German Submarine U-552
Erich Topp (r) on U-552 in St. Nazaire in October 1941 |
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| Career (Nazi Germany) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-552 |
| Builder: | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |
| Laid down: | 1 December 1939 |
| Launched: | 14 September 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 4 December 1940 |
| Fate: | Scuttled, 2 May 1945, at Wilhelmshaven |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Type VIIC U-boat |
| Displacement: | 769 tonnes (757 long tons) surfaced 871 t (857 long tons) submerged |
| Length: | Overall: 67.10 m (220.1 ft) Pressure hull: 50.50 m (165.7 ft) |
| Beam: | Overall: 6.20 m (20.3 ft) Pressure hull: 4.70 m (15.4 ft) |
| Draught: | 4.74 m (15.6 ft) |
| Propulsion: | Surfaced: 3,200 hp Submerged: 750 hp |
| Speed: | Surfaced: 17.7 kn (32.8 km/h; 20.4 mph) Submerged: 7.6 kn (14.1 km/h; 8.7 mph) |
| Range: | Surfaced: 8,500 mi (13,700 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) Submerged: 80 mi (130 km) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) |
| Test depth: | Calculated crush depth: 220 m (720 ft) |
| Armament: |
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| Service record | |
| Part of: | Kriegsmarine: 7th U-boat Flotilla (Training) 1940-12-04 — 1941-02-01 7th U-boat Flotilla(Front Boat) |
| Commanders: | Korvettenkapitän Erich Topp 1940-12-04 — 1941-02-01 Kapitänleutnant Klaus Popp |
| Operations: | 15 patrols |
| Victories: | 30 ships sunk for a total of 163,756 gross register tons (GRT) one auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 520 GRT one warship sunk for a total of 1,190 GRT 3 ships damaged for a total of 26,910 GRT |
German submarine U-552 was a Type VIIC U-Boat built for the Nazi German Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was laid down on 1 December 1939 at Blohm & Voss in Hamburg as 'werk' 528, launched on 14 September 1940 and went into service on 4 December 1940. U-552 was nicknamed the Roter Teufel ("Red Devil") after its mascot of a grinning devil which was painted on the conning tower. She was one of the more successful of her class, operating for over three years of continual service and sinking or damaging 30 Allied ships with 164,276 tons sunk and 26,910 tons damaged. She was a member of 21 wolf packs.
U-552 was involved in two controversial actions: in October 1941 she sank the USS Reuben James, the first US Navy warship to be lost in World War II; this was at a time when the US was still officially neutral, and caused a diplomatic row. In April 1942 she sank the freighter SS David H. Atwater off the US seaboard in a particularly brutal attack, characterized as a naval atrocity.
U-552 had an unusually long service life, surviving to the end of World War II; after evacuating from her French base during the spring of 1944 she operated on training duties in the Baltic Sea until 2 May 1945, when her crew scuttled her to prevent her falling into enemy hands.
Read more about German Submarine U-552: Raiding Career
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