German submarine U - 607 German submarine " U - 607 " was a Type VIIC U - boat built for the German Kriegsmarine for service during the Second World War . She was commissioned in January 1942 and was sunk in July 1943 , having sunk four ships and damaged two others . Her commanders were Ernst Mengersen and Wolf Jeschonnek . Description . " U - 607 " was built by Blohm + Voss , Hamburg as yard number 583 . She was ordered on 22 May 1940 and her keel was laid on 27 March 1941 . " U - 607 " was launched on 11 December 1941 . She was long , with a beam of and a draught of . She displaced surfaced and submerged . Career . Under Mengersen . " U - 607 " was commissioned into the Kriegsmarine on 29 January , and entered 5th U - boat Flotilla based at Kiel under the command of Ernst Mengersen as a boat under training . In August 1942 , " U - 607 " completed her training and transferred to 7th U - boat Flotilla based at St Nazaire , France as an operational boat . On 9 July 1942 , " U - 607 " departed Kiel on active patrol , returning to Kiel the next day . She then sailed to Kristiansand , Norway . On 13 July , " U - 607 " departed Kristiansand on active patrol . During the patrol she sank one ship and damaged another , breaking off the attack after depth charge s were dropped . She returned to Kristiansand on 16 August . " U - 607 " then sailed to St Nazaire . On 8 September , " U - 607 " departed St Nazaire on active patrol , returning on 23 October . During the patrol she sank one ship . On 23 September , " U - 607 " was rammed by a destroyer and slightly damaged . " U - 607 " suffered heavy damage when she attacked Convoy SC 104 On 11 October . Fourteen depth charges were fired by , firstly at a and again at . The boat descended to a depth of before it could be brought under control . The badly damaged boat was brought to the surface , evading detection as it was night . " U - 607 " had suffered damage to her communication systems , depth gauges , depth rudder , engines and rudder . It took some time to make temporary repairs . " Leutnant zur See fur Ingenieur " ( Engineering Lieutenant ) Russ openly quarrelled with Mengersen over the incident , which was witnessed by some of the ship ' s crew and a propaganda photographer who was on board . On returning to St Nazaire , Russ was Court - Martial led and found guilty of insubordination . He was dismissed from the Kriegsmarine and sentenced to eight months fortress confinement and four months imprisonment . " U - 607 " took six weeks to repair at St Nazaire . On 2 January 1943 , " U - 607 " departed St Nazaire on active patrol , returning on 9 March . During the patrol she sank one ship and damaged another . On 24 April 1943 , " U - 607 " departed St Nazaire on active patrol under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Wolf Jeschonnek . Jeschonnek had served on " U - 607 " since her commissioning . During the patrol she was attacked on a number of occasions . On 28 April she was attacked by a Vickers Wellington aircraft of 172 Squadron , Royal Air Force . On 12 May she was attacked by a Fairey Swordfish of 811 Squadron , Fleet Air Arm . After this , she was hunted by a Royal Navy Corvette which opened fire at extreme range without effect . She was forced to submerge when one of her diesel engines broke down . Over a seven hour period a number of depth charges were dropped without effect . " U - 607 " managed to surface a couple of times and was forced to dive again . The third time she surfaced there was an area of mist and she was able to make her escape . Under Jeschonnek . On 15 May , " U - 607 " attacked , a neutral Irish merchant ship some west of Ushant . Jeschennek claimed that " Irish Oak " was a Q - ship , steaming at without lights . " Irish Oak " had large Tricolours painted on her sides with the word " EIRE " in large letters . Two torpedoes were fired and the ship slowly sank by the bow . Around 60 crew were seen to leave the ship . " U - 607 " returned to St Nazaire on 2 June . During her time in St Nazaire after this patrol , extra anti - aircraft armament was fitted . On 10 July 1943 , " U - 607 " departed St Nazaire on active patrol . Her orders were to lay mines off Kingston , Jamaica , with explicit orders not to attack any convoys encountered . " U - 607 " was to proceed in convoy with three other U - boats , although one of these put back to St Nazaire with defects . The submarines were submerged at night and sailed on the surface during daytime . Just after midnight on 13 July , a bottle of Champagne was opened to toast Jeschonnek ' s birthday . " U - 607 " surfaced at about 07 : 55 German time and was spotted by Sunderland , DQ - N , of 228 Squadron , Royal Air Force and then by Halifax , BY - O , of 58 Squadron , Royal Air Force . Wishing to present as small a target as possible , " U - 607 " turned away from the Halifax . This meant that she was becoming increasingly further from the other two U - boats . The three U - boats opened fire on the aircraft . The aircraft successfully managed to split the fire of the U - boats , which ceased firing after a while . " U - 607 " attempted to rejoin the other two U - boats but during this manoeuvre she was attacked by the Sunderland which dropped seven depth charge s set to detonate at . The depth charges were dropped from an altitude of and the Sunderland had to take evasive action to avoid a collision with the conning tower of " U - 607 " . The depth charges straddled " U - 607 " from port quarter to starboard bow . Their detonation broke her in two , with the bow section rising over vertical and sinking while the stern section capsized then sank . Twenty - five survivors were seen in the water and the Sunderland dropped a dinghy . Seven of the crew managed to climb aboard . Only these seven of the 51 crew survived . " U - 607 " was sunk at . Although ships of the Second Support Group passed close by , the survivors were not picked up as no ship could be spared for the task . A flight of Junkers Ju 88 aircraft flew over at an altitude to apparently without spotting the survivors . At 04 : 00 local time on 14 July , the survivors were found at by and a boat was despatched to rescue them . The survivors were asked the number of their boat , which at first they refused to divulge . When told that they would not be rescued without divulging this information , Oberleutnant zur See Jeschonnek called the boat back and gave the information required .