German submarine U - 81 ( 1941 ) German submarine " U - 81 " was a Type VIIC U - boat of the German Navy during World War II . Building and commissioning . She was ordered on 25 January 1939 and laid down on 11 May 1940 at Bremer Vulkan , Bremen - Vegesack , becoming ' Werk 9 ' . She was launched on 22 February 1941 and commissioned under her first commander , " Oberleutnant " ( Oblt . ) Friedrich Guggenberger , on 26 April of that year . Guggenberger commanded her for her work - ups with the 1st U - boat Flotilla between 26 April and 31 July 1941 . She then became a front ( operational ) boat of the 1st U - boat Flotilla , and set out on a number of training patrols . Career . Early patrols . Her first successes came on her second patrol , which took her from Trondheim into the North Sea and the North Atlantic , before putting into the French port of Brest . During the patrol she attacked Convoy SC - 42 . She sank the cargo ship " Empire Springbuck " on 9 September , followed by the motor ship " Sally Maersk " on 10 September , for a combined total of 8 , 843 tons . " U - 81 " was one of the U - boats ordered into the Mediterranean . Her first attempt to break into the ' Italian Lake ' ended in disaster , when on 30 October she was attacked and severely damaged by a British Catalina of No . 209 Squadron RAF , as she attempted to cross the Strait of Gibraltar . The Catalina was joined by a Lockheed Hudson , which dropped depth charge s onto " U - 81 " . She was severely damaged and had to return to Brest . There she was repaired to return to the Mediterranean . Sinking the " Ark Royal " . On 4 November " U - 81 " left Brest bound for La Spezia in Italy . Whilst sailing off Gibraltar on 13 November , she encountered the inbound ships of Force H . She fired a single torpedo into the aircraft carrier , and then avoided depth charge attacks from the escorts . Despite efforts to salvage her , the " Ark Royal " had to be abandoned some 12 hours after the attack and capsized some two hours later and sank . Only one life had been lost due to the torpedo explosion . " U - 81 " reached La Spezia on 1 December , where she joined the 29th U - boat Flotilla . Patrols in the Mediterranean . Her next patrol was uneventful and resulted in no ships attacked . She sailed again on 4 April 1942 and headed into the eastern Mediterranean . On 16 April she sank the Egyptian sailing ships " Bab el Farag " and " Fatouh el Kher " , as well as the British " Caspia " and the Free French anti - submarine naval trawler . " U - 81 " sank a further two Egyptian sailing ships , " Hefz el Rahman " on 19 April and the " El Saadiah " on 22 April . The U - boat put into port at Salamis in Greece on 25 April , having spent 22 days at sea and sunk 7 , 582 tons of shipping . A further patrol from Salamis was uneventful and she returned to La Spezia on another patrol , which saw the sinking of the British " Havre " on 10 June . " U - 81 " s next patrol was into the western Mediterranean . She sank the British " Garlinge " on 10 November and went on to intercept one of the convoys of Operation Torch ( the invasion of French North Africa ) , sinking the " Maron " on 13 November . " U - 81 " s next patrol was uneventful and saw her briefly shift operations to Pola ( now Pula , Croatia ) . On 25 December Oblt . Johann - Otto Krieg took command of " U - 81 " from Guggenberger . She sailed from Pola on 30 January 1943 on her next patrol . On 10 February she damaged the Dutch " Saroena " and on 11 February she sank four sailing vessels , the Egyptian " Al Kasbanah " and " Sabah el Kheir " , the Lebanese " Husni " and the Palestinian " Dolphin " . " U - 81 " put into Salamis on 19 February after 21 days at sea , 388 tons of shipping sunk and 6 , 671 tons damaged . Her next patrol sank three more Egyptian sailing vessels , the " Bourghieh " , the " Mawahab Allah " and the " Rousdi " . Her next patrol brought more substantial results , insking the British troopship on 17 June killing 484 people , followed by the Egyptian sailing vessel " Nisr " on 25 June and the Syrian sailing vessels " Nelly " and " Toufic Allah " on 26 June . On 27 June she sank the Greek " Michalios " , but was engaged by shore - based guns off Latakia . Her next patrol saw only the " Empire Moon " hit on 22 July , but she was declared a total loss and spent the rest of the war under repair . The U - boat ' s next three patrols were uneventful but on 18 November she sank the cargo ship . Sinking . " U - 81 " was attacked by US bombers whilst in Pola , at 1130hrs on 9 January 1944 . She sank with two of her crew dead and an unknown number of survivors . The wreck was raised on 22 April 1944 and broken up . She had conducted 17 patrols , sinking 23 ships totalling 63 , 289 tons and damaging two others totalling 14 , 143 tons . Raiding history . * Sailing vessel