Who commanded German submarine U-66 (1940) after Mar 1948?
German submarine U-66 ( 1940 ) German submarine U-66 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine during World War II . The submarine was laid down on 20 March 1940 at the AG Weser yard at Bremen , launched on 10 October and commissioned on 2 January 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Richard Zapp as part of the 2nd U-boat Flotilla . Design . German Type IXC submarines were slightly larger than the original Type IXBs . U-66 had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged . The U-boat had a total length of , a pressure hull length of , a beam of , a height of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke , nine-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of for use while surfaced , two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of for use while submerged . She had two shafts and two propellers . The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to . The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of . When submerged , the boat could operate for at ; when surfaced , she could travel at . U-66 was fitted with six torpedo tubes ( four fitted at the bow and two at the stern ) , 22 torpedoes , one SK C/32 naval gun , 180 rounds , and a SK C/30 as well as a C/30 anti-aircraft gun . The boat had a complement of forty-eight . Service history . After her transfer from a training organization to front line service in May 1941 , until her sinking in May 1944 , U-66 conducted nine combat patrols , sinking 33 merchant ships , for a total of , and damaged two British motor torpedo boats . She was a member of four wolfpacks . U-66 was the seventh most successful U-boat in World War II . On 6 May 1944 , during her ninth patrol , she was sunk west of the Cape Verde Islands by depth charges , ramming and gunfire from Grumman TBF Avenger and Grumman F4F Wildcat aircraft of the US escort carrier and by the destroyer escort . Patrols . First . On 13 May 1940 , three days after the start of the invasion of France , U-66 departed her homeport of Kiel under the command of Richard Zapp , a future Knights Cross recipient , on her first patrol . After about 10 days she rounded the northern coast of Britain and made her way into the mid-Atlantic ocean . After another 20 days , U-66 headed for her new base at Lorient , on the French Atlantic coast ( one of the first to do so ) and where the U-boat was based for the rest of her career . Second . After refitting and refueling , U-66 set off to the Cape Verde islands . Following an uneventful six-day voyage , she came upon convoy SL-78 , a convoy designated to give supplies to Allied African countries . The convoy had been attacked just recently by and , one of which ( U-123 ) was in her flotilla . U-66 sank George J . Goulandris and Kalypso Vergotti , two Greek merchantmen of 4,345 and , respectively , west of the Canary Islands . She extended her tonnage sunk with the torpedoing of Saint Anselm on the next day , which was a British steam merchant ship of 5,614 tons . More than two weeks later , she sank Holmside , a 3,433-ton straggler from the convoy OG-67 northeast of the Cape Verde Islands . The remainder of the patrol was unsuccessful ; she returned to Lorient in about a month . Third . On 28 August , U-66 left Lorient for north-eastern South America . The patrol was mostly uneventful , but the boat found the Panamanian steam tanker I.C . White ( ) , off the eastern coast of Brazil on 24 September . After a two-day chase , U-66 hit the tanker with one torpedo . U-66 continued the remainder of the patrol without any further incident and returned to Lorient on 9 November . Fourth . U-66s fourth sortie was part of Operation Drumbeat , a German attempt to hinder American convoys off the east coast of the United States . U-66 , leaving on 25 December 1941 and in compliance with orders , positioned herself off Cape Hatteras on 15 January 1942 and started to hunt for a target . She found the 6,635-ton American steam tanker Allan Jackson three days later and sank her with two torpedoes north-east of Diamond Shoals , North Carolina . The next day she sank a Canadian passenger liner , , with two stern-launched torpedoes , killing 246 passengers and crew . Another five died in a lifeboat before 71 survivors were rescued five days later by . Three days later with two stern-launched torpedoes she hit Olympic , a Panamanian steam tanker which broke in two after one minute . Two days after that , Empire Gem and Venore ( an British motor tanker and an American steam merchant ship , the latter following the former ) , were both sunk by U-66 . Empire Gem was hit amidships and aft by two torpedoes , while Venore , 20 miles behind , had only one torpedo hit that set her boilers on fire . U-66 then continued eastward back to Lorient , where she arrived on 10 February . Fifth . On 21 March , U-66 left for what proved to be her most successful patrol , resulting in 43,956 gross metric tons sunk and 12,502 gross metric tons damaged in the Caribbean Sea . 24 days after departure she sank Korthion , a Greek steam merchantman just south of Barbados with one torpedo hit amidships . Two days later , the boat sank Amsterdam , a Dutch steam tanker , which split in two after being hit by two torpedoes , one amidships , and one in the engine room . Most of the survivors were picked up near Port of Spain , ( Trinidad ) by Ivan , a Yugoslavian steam merchant vessel . The next day U-66 attacked Heinrich von Riedemann , an 11,020-ton Panamanian motor tanker . The first torpedo severely damaged the steering control of her port engine and ruptured a tank of oil , making much of it leak out . 20 minutes after the first hit , just after the starboard engine was stopped , the ship was abandoned when the crew took to the lifeboats . An hour later U-66 hit her with a second torpedo , setting her afire . It extinguished itself within 25 minutes . 