German submarine U - 38 ( 1938 ) German submarine " U - 38 " was a Type IXA U - boat of the Nazi German " Kriegsmarine " that operated during World War II . Her keel was laid down on 15 April 1937 , by AG Weser of Bremen as ' werk ' 943 . She was launched on 9 August 1938 and commissioned on 24 October with " Kapitänleutnant " Heinrich Liebe in command . " U - 38 " conducted eleven patrols , as part of several flotillas . During her career , she sank over 30 enemy vessels and damaged a further one . " U - 38 " ranks as one of the most successful U - boats in World War II . She was scuttled west of Wesermünde ( modern Bremerhaven ) on 5 May 1945 . Throughout the war , the U - Boat suffered no losses among her crew . Service record . 1st Patrol . " U - 38 " left the port of Wilhelmshaven on 19 August 1939 . The boat operated off the coast of Lisbon , returning to port on 18 September . During this four - week period , she sank two ships . On 5 September 1939 " U - 38 " stopped the French ship " Pluvoise " , examined her papers and released her . " Pluvoise " broadcast the event , which would warn others of the U - boat . Liebe was reprimanded . The British steam freighter SS " Manaar " was sunk on 6 September 1939 . " U - 38 " opened fire on the freighter ; fire was returned . This was the first time that a merchantman fired at a U - boat . " U - 38 " sank the " Manaar " with torpedoes . As " Manaar " had fired at him , Liebe did not assist the survivors . Radio Officer James Turner remained at his post until the last moment . As he was leaving he found two Lascar s , one badly injured . Turner rescued both men while under continuous fire from " U - 38 " , for this he was awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal . On 11 September 1939 , while flying the Irish tricolour , the " Inverliffey " was shelled and sunk . In spite of Captain William Trowsdale ' s protestation that they were Irish , Liebe said that they " were sorry " but they would sink " Inverliffey " as she was carrying petrol , which was contraband , to England . The crew took to the lifeboats . " Inverliffey " burned fiercely , endangering the lifeboats . At risk to herself , the German submarine approached , threw lines to the lifeboats and towed them to safety . As Captain Trowsdale ' s lifeboat was damaged , the occupants were allowed to board the U - boat . The captain did not have a lifebelt , so he was given one . " U - 38 " stopped the American tanker " R . G . Stewart " and put " Inverliffey " s crew on board . Just two days earlier , Inver tankers transferred its ships from the Irish to the British registry . 2nd Patrol . After nearly two months in port , " U - 38 " left Wilhelmshaven , again with Heinrich Liebe in command , on 12 November 1939 . This second patrol was to see the boat operate in the waters northwest of Norway . On 17 November 1939 , Naval High Command ( SKL ) issued orders for " U - 38 " and to scout the location for " Basis Nord " , a secret German naval base to be used for raids on allied shipping which was located off the Kola Peninsula and provided by the Soviet Union . The mission required coded messages to be flashed to Soviet naval vessels patrolling the area preceding a Soviet escort to the prospective base location . " U - 36 " never left the Norwegian Sea and was sunk by the British submarine . " U - 38 " rounded the North Cape uneventfully and arrived in Teriberka Bay by mid - afternoon on 26 November . Running silently into the bay , " U - 38 " had to avoid being spotted by merchant vessels in order to help maintain the Soviet Union ' s attempted appearance of neutrality at that time . " U - 38 " s captain commented that , while in the area of the North Cape and the Kola Peninsula , he had observed thirty to forty targets and regrettably had been " harmless to [ all ] of them . " After completing the clandestine reconnaissance mission , " U - 38 " returned to raiding duties and sank three ships , two British and one Greek . The British steam freighter SS " Thomas Walton " was sunk on 7 December . The Greek steam freighter SS " Garoufalia " was destroyed on 11 December , as was the British steam freighter on 13 December . After an operational period of four and a half weeks , " U - 38 " returned to Wilhelmshaven on 16 December . Third Patrol . Once again , " U - 38 " would spend considerable time in port , prior to sailing on 26 February 1940 , for operations in the Western Approaches . " U - 38 " sank six ships . First sent to the bottom was the neutral Irish steam trawler on 9 March , with a single shell at point - blank range off Tory Island , all 11 crew were lost . The " Leukos " was fishing in the company of British trawlers ; it has been speculated that she positioned herself between the surfacing U - boat and the fleeing British in the belief that her neutral markings would protect her . This event was followed by the sinking of the Danish motor freighters SS " Argentina " on 17 March and the SS " Algier " and SS " Christiansborg " on 21 March . The Norwegian motor freighter MV " Cometa " was sunk on 26 March . The sixth and final ship sunk during this third patrol was the Finnish steam freighter SS " Signe " on 2 April . After nearly six weeks on the high seas , " U - 38 " returned to Wilhelmshaven on 5 April 1940 . 4th Patrol . " U - 38 " left her home port of Wilhelmshaven with Heinrich Liebe in command on 8 April 1940 . She would sweep the waters off Norway , supporting the occupation of that country by Nazi troops . During this patrol , " U - 38 " reported problems with her torpedoes , after was fired upon with no result . " U - 38 " would return to port on 27 April . There were two naval battles of Narvik on 10 and 13 April 1940 . " U - 38 " and " U - 65 " were positioned at the entrance to the fjord . When the Royal Navy arrived , " U - 38 " fired at and at missing both . In the second battle , " U - 38 " fired at " Effingham " , but the torpedoes malfunctioned , ( exploding prematurely ) . 