German submarine U - 566 German submarine " U - 566 " was a Type VIIC U - boat of the Nazi German " Kriegsmarine " during World War II . The submarine was laid down on 30 March 1940 at the Blohm & Voss yard in Hamburg as ' werk ' 542 , launched on 20 February 1941 and commissioned on 17 April under the command of " Kapitänleutnant " Dietrich Borchert . She was scuttled by her crew on 24 October 1943 after being damaged by six depth charge s from a British Wellington aircraft in the North Atlantic west of Portugal , in position . There were no casualties . Service history . In the eleven combat patrols of her career the U - boat sank seven vessels ; six merchant ships totalling between February and November 1942 , and the patrol gunboat on 5 August 1943 . Operational career . She was initially involved in a short journey from Trondheim to Kirkenes , both in Norway in July 1941 . 1st and 2nd patrols . The submarine ' s first and second patrols were marked by no more than an unsuccessful attack by a Soviet submarine off Kildin Island which caused no damage . Before her third patrol , she moved between Kirkenes , Bergen and Kristiansand from September to December 1941 . 3rd , 4th and 5th patrols . The boat ' s third patrol took her from Kristiansand to Lorient in occupied France where she arrived on 23 December 1941 . Her route took her through the gap between the Faroe and Shetland Islands , west of Ireland and into the Bay of Biscay . Her fourth sortie was marked with the sinking of the " Meropi " on 14 February 1942 east - southeast of the Sambro light - house in Nova Scotia . The U - boat ' s fifth patrol commenced with her departure from Brest , which she continued to use for the rest of her career , on 8 April 1942 . She sank the " Westmorland " on 1 June north - northeast of Bermuda , using a torpedo and her deck gun . 6th , 7th and 8th patrols . Her sixth outing saw the sinking of the " Triton " northeast of the Azores on 17 August 1942 and the " Zuiderkerk " on 28 August . The boat ' s seventh foray was rewarded with the sinking of the " Glenlea " on 7 November in mid - Atlantic , but she was attacked and severely damaged by a Hudson of No . 233 Squadron RAF on 17 November 1942 , forcing the U - boat to abort her patrol . Her eighth patrol was fruitless . 9th patrol . On 26 April 1943 she was disabled by a British Leigh light - equipped Wellington of 172 Squadron . The damage was such ( including an untraceable oil leak ) , that she was unable to dive and had to be escorted back to base . 10th patrol . She sank the USS " Plymouth " on southeast of Cape Henry , Virginia on 5 August 1943 , but was attacked by a Lockheed Ventura from United States Navy Squadron VP - 128 east of Cape Charles , also in Virginia , on 7 August 1943 . Her AA fire forced the aircraft to ditch ( she had misidentified the aircraft as a B - 25 Mitchell ) . She also shot a second Ventura down ( also wrongly categorized as a Mitchell ) after it and a Martin Mariner both attacked , without result . 11th patrol . The boat was scuttled after she came off worse with an encounter with a Wellington of 179 Squadron . The submarine ' s crew were picked up by a Spanish trawler and briefly interned . They survived the war and in 1970 met the aircrew who had been victorious .