German submarine U - 68 ( 1940 ) German submarine " U - 68 " was a Type IXC U - boat of the German " Kriegsmarine " during World War II . The submarine was laid down on 20 April 1940 at the AG Weser yard at Bremen as ' werk ' 987 , launched on 22 October and commissioned on 1 January 1941 under the command of " Korvettenkapitän " Karl - Friedrich Merten as part of the " 2 . Unterseebootsflottille " . " U - 68 " conducted ten combat patrols , sinking 32 merchant ships , for a total of ; she also sank one auxiliary warship of 545 GRT . She was a member of one wolfpack . On 10 April 1944 , during her tenth patrol , she was sunk northwest of Madeira by US aircraft from the escort carrier . Service record . 1st patrol . " U - 68 " left Kiel on 30 June 1941 for the Atlantic Ocean via the ' gap ' between Iceland and the Faroe Islands . She was unsuccessfully attacked with 24 depth charges by the British corvette HMS " Rhododendrun " west northwest of Cape Finisterre in Spain . She docked at the port of Lorient , on the French Atlantic coast , on 1 August . She would be based there for the rest of her career . 2nd patrol . Heading for the south Atlantic , the boat came across the " Silverbelle " southwest of the Canary Islands and sank her on 22 September 1941 . A month later , she sank the " Darkdale " while the unfortunate ship was at anchor in Jamestown harbour , St . Helena on 22 October . Her third victim , the " Hazelside " , was destroyed on the 28th , southeast of St . Helena . " U - 68 " also sank the " Bradford City " west of South West Africa ( now Namibia ) on 1 November . The U - boat collided with the stricken ship while diving underneath her . The submarine ' s bow was bent . Nevertheless , the submarine returned to Lorient on 25 December . 3rd patrol . " U - 68 " s third sortie was also conducted off the west coast of Africa . She sank the " Helenus " on 3 March 1942 south of Freetown in Sierra Leone , followed by the " Baluchstan " on the 8th . The boat ' s crew were kept busy , sinking the " Baron Newlands " on the 16th and the " Ile de Batz " on the 17th ; all the vessels met their end in the vicinity of Liberia . She also sank the " Scottish Prince " about west of Takoradi in Gold Coast and the " Allende " , both on the 17th . " U - 68 " had turned for home when she sank the " Muncaster Castle " with two torpedo es south southwest of Monrovia . More than ten lifeboats were seen by the Germans ; there were 329 survivors . 4th patrol . For her fourth patrol " U - 68 " moved to the Caribbean Sea , leaving Lorient on 14 May 1942 . On the night of 5 June she sank , which was then the largest oil tanker in the World . On the night of 10 June , northeast of the Panama Canal , she torpedoed the 8 , 600 - ton British freighter " Surrey " . 5 , 000 tons of dynamite in the cargo detonated after the ship sank . The shock wave lifted the U - boat out of the water as if she had suffered a torpedo hit ; both diesel engines and the gyrocompass were disabled . Another victim was the " Port Montreal " . She was sunk with what Merten noted in the boat ' s war diary as a lucky [ torpedo ] hit . In all , " U - 68 " sank seven ships during this patrol before returning to Lorient on 10 July . 5th patrol . The submarine left Lorient on her fifth patrol on 20 August 1942 . She would not see her base again until December . At 109 days , this was to be her longest and most successful sally . Heading once more into the South Atlantic , she attacked and sank the " Trevilley " east northeast of Ascension Island on 12 September . The Master and Chief Officer were taken prisoner . She travelled further south , sinking ships such as the " Gaasterkerk " on 8 October and the " Sarthe " on the same date , both in the area of the Cape of Good Hope . She also disposed of the " Belgian Fighter " on the 9th . Turning for home on 16 October , she sank the " City of Cairo " on 6 November . " U - 68 " returned a month later to Lorient on 6 December . 6th patrol . The boat ' s sixth patrol in the first half of 1943 was again to northern South America . Having sunk two ships , she was attacked by a US Mariner flying boat on 2 April ; damage was slight . 7th and 8th patrols . " U - 68 " was attacked by one of four British De Haviland Mosquito s on the western edge of the Bay of Biscay on 14 June 943 . One man was killed , three were wounded Patrol number eight was relatively uneventful . 9th patrol . The boat returned to her most successful hunting ground - the South Atlantic . In another mammoth patrol ( 107 days ) , she sank four more ships . One of them , the Norwegian tanker " Litiopa " , had numerous torpedoes and rounds from the deck gun fired at her , but stubbornly refused to succumb . Having been initially encountered at night on 21 October 1943 , it was not until the following day that she sank . The " Litiopa " s sole escort was the mine - sweeping trawler HMS " Orfasy " . She was sunk relatively easily on 21 October before the attack on the tanker . The other two ships were the " New Columbia " , ( sunk southwest of Bingerville , Ivory Coast ) on 31 October and the French " Fort de Vaux " on 30 November . The latter vessel met her end after ' Aphrodite ' radar decoys had been used to lure the escort vessels away . " U - 68 " s inbound route took her close to the northwest Spanish coast . She docked at Lorient on 23 December 1943 . 10th patrol and loss . The boat left Lorient for the last time on 22 March 1944 . On 10 April , she was sunk northwest of the Portuguese island of Madeira , by depth charges and rockets from Avenger and Wildcat aircraft from the United States escort carrier . " U - 68 " was lost at position . 56 men died ; there was one survivor .