islands and into the Atlantic Ocean.

On 12 September, she damaged the Empire Moonbeam southwest of Cape Clear, (southern Ireland) with one torpedo and the Hektoria with two. Her next victim was the Esso Williamsburg which was damaged on the 23rd about 500 mi south of Cape Farewell (Greenland). This ship had already been unsuccessfully attacked the previous day. She was eventually sunk by U-254 on 3 October. There were no survivors.

U-211 arrived at Brest in occupied France on 7 October 1942.

2nd patrol
The boat left Brest for her second foray on 11 November 1942. On 17 December she sank a British destroyer, HMS Firedrake in mid-Atlantic. The ship broke into two pieces on being hit; the bow sank immediately, but the stern remained afloat for some hours. There were 26 survivors out of a ships' company of 196.

The submarine returned to Brest on 29 December.

3rd patrol
All was well on the boat's third sortie until 20 February 1943 when she was attacked by a US B-24 Liberator west of the Bay of Biscay. The aircraft dropped six depth charges, causing enough damage to bring the patrol to a premature end.

4th patrol
This time it was the turn of the Royal Air Force. While still outbound, an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley of No. 10 Squadron dropped three depth charges north of Finisterre in Spain on 15 May 1943 - the damage was not so great. Having left Brest on the 10th, U-211 returned on 16 July.

5th patrol and loss
U-211 moved from Brest to Lorient in September 1943. On 11 October, she began what would turn out to be her final outing. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing west of Portugal, she was sunk by depth charges from a British Vickers Wellington of 179 Squadron east of the Azores.

54 men died; there were no survivors.