German submarine U - 117 ( 1941 ) German submarine " U - 117 " was a Type XB minelaying U - boat of the Nazi German " Kriegsmarine " during World War II . She was ordered on 31 January 1939 , and laid down on 1 July 1939 , at Germaniawerft , Kiel , as " Werk 616 " . She was launched on 22 July 1941 and commissioned under the command of " Fregattenkapitän " Hans - Werner Neumann on 25 October of that year . Service record . 1st patrol . On 19 September 1942 , " U - 117 " departed from Kiel and headed out into the North Atlantic . Her first patrol involved sailing along the coast of Norway and then in the direction of Iceland . Upon reaching the island , she headed for her new home port of Lorient in France . " U - 117 " made no attacks nor was she attacked during her first patrol . 2nd patrol . Like her first patrol , " U - 117 < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s " second foray resulted in no attacks on either merchant vessels or the U - boat itself . Following her departure from Königsberg in East Prussia ( now Kalinigrad ) on 12 October 1942 , she traveled up to Iceland once again . Then she headed south into the Bay of Biscay , she reached Lorient on 22 November 1942 . 3rd patrol . Much like her last two patrols , " U - 117 < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s " third sortie resulted in no contact with any Allied vessels . She departed Lorient on 23 December 1942 , and returned on 3 February 1943 . 4th patrol . " U - 117 " s fourth patrol was the first and last time that any Allied vessels were hit by the submarine . Following her departure from Lorient on 31 March 1943 , she headed out into the Mid - Atlantic , made a sharp turn upon reaching the Canary Islands and headed for French Morocco . It was in this region that she scored her only two successes of the war . On 11 April 1943 , the " Matt W . Ransom " was hit and damaged by a mine from " U - 117 " . On 25 April 1943 , the struck another mine and was badly damaged . 5th patrol and sinking . On 1 December 1942 , " U - 117 " was assigned to the 12th U - boat Flotilla at Bordeaux . Her fifth and final patrol began on 22 July 1943 from her base in Bordeaux . Her main objective on this patrol was to lay 66 mines off New York City . On 27 July , U - Boat Control directed " U - 117 " to divert from her course to refuel , which was also heading for North America . " U - 66 " was attacked by aircraft on 3 August , before the rendezvous took place , and was in need of medical assistance . " U - 117 " reached " U - 66 " on 6 August and transferred her ship ' s doctor and other essentials to " U - 66 " . The next day , TBF Avenger aircraft ( VC - 1 USN ) from the escort carrier attacked the two U - boats on the surface while " U - 117 " was refueling " U - 66 " . The Avengers dropped depth charges near " U - 117 " and " U - 66 " . " U - 117 " tried to help " U - 66 " during the attack , but was attacked herself by a FIDO homing torpedo dropped by another Avenger . Two more Avengers and two F4F Wildcat s arrived later from the " USS Card " and forced " U - 117 " to dive and then dropped depth charges . " U - 117 " was hit by one of two FIDO homing torpedoes dropped by the Avengers and sank with the loss of all crew . " U - 66 " was able to escape the Avengers during the attack and make her way back to her home port of Lorient .