5th Patrol . For her fifth patrol , " U - 38 " would again depart from Wilhelmshaven with Heinrich Liebe in command on 6 June 1940 . She was to patrol the waters off southern Ireland . During this operation , Liebe would hit six ships , two of which were sailing in convoy at the time . On 14 June , " U - 38 " sank the Greek steam freighter SS " Mount Myrto " . The next day , " U - 38 " sank two ships , both sailing as part of the HX - 47 convoy , sailing from Halifax to England . First sunk was the Canadian steam freighter SS " Erik Boye " , followed by the Norwegian motor tanker MV " Italia " . Five days later , on 20 June , the Swedish steam freighter SS " Tilia Gorthon " was torpedoed and sunk . The Belgian steam freighter SS " Luxembourg " was destroyed on 21 June , followed by the Greek steam freighter SS " Neion " the following day . After three weeks at sea , " U - 38 " returned to Wilhelmshaven on 2 July . During this patrol , " U - 38 " was able to land Walter Simon , a Nazi agent , at Dingle Bay in Ireland on 12 June . Not realising that the passenger services of the Tralee and Dingle Light Railway had been closed fourteen months earlier , he asked when the next train to Dublin was . He was arrested and interned in the Curragh Camp for the duration of the war . 6th Patrol . " U - 38 " would depart Wilhelmshaven for the last time on 1 August 1940 , again with Heinrich Liebe in command . On this month long patrol off the western coast of Ireland , " U - 38 " would hit and sink three ships , all of which were in convoy at the time of attack . On 7 August the Egyptian liner SS " Mohamed Ali El - Kebir " was sunk while traveling with HX - 61 , from Halifax to Gibraltar , 320 died . The British steam freighter SS " Llanfair " was hit and sunk , travelling as part of SL - 41 from Sierra Leone to England . The third and final ship hit on the sixth patrol of " U - 38 " was the British steam freighter SS " Har Zion " , while travelling with the Convoy OB - 225 , from Liverpool to the United States . After four weeks at sea Liebe returned " U - 38 " to her new home port of Lorient in France on 3 September 1940 . 7th Patrol . For her first patrol from Lorient and her seventh overall , " U - 38 " would again be under the command of Heinrich Liebe . She departed on 25 September , for the Northwest Approaches . She would attack five ships on this patrol , sinking four of them . On 1 October , the British motor freighter MV " Highland Patriot " was torpedoed . After two weeks of no victories , " U - 38 " was successful against the Greek steam freighter SS " Aenos " on 17 October , sailing as part of Convoy SC 7 , from Sydney , Nova Scotia to England . The following day , the British steam freighter SS " Carsbreck " was damaged , but not sunk , while traveling with the SC - 7 convoy from Sydney to Grimsby , England . On 19 October , two ships were hit , both sailing as part of the HX 79 convoy : the Dutch SS " Bilderdijk " and the British steam freighter SS " Matheran " . Following these victories , " U - 38 " returned to Lorient on 24 October 1940 . 8th Patrol . " U - 38 " would depart Lorient with Liebe in command once again on 18 December 1940 . The eighth war patrol of her career would involve operations again in the Northwest Approaches . During this patrol , the submarine would hit and sink two ships . On 27 December , " U - 38 " destroyed the British ship SS " Waiotira " , and on 31 December , she sank the Swedish motor freighter SS " Valparaiso " , sailing as part of the HX - 97 convoy from Halifax to Glasgow . " U - 38 " returned to port on 22 January 1941 . 9th Patrol . " U - 38 " would spend two and a half months in port , before leaving for operations off the west coast of Africa on 9 April 1941 . This would prove to be her most successful patrol , with the sinking of eight ships . On 4 May , the Swedish steam freighter SS " Japan " was torpedoed while traveling with Convoy OB - 310 from England to the United States . The following day , the British motor freighter MV " Queen Maud " was hit and sunk . On 23 May , the Dutch motor freighter SS " Berhala " was sunk while traveling with the Convoy OB 318 , from England to America . The British steam freighter SS " Vulcain " was torpedoed and sunk on 24 May . Six days later , on 29 May , the British steam freighter SS " Tabaristan " was another victim . The following day the destruction continued , the British steam freighter SS " Empire Protector " was sent to the bottom , as was the Norwegian steam freighter SS " Rinda " on the 31st . The eighth and final ship sunk during " U - 38 " < nowiki > ' s < / nowiki > eighth patrol was the British cargo steamship on 8 June . The boat then returned to Lorient on 29 June 1941 , after spending eleven and a half weeks at sea . 10th Patrol . For the first time in her career , " U - 38 " would head to sea with a new commander , " Kapitän zur See " Heinrich Schuch . She left on 6 August , for a five - week patrol in the North Atlantic . During this time one ship was hit , the Panamanian steam freighter SS " Longtanker " on 18 August . " U - 38 " returned to Lorient on 14 September 1941 . 11th and 12th Patrols . " U - 38 " would depart from Lorient for the last time on 15 October , again with Heinrich Schuch in command . Her eleventh patrol was to take place in the North Atlantic . However , during a period of five weeks , not a single ship was hit . " U - 38 " traveled to the U - boat base in Bergen , Norway on 21 November . She would later depart Bergen on the 23rd and arrive in Stettin on 29 November . Life after active duty . From December 1941 until November 1943 , " U - 38 " was used as a training boat in the " 24th " and " 21st U - boat Flotilla s " . She was then used as a testing boat , until she was scuttled by her crew on 5 May 1945 . Summary of raiding history . During her service in the " Kriegsmarine " , " U - 38 " sank 35 commercial ships for , and damaged another of .