German submarine U-515

U-515 left Stettin on 8 September 1942 stopping at Kiel to top-up with fuel. She left Kiel on 11 September for her first patrol, during which she sank nine ships, and damaged one other:[5]

• Stanvac Melbourne – Panamanian tanker, sunk on 12 September by torpedoes
• Woensdrecht – Dutch tanker, sunk on 12 September by torpedoes
• Nimba – Panamanian freighter, sunk on 13 September by torpedoes
• Ocean Vanguard – British freighter, sunk on 13 September by torpedoes
• Harborough – British freighter, sunk on 14 September by torpedo and deck gun
• Sørholt – Norwegian freighter, sunk on 15 September by torpedoes
• Mae – American freighter, sunk on 17 September with deck gun
• Reedpool – British freighter, sunk on 20 September by torpedoes
• Antinous – American freighter, damaged by torpedo on 23 September, sunk by U-512 on 24 September
• Lindvangen – Norwegian freighter, sunk on 23 September by torpedoes

U-515 returned to her base at Lorient, in occupied France on 20 October.[3]

U-515 left Lorient on 7 November for her second patrol. While moving along the African coast, on the night of 11 November, she attacked a British depot ship (probably HMS Hecla, which was attacked on 11 November and sank on the 12th), and was subsequently depth-charged by a British destroyer (probably HMS Venomous). While sailing through the mid-Atlantic on 6 December, the U-boat spotted and sank the passenger ship SS Ceramic. U-515 patrolled the Azores for about a week, then returned to Lorient on 5 or 6 January 1943.[6]

Minor repairs were carried out, and on 20 February 1943, the U-boat left Lorient for her third patrol. She sank the British freighter, SS California Star about 335 miles northwest of the Azores on 4 March and on 9 March she sank a second ship, the French freighter Bamako off the west African coast. On 29 April the U-boat was attacked by Catalina flying-boats. U-515 fired at the aircraft with her 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, but did not shoot any down. The aircraft did not cause any damage to her, she submerged after the attack. During a 12-hour period on the night of 30 April and 1 May, U-515 attacked convoy TS 37 off Freetown and sank seven ships:

• Kota Tjandi – Dutch freighter, sunk on 30 April by torpedoes
• Bandar Shapour – British freighter, sunk on 30 April by torpedoes
• Corabella – British freighter, sunk on 30 April by torpedoes
• Nagina – British freighter, sunk on 30 April by torpedoes
• Mokambo – Belgian freighter, attacked on 1 May with torpedoes, sank on 2 May
• City of Singapore – British freighter, sunk on 1 May by torpedoes
• Clan MacPherson – British freighter, sunk on 1 May by torpedoes

A few days after the attack on convoy TS 37, U-515 was re-supplied with fuel and torpedoes by U-460. She continued on her patrol and on 9 May sank the Norwegian freighter Cornville with torpedoes. U-515 completed her third sortie, returning to Lorient on 23 June.[7] In recognition of a successful patrol, all crewmen were given long leaves and many awarded the Iron Cross, Second class.

Extensive repairs and modifications were carried out at Lorient. The after part of the bridge was expanded and equipped with 20mm anti-aircraft cannon and a 37mm flak gun. She also carried four T5 Zaunkönig acoustic homing torpedoes.[8] U-515 left Lorient on 29 August to patrol the west coast of Africa. About one week in, she spotted a convoy off the Azores and started to attack; however, she was detected by a convoy escort and badly damaged by depth charges, which forced her to return to base for repairs, reaching Lorient on 12 September.[9]

Repairs took six weeks and were completed by late October. On 1 November 1943, U-515 left Lorient, stopping at St. Nazaire to pick up two T5 Zaunkönig torpedoes, which were designed with either a magnetic or percussion fuze and which were faster and had a longer range than the G7e/T4 Falke torpedoes. U-515 left St. Nazaire on 9 November and started patrolling off the Azores and Portuguese coast. On the morning of 18 November, she spotted a convoy, but was in turn spotted by aircraft. The U-boat submerged, but was detected by destroyers. These three ships depth-charged U-515 for several hours and caused major damage. The main ballast tank and reserve oil tank were ruptured; several batteries, the electronics, and the forward hydroplane motor were also damaged. U-515 fired a T-5 acoustic torpedo at one of the escorts, HMS Chanticleer, hitting her and causing damage beyond repair.[8] Several more attacks were made and U-515 had nearly run out of air when the attacks finally stopped, and she was able to surface. Despite extensive damage, the crew decided to make repairs at sea,[10] which were completed on 22 November. U-515 started to patrol the west coast of Africa and on 17 December, torpedoed and sank the British freighter Kingswood. Two days later she sank another ship, the British freighter Phemus. While returning to base, she sank the British freighter MV Dumana on 24 December.[8] On 16 January 1944 U-515 reached Lorient.

U-515 sinking

Major repairs were carried out on U-515, including the installation of new batteries. Repairs were completed by late March and on the 30th, she left Lorient. On 8 April 1944, U-515 spotted a carrier-based aircraft and submerged; an hour later she surfaced and was attacked by another aircraft. U-515 engaged the machine with her 3.7-cm anti-aircraft gun. The plane's bombs missed the U-boat and U-515 failed to shoot down the aircraft.

On 9 April U-515 was attacked north of Madeira by the destroyers USS Pope, Pillsbury, Chatelain and Flaherty. Flooding and loss of depth control forced the U-Boat to the surface, where she was sunk by rockets fired from Grumman Avenger and Grumman Wildcat aircraft and gunfire from the destroyers.[8][1]

Sixteen of U-515's crew were killed, but 44 survived the attack.[11] The survivors were picked up by the destroyers and later transferred to the aircraft carrier USS Guadalcanal[12] U-515's commander, Werner Henke, was among the survivors. Later in June 1944, he was shot and killed trying to escape a secret interrogation center known as P. O. Box 1142 in Fort Hunt, Virginia, while being held as a prisoner of war.[8]