German submarine U - 438 German submarine " U - 438 " was a Type VIIC U - boat of the Nazi German " Kriegsmarine " during World War II . The submarine was laid down on 25 April 1940 at the Schichau - Werke yard as ' Werk ' 1480 in Danzig , launched on 6 September 1941 and commissioned on 22 November 1941 under the command of " Kapitänleutnant " Rudolf Franzius . The city of Berlin adopted the submarine within the popular sponsorship programme ( " Patenschaftsprogramm " ) , organising gifts and holidays for the crew and earning her the honorary name of U - 438 " Berlin " . The U - boat served with the 8th U - Boat Flotilla for her training and later with the 9th Flotilla from 1 August 1942 to her loss on 6 May 1943 . " U - 438 " completed four patrols , sinking three ships , totalling and damaging one ship totalling . < br > She was a member of ten wolfpack s . Service history . 1st patrol . " U - 438 " sailed from Kiel in Germany , on 1 August 1942 and headed for the mid - Atlantic . On 10 August she took part in a " wolfpack " attack on Convoy SC 94 , south of Iceland . She fired a spread of torpedoes simultaneously with , hitting the Greek 4 , 439 ton cargo ship " Condylis " and the British 6 , 008 ton " Oregon " on the port side , while " U - 660 " hit them from starboard . Both ships , badly damaged , fell behind the main convoy and were sunk by " U - 438 " several hours later . On 11 August " U - 438 " joined Wolf pack ' Lohs ' , which operated in the north Atlantic . On 25 August " U - 438 " attacked convoy ON 122 , which she had been stalking since the 22nd , sinking the Norwegian 1 , 598 ton merchant ship " Trolla " . Several hours later " U - 438 " was detected on radar by the Norwegian Flower class corvette , and within a few minutes the ship spotted the surfaced U - boat in fog and opened fire with her 4 inch gun , before attacking with depth charge s as " U - 438 " crash - dived . The corvette continued to attack , forcing the U - boat to the surface after the bow compartment was flooded . Unable to dive , " U - 438 " escaped in the fog . After making repairs she was ordered to return to base , arriving at Brest in occupied France , on 3 September . 2nd patrol . " U - 438 " sailed from Brest on 6 October 1942 . On 2 November in an attack on Convoy SC 107 about 450 miles east of Belle Isle , she torpedoed the British 5 , 496 ton cargo ship " Hartington " , which had already been damaged by a torpedo from , the abandoned ship was finally sunk by two hours later . " U - 438 " returned to Brest on 19 November . 3rd patrol . " U - 438 " left Brest again on 31 December 1942 for another mid - Atlantic patrol , but had no successes before returning to base on 16 February . 4th patrol and loss . Since her commander , Rudolf Franzius , was ill , " Kapitänleutnant " Heinrich Heinsohn , originally commander of and recently returned from Spanish internment , was given command of " U - 438 " . She sailed from Brest on 31 March 1943 and was unsuccessfully attacked by a Catalina flying boat of 5 squadron , RAF on 4 May 1943 . On 6 May the U - boat was sunk with all hands , north - west Newfoundland at position , by depth charge s from the Egret class sloop .