50 minutes later the submarine hit her with a third torpedo , which set the ship afire again . She remained that way for about 70 minutes before she finally sank . Nine days later U-66 sank the US Alcoa Partner with a torpedo and a shot from her deck gun . Sixth . After her fifth patrol , Richard Zapp left U-66 to take command of the 3rd U-boat Flotilla . This meant that Kapitänleutnant Friedrich Markworth was in charge . The submarine started her sixth patrol with the sinking of Triglav , a Yugoslavian steamer , after depositing a sick crew-member in Spain . After a couple of weeks , U-66 ran across the 4,942-ton Brazilian merchant ship Tamandaré , sinking her with a torpedo hit in her stern . The survivors were picked up by the . Two days after the attack on Tamandaré , U-66 sank Weirbank , a British merchantman on 28 July 1942 , with the second of two torpedoes launched at her . Four days after her previous sinking , two mines from U-66 severely damaged two British motor torpedo boats that had left on a patrol from Port Castries , St . Lucia . Those two mines had been laid , along with four others , on 20 July . U-66 subsequently sank the 766 ton Polish Rozewie on 6 August and the American Topa Topa on the 29th . The next day she sank both the Panamanian Sir Huon and the American West Lashaway in separate attacks . A raft with survivors from West Lashaway was sighted by three aircraft on 18 September ; , one of the escorts of a small convoy went to investigate . Deciding that the raft could be a disguised U-boat , Vimy opened fire , luckily with no result . The rafts sail was hastily cut down , upon which the British destroyer rescued 17 people . U-66 also sank the Winamac on 31 August and the Swedish Peiping on 9 September . She returned to Lorient on 29 September . Seventh ( aborted ) . On 9 November 1942 , U-66 left Lorient on what should have been her 7th war patrol . Soon after departure , leaks were encountered , and she decided to return . On 10 November , the day before she returned , a British Wellington bomber , equipped with a Leigh Light , spotted her and dropped four depth charges . The U-boat escaped without serious damage . Seventh . U-66 left Lorient on 6 January 1943 for what was officially her seventh patrol . On 20 January , the ship landed an espionage agent on the coast of Mauritania , but the agent and two crewmen were immediately captured . Her first sinking came with the attack on the 113-ton French Joseph Elise on 1 February . On the 27th , U-66 attacked the 4,312-ton British coal merchant ship St . Margaret in mid-Atlantic near Bermuda , sinking her with one torpedo and , after several misses , a shell . Several survivors were captured and taken to the prison camp Marlag und Milag Nord . U-66 then returned to port , arriving on 24 March 1943 . Eighth . U-66s eighth patrol started after a quick refit on 7 April 1943 when she left Lorient . At 148 days , it was to be her longest . She first sank the 10,173-ton American Esso Gettysburg , which was carrying crude oil , on 10 June after unsuccessfully attempting to attack several other American tankers . On 2 July , she successfully sank the 10,195-ton Bloody Marsh ( this ship was on her maiden voyage ) , with a torpedo . The last ship encountered on the patrol was the 10,172-ton Cherry Valley , also American , which she sank on 22 July . U-66 then returned to Lorient . Ninth . On 16 January 1944 , U-66 left Lorient for what would be her last patrol and the last command of Oberleutnant zur See Gerhard Seehausen ( posthumously promoted to Kapitänleutnant ) . A month and ten days after departure , U-66 sighted Silvermaple , a 5,313-ton British motor merchant in the convoy ST-12 . She was sunk after one torpedo hit . Four days later , the boat came upon the French 5,202-ton St . Louis , which she sank with two torpedoes off Accra , Ghana . The ship broke into three parts , which sank in less than 50 seconds . Four days after the sinking of St . Louis , on 5 March 1944 U-66 sank the 4,964-ton British John Holt with two torpedoes , and took the captain , Master Cecil Gordon Hime , and a passenger , Mr Elliott - an agent of the Holt Shipping Company , prisoner . These men were later lost with the U-boat . Nearly three weeks after the sinking of John Holt , the U-boat came across the 4,257-ton British Matadian , which she torpedoed and sank . After the attack , U-66 was forced to bottom out in the mud as British patrol craft engaged her . U-66 was supposed to be resupplied by , but this boat , a Milchkuh supply submarine , was sunk on 26 April . Sinking . On 1 May 1944 , U-66 came under attack by American ships from an antisubmarine hunter-killer group formed around . Three Fido homing torpedoes were dropped near the boat , and numerous aircraft from Block Island , along with smaller craft , were designated to hunt for her . On the morning of 6 May , the destroyer escort found the submarine . After an exchange of gunfire and torpedoes , Buckley , under the command of Lieutenant Commander Brent Abel , rammed the submarine . With the two vessels stuck fast , a party of Germans , under the command of U-66s first officer , Klaus Herbig , attempted to climb onto the American escorts forecastle to create a diversion while Seehausen and the remainder of the U-boats crew worked to free the boat . As American sailors saw the boarding party climbing on deck , hand-to-hand fighting broke out in which a number of Germans were killed or wounded before the U-boat was able to make good its escape . Five armed Germans remained on deck of the destroyer but they were quickly over-powered and taken prisoner . Buckleys 3-inch gun was unleashed on the U-boat as the Americans chased after her , but U-66 then turned and rammed Buckley near her engine room , damaging the ships starboard screw . Soon afterward , U-66 was scuttled on Seehausens orders to prevent her secret equipment from being captured . Buckley then began rescue operations , which lasted three hours . U-66 was lost at position with 24 dead and 36 survivors , all of whom were captured by Buckley . Seehausen was not among the survivors , who were later transferred to Block Island . For his act of ramming U-66 , Brent Abel received the Navy Cross . Wolfpacks . U-66 took part in four wolfpacks , namely . - West ( 24 May – 5 June 1941 ) - Rochen ( 27 January – 1 March 1943 ) - Tümmler ( 1–17 March 1943 ) - Aufnahme ( 5–10 May 1943 )