German submarine U - 502 German submarine " U - 502 " was a Type IXC U - boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II . The submarine was laid down on 2 April 1940 at the Deutsche Werft yard in Hamburg with yardnumber 292 , launched on 18 February 1941 and commissioned on 31 May under the command of Kapitänleutnant Jürgen von Rosenstiel . She began her service life under training with the 2nd U - boat Flotilla between 31 May and 1 September 1941 before moving on to operations , also with the 2nd flotilla . " U - 502 " sank fourteen Allied vessels between September 1941 and July 1942 before she was sunk by a British aircraft in the Bay of Biscay . Service history . 1st patrol . " U - 502 " departed Kiel on 29 September 1941 , and ventured out into the mid - Atlantic . On 7 October , south of Iceland , she torpedoed the 14 , 795 ton British ship " Svend Foyn " , a straggler from Convoy HX - 152 en route from New York to Liverpool , carrying fuel oil and aircraft and tanks as deck cargo . The former whale factory ship was damaged , but managed to escape and assisted by the Flower class corvette , reached Reykjavík on 11 October . " U - 502 " arrived in Lorient in occupied France on 9 November . 2nd patrol . " U - 502 " sailed from Lorient on 18 December 1941 , but aborted her patrol , having barely left the Bay of Biscay and returned to her French base on the 22nd . 3rd patrol . " U - 502 " s next patrol began on 19 January 1942 . She sailed for the Caribbean waters north of Venezuela to attack the vital oil trade . On the morning of 16 February off the Gulf of Venezuela she torpedoed and sank three tankers in as many hours ; the British 2 , 395 - ton " Tia Juana " , the Venezuelan 2 , 650 - ton " Monagas " , and then the British 2 , 391 - ton " San Nicolas " . " U - 502 " struck again on 22 February near Aruba , sinking the American 9 , 033 - ton tanker " J . N . Pew " with torpedoes during the night , then the Panamanian 8 , 329 - ton " Thalia " with torpedoes and shell - fire that morning . That afternoon she badly damaged the American 9 , 002 - ton " Sun " with a single torpedo . The crew initially abandoned ship , but later re - boarded and managed to take her into Aruba to make repairs . The U - boat returned to Lorient on 16 March after 57 days at sea . 4th patrol . Her fourth and final patrol was her most productive . Sailing from Lorient on 22 April 1942 , she resumed her predations in the Caribbean Sea . Her first success came on 11 May , northeast of the Virgin Islands , where she sank the unescorted British 4 , 963 - ton cargo ship " Cape of Good Hope " with torpedoes and shell - fire . She mistakenly sank the unescorted and neutral 4 , 996 ton Brazilian merchant ship " Gonçalves Dias " with two torpedoes about 100 miles south of Ciudad Trujillo on 24 May . The ship was identified as Brazilian only after the attack when the survivors were questioned . On 28 May , about 150 miles south of the Mona Passage , she sank the unescorted American 6 , 759 - ton Type C1 ship " Alcoa Pilgrim " , carrying a cargo of bauxite ore , and on 3 June , about 150 miles north - west of Trinidad , she torpedoed the unescorted American 6 , 940 - ton tanker " M . F . Elliott " . Hit below the waterline , the ship sank within six minutes . " U - 502 " attacked Convoy TO - 5 , en route from Trinidad to Curaçao , on 9 June , about 35 miles north - east of Cape Blanco , Venezuela , sinking the Belgian 5 , 085 - ton merchant ship " Bruxelles " , and damaging the American 6 , 589 - ton tanker " Franklin K . Lane " to such an extent that it was abandoned and later sunk by gunfire from . On 15 June , " U - 502 " struck once again and sank three ships in a single day . The first , at 01 : 00 , was the unescorted American 8 , 001 - ton merchant ship " Scottsburg " , hit by two torpedoes about 90 miles west of Grenada . At 04 : 10 , about 100 miles north - west of Trinidad , she sank the unescorted Panamanian 5 , 010 - ton Hog Islander " Cold Harbor " , carrying a cargo of tanks , aircraft and ammunition , with two torpedoes . The first torpedo struck the starboard side causing the ammunition in No . 2 hold to explode . About 30 minutes later , a second torpedo struck the port side and the ship sank after 15 minutes . Finally , at 20 : 15 about 30 miles west of Grenada , she sank the unescorted American 5 , 702 ton ship " West Hardaway " with a spread of three torpedoes . Two missed , passing ahead and astern , but the third struck the starboard bow . The ship ' s Navy Armed Guard returned fire ( the ship was armed with a gun , four 20 mm guns , and two . 30 calibre machine gun s ) , but the ship was hit by another torpedo and sank an hour later . All hands abandoned ship and survived . Sinking . " U - 502 " then headed for her base , but at 04 : 45 on 6 July in the Bay of Biscay , west of La Rochelle , at position , she was sunk by depth charges dropped by a Leigh light - equipped Wellington bomber of No . 172 Squadron RAF . All 52 hands were lost . This was the first confirmed kill using a Leigh light . The pilot of the aircraft P / O Wiley B . Howell , an American volunteer serving in the RAF , was subsequently awarded the DFC . Howell later returned to serve in the United States Navy , commanding the carrier in 1965 - 66 .