German submarine U-204

German submarine U-204 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 22 April 1940 by the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft yard at Kiel as 'werk' 633, launched on 23 January 1941 and commissioned on 8 March under the command of Oberleutnant Walter Kell.

She was sunk in October 1941 by British warships.

Operational career
Part of the 1st U-boat Flotilla, U-204 carried out three patrols in the North Atlantic.

1st patrol
U-204's first patrol began when she left Kiel on 24 May 1941; she travelled through the 'gap' between Greenland and Iceland (the Denmark Strait) and sank the Icelandic fishing boat Holsteinn with gunfire, south of Iceland on 31 May - Kell did not want news of the U-boat's presence to be broadcast. She then sank the Mercier east of Newfoundland on 10 June. She docked at Brest in occupied France, on the 27th.

2nd patrol
Nearly a month passed before the boat sortied once again. On 2 August she spotted Allied convoy SL81 and called for support, when U-401 arrived the following day, they attacked together. The U-boat sank HNoMS Bath about 400 mi southwest of Ireland on 19 August 1941. Several survivors were killed, not by the ship's sinking, but by depth charges exploding when the vessel went down.

3rd patrol and loss
Having left Brest on 20 September 1941, she sank the Spanish sailing ship Aingeru Guardakoa with a single torpedo on 14 October, thinking she was a British submarine chaser. She then sank the Inverlee on the 19th. On the same day, she fell victim to a British anti-submarine sweep from Gibraltar. She was sunk by depth charges from the corvette HMS Mallow and the sloop HMS Rochester.

Forty-six men died; there were no survivors.