German submarine U - 571 German submarine " U - 571 " was a Type VIIC U - boat built for the German Kriegsmarine for service during World War II . History . Her keel was laid down June 8 , 1940 by Blohm + Voss of Hamburg . She was commissioned May 22 , 1941 with " Kapitänleutnant " Helmut Möhlmann in command . Under his command " U - 571 " had nine successful patrols in the Arctic , and the North and Central Atlantic . In August and September 1941 , " U - 571 " operated against Allied and Soviet forces , sinking the Soviet passenger vessel " Marija Uljanova " on August 26 . In 1942 , " U - 571 " operated off the east coast of the United States , sinking the British freighter " Hertford " on March 29 , the Norwegian tanker M / T " Koll " on April 6 off Cape Hatteras , and the American freighter " Margaret " on April 14 after the ship left San Juan , Puerto Rico . Although " U - 571 " ’ s log mentions that some of the 8 officers and 21 men managed to get into a lifeboat and onto rafts , none of " Margaret " ’ s crew were ever seen again . In July 1942 the submarine operated in the Caribbean and torpedoed four ships ; the British freighter " Umtata " on July 7 , the American tanker , SS " J . A . Moffet " on July 8 , the Honduran freighter " Nicholas Cuneo " on July 9 and on July 15 the American tanker , SS " Pennsylvania Sun " . The whole crew of " J . A . Moffet " ( 35 merchant marine and 5 Naval Armed Guard ) abandoned ship into two lifeboats and three rafts , except for the master who was killed . The United States Coast Guard vessels " Mary Jean " and " Southbound " picked up the 39 survivors and brought them to Florida . When SS " Pennsylvania Sun " was torpedoed , two of the merchant crew died in the resulting explosion , but the rest of the 40 merchant marine crew and the 17 members of the Naval Armed Guard survived after being rescued by USS " Dahlgren " . " Pennsylvania Sun " was later salvaged and returned to service , while the other three ships attacked in July were sunk . On March 22 , 1943 , " U - 571 " was attacked by an aircraft in the North Atlantic and was damaged and had to return to base . In April 1943 , Möhlmann claimed that he sank three additional ships but these could not be matched with records of Allied losses . On April 22 , 1943 , she had to return to base because the commander was badly injured in an accident on the conning tower . On May 2 , 1943 , Möhlmann was relieved by " Oberleutnant zur See " Gustav Lüssow . " U - 571 " patrolled off the west coast of Africa in July before returning to base on September 1 . Between September and December , " U - 571 " was probably being overhauled in a drydock as no mention of the boat for that time period appears in war diary kept by the German Commander in Chief , Submarines , Admiral Karl Dