German submarine U - 101 ( 1940 ) German submarine " U - 101 " was a Type VIIB U - boat of the Nazi German " Kriegsmarine " during World War II . She had a highly successful career . Construction and commissioning . " U - 101 " was ordered on 15 December 1937 and laid down on 31 March 1939 at Germaniawerft , Kiel , becoming ' Werk 595 ' . She was launched on 13 January 1940 and commissioned under her first commander " Kapitänleutnant " Fritz Frauenheim on 23 September of that year . Frauenheim commanded her for her work - up with the " 7th U - boat Flotilla " between 11 March and 18 November 1940 . She then became a front ( operational ) boat , also with the 7th Flottilla and set out from Kiel to Trondheim in Norway on her first war patrol on 28 April 1940 in the North Sea . Early patrols . Based at Kiel . Her first patrol took her to Trondheim and back to Kiel ; it was largely uneventful . She sailed again from Kiel on 21 May on a second patrol that was to last 36 days and be highly successful , taking her around the perimeter of the British Isles , to the Western Approaches and the Portuguese coast . She sank a total of seven ships , for a total tonnage of 42 , 022 GRT . On 22 May she sighted an enemy submarine . On the 23rd she again sighted either the original enemy craft or another . A torpedo track was seen , but it passed 50 metres across her bow and she continued her journey . On 29 May , at 16 . 30 hours she was spotted and attacked by an aircraft , which dropped two bombs on " U - 101 " as she was west of the English Channel . She suffered minor damage in this attack . Her first victim was the British merchant ship " Stanhall " on 30 May . The next day she sank the British " Orangemoor " , but following this attack she was hunted by convoy escorts for four hours , during which they dropped 34 depth charge s . When " U - 101 " risked rising to periscope depth she was spotted by an armed trawler , which dropped another seven depth charges at 22 . 00 hours , causing some damage . " U - 101 " survived this encounter and went on to sink " Polycarp " on 2 June . She was attacked again on 4 June at 20 . 14 hours , this time by an aircraft which dropped a bomb as she sailed west of the English Channel . She escaped damage . On 11 June she torpedoed and sank the Greek " Mount Hymettus " and on 12 June she claimed the British " Earlspark " . The final two successes came when she sank the Greek " Antonis Georgandis " on 14 June followed by the British " Wellington Star " on the 16th . Between 12 and 15 June " U - 101 " operated as part of wolfpack " Rösing " . She was attacked again on 23 June at 04 . 08 hours while in the North Sea returning to base , when an aircraft dropped three bombs , damaging the periscope . She returned to Kiel on 25 June . Based at Lorient . " U - 101 " next patrol was less successful , but still claimed three merchantmen , totalling . She left Kiel on 9 August , passed north of the British Isles and the north - west coast of Ireland and arrived at Lorient in France 39 days later on 16 September . She sank the British " Ampleforth " on 19 August , the Finnish " Elle " on 28 August and the Greek " Efploia " on 1 September . While searching for a convoy west of Ireland on 3 September , she was attacked by an escort with depth charges in five separate efforts , when she suffered considerable damage and began to flood , which was controlled by the crew . " U - 101 " sailed again on 5 October for a shorter war patrol lasting 20 days . She operated in the North Atlantic , working to intercept convoys sailing to Britain . She sank the Canadian " Saint - Malo " on 12 October , before being one of a number of U - boats to launch a successful ' wolf pack ' attack on Convoy SC - 7 . She damaged and sank on 18 October . The next day she sank and . While carrying out a final attack she was sighted by one of the merchantmen , which shelled her . She was able to fire her last torpedoes and escape the shells that fell behind her . The merchant ship had turned away and began zig - zagging , and so escaped without being hit . " U - 101 " returned to Lorient having sunk four ships totalling and damaged another for 4 , 155 GRT . On his return Frauenheim was relieved by " Kptlt . " Ernst Mengersen . Under Mengersen . Mengersen undertook one last war patrol during 1940 , sailing from Lorient on 24 November . Despite only lasting 14 days , this was another successful voyage . On 31 November the British " Aractaca " was sunk . The following day " U - 101 " attacked convoy HX 90 , sinking the " Appalachee " and damaging the " Loch Ranza " on 1 December . The following day she sank a further two ships from the convoy , the " Kavak " and the " Lady Glanely " . " U - 101 " returned to Lorient on 7 December having sunk 22 , 483 GRT of shipping and damaged a further 4 , 958 GRT . The boat ' s next patrol started with her departure from Lorient on 23 January . Despite spending 28 days at sea , this was one of " U - 101 " ’ s less successful cruises . While attempting to attack convoy SC - 19 at 04 . 16 hours on 29 January , an escorting destroyer fired on her , forcing her to dive . The warship then dropped three depth charges , but these failed to cause any damage . " U - 101 " later sank two ships , the " Holystone " on 14 February and the on the 17th . She arrived back at base on 19 February , having accounted for a further 10 , 699 GRT of Allied shipping . She sailed again on 24 March for her longest war patrol , lasting 40 days . This took her deep into the North Atlantic in search of enemy shipping . On 23 April she encountered a British submarine which fired two torpedoes at her , but both missed . " U - 101 " returned to base on 2 May without having sunk or damaged any enemy ships . Her next patrol began on 28 May and was slightly more successful . While operating further to the south of her previous location , she discovered the convoys OB - 327 and 329 and sank the British merchant ships " Trecarrell " and " Trevarrack " on 4 and 9 June respectively . Also on 4 June she lost a man , " Matrosenobergefreiter " Horst Jackl , overboard . She returned to base on 4 July having accounted for 10 , 541 GRT of shipping . " U - 101 " s next patrol took her from Lorient on 7 August . On 24 August at 09 . 53 hours , she was attacked by an aircraft while off Rockall . Two bombs were dropped but failed to damage her . Nevertheless " U - 101 " was forced to crash - dive another five times that day and the next to avoid aircraft operating in the area . She then attempted to attack convoy OS - 4 on 28 August but was forced to dive by a destroyer at 03 . 03 hours . She was hunted for three hours by several of the convoy ' s escorts , which dropped 30 depth charges . Despite the accuracy of these attacks , the only serious damage sustained was a disabled periscope . " U - 101 " put into Saint Nazaire ( also on the French Atlantic coast ) , on 4 September after 29 days at sea during which she had not been able to sink or damage any ships . Final war patrol . " U - 101 " ’ s final patrol took her from Saint Nazaire back to Kiel around the British Isles once more , departing from her French base on 11 October . While outward bound through the Bay of Biscay on 13 October she was attacked at 10 . 45 hours by a twin - engined aircraft . Three bombs were dropped . Some damage must have been visible on the surface as she was attacked again while submerged with a further three bombs at 16 . 42 hours . She carried out an attack on Convoy SC 48 on 18 October , during which she torpedoed and sank the convoy escort . She did not have any further success and arrived in Kiel on 16 November having spent 37 days at sea . This marked the end of her active wartime career . She had sunk 22 merchant ships , totalling 112 , 618 GRT and a warship of 1 , 190 tons ; she also damaged a further two vessels for a total of 9 , 113 GRT . As a training boat and fate . " Oberleutnant " Karl - Heinz Marbach briefly became commander of " U - 101 " on 1 January 1942 , serving as such until 3 February . " Oblt . " Friedrich Bothe then took over until 31 March . On 1 March " U - 101 " was part of the 26th Flotilla for crew training , until the end of March . Between 1 April and 31 August , she became a training boat for the 21st U - boat Flotilla . On 1 September she joined the 24th Flotilla , again in a training capacity , terminating these duties on 31 August 1943 . Between May 1942 and 25 October 1942 she was commanded by Ernst von Witzendorff . He was replaced by " Oblt . " Helmut Münster who commanded " U - 101 " until she was decommissioned . She was moved to the 23rd Flotilla on 1 September 1943 until 21 October 1943 . She was then decommissioned at Neustadt . She was laid up until being scuttled on 3 May 1945 prior to the German surrender . The wreck was later broken up .