German submarine U-102 (1940)

German submarine U-102 was a Type VIIB submarine of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

The U-boat was laid down on 22 May 1939 at the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft shipyard at Kiel as 'werk' 596, launched on 21 March 1940 and commissioned on 27 April under the command of Kapitänleutnant Harro von Klot-Heydenfeldt to serve with the 7th U-boat Flotilla from 27 April 1940 to 1 June for crew training and operationally until she was sunk on 1 July. She sank two Allied ships, claiming.

Service history
U-70's first and only patrol began on 22 June 1940. Having sunk the Castleton near the Orkney Islands on the 28th and the Clearton about 180 mi west of Ushant (often known as Ouessant, an island in northwest France) on 1 July, she was herself sunk on the same day as the latter ship by depth charges from a British destroyer, HMS Vansittart.

43 men died with the submarine; there were no survivors.

After the U-boat's sinking, Vansittart rescued the 26 survivors from Clearton.

Previously recorded fate
U-102 was originally believed to have been sunk in the Bay of Biscay due to unknown causes on or after 30 June 1940.