German submarine U - 66 ( 1940 ) German submarine " U - 66 " was a Type IXC U - boat of the German " 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 " 2 . Unterseebootsflottille " . 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 boat s . She was a member of four wolfpack s . " 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 charge s , ramming and gunfire from Avenger and Wildcat aircraft of the US escort carrier and by the destroyer escort USS . Service record . 1st patrol . 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 cost , where the Keroman Submarine Base was just about to begin construction and where the U - boat was based for the rest of her career . 2nd patrol . 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 . It had been attacked just recently by " U - 123 " and " U - 69 " , one of which ( " U - 123 " ) was in her flotilla . " U - 66 " managed to sink the " George J . Goulandris " and " Kalypso Vergotti " , two Greek merchantmen of 4 , 345 and 5 , 686 GRT , respectively , west of the Canary Islands . She extended her tonnage sunk with the torpedo ing of the " Saint Anselm " on the following day , which was a British steam merchant ship of 5 , 614 tons . More than two weeks later , she picked off the " 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 . 3rd patrol . On 28 August , " U - 66 " left Lorient for north - eastern South America . The patrol was mostly uneventful , but the boat managed to locate the Panamanian steam tanker " I . C . White " ( 7 , 052 GRT ) , off the eastern coast of Brazil on 24 September . After a two day chase , the tanker was hit with one torpedo , " U - 66 " continued the remainder of the patrol without any further incident . She returned to Lorient on 9 November . 4th patrol . " U - 66 " s 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 came upon the " Lady Hawkins " , a 7 , 988 GRT Canadian steam passenger ship , which was sunk by two stern - launched torpedoes . Casualties amounted to 250 crew and passengers . The 71 survivors were picked up five days later by the USS " Coamo " . Three days later , the " Olympic " , a 5 , 335 GRT Panamanian steam tanker , was hit twice with stern - launched torpedoes and broke in two after one minute . Two days after that , the " Empire Gem " and " Venore " ( a 8 , 139 GRT British motor tanker and an 8 , 017 GRT American steam merchant ship , the latter following the former ) , were both sunk by " U - 66 " . The " Empire Gem " was hit amidships and aft by two torpedoes , whilst the " 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 . 5th patrol . On 21 March , " U - 66 " left for what would 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 encountered the " Korthion " , a 2 , 116 GRT Greek steam merchantman just south of Barbados . This ship sank after one torpedo hit her amidships . Two days later , the boat came across the " Amsterdam " , a 7 , 329 GRT Dutch steam tanker . The ship split in two parts after a double hit of torpedoes , one amidships , and one in the engine room . Most of the survivors were picked up near Port of Spain , ( Trinidad ) by the " Ivan " , a Yugoslavian steam merchant vessel . The next day , " U - 66 " attacked the " Heinrich von Riedemann " , an 11 , 020 - ton Panamanian motor tanker . The ship proved tough to sink , as the first torpedo severely damaged the steering control of her portside engine and ruptured a tank of oil , making much of it leak out . Twenty 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 " fired another torpedo at the ship , setting her on fire . It extinguished itself within twenty five minutes . Fifty minutes later , the submarine launched a third torpedo , which set the ship on fire again . She remained that way for about an hour and 10 minutes before she finally sank . Nine days later , the 5 , 513 GRT American " Alcoa Partner " was sunk by " U - 66 " following a torpedo and a shot from her deck gun . 6th patrol . After her fifth patrol , Richard Zapp left " U - 66 " to take command of the 3rd U - boat Flotilla . This meant that " Kapitänleutnant " Friedrich Markworth would be in charge . The submarine started her sixth patrol with the sinking of the " Triglav " , a 6 , 396 GRT 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 " Tamandarē " , sinking her with a torpedo hit in her stern . The survivors were picked up by the USS " PC - 492 " . Two days after the attack on " Tamandaré " , " U - 66 " found the " Weirbank " , a 5 , 150 GRT British merchantman on 28 July 1942 , sinking her 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 Liberian 5 , 356 GRT " Topa Topa " on the 29th . The next day she sank both the 6 , 049 GRT Panamanian " Sir Huon " and the 5 , 637 GRT American " West Lashaway " in separate attacks . A raft with survivors from the " West Lashaway " was spotted by three aircraft on 18 September ; HMS " Vimy " , 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 raft ' s sail was hastily cut down , upon which the British destroyer rescued 17 people . " U - 66 " also sank the 8 , 621 GRT " Winamac " on 31 August and the Swedish 6 , 390 GRT " Peiping " on 9 September . She returned to Lorient on 29 September . 7th patrol ( 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 . 7th patrol . " 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 . 8th patrol . " U - 66 " s 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 . 9th patrol . 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 " spotted the " 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 sections which sank in less than 50 seconds . Four days after the sinking of the " St . Louis " , ' U - 66 came upon the 4 , 964 - ton British " John Holt " . After sinking her with two torpedoes , the submarine managed to take the captain and a passenger prisoner . These men were later lost with the U - boat . Nearly three weeks after the sinking of the " 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 " U - 488 " , but this boat , a ' Milch cow ' 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 USS " Block Island " . Three Fido homing torpedoes were dropped near the boat , and numerous aircraft from the " Block Island " , along with smaller craft , were designated to hunt for her . On the morning of 6 May , the destroyer escort USS " Buckley " 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 - 66 " s first officer , Klaus Herbig , attempted to climb onto the American escort ' s forecastle to create a diversion while Seehausen and the remainder of the U - boat ' s 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 . " Buckley " s 3 - inch gun was unleashed on the U - boat as the Americans chased after her , but " U - 66 " then turned and rammed the " Buckley " near her engine room , damaging the ship ' s starboard screw . Soon afterward , " U - 66 " was scuttled on Seehausen ' s 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 the " 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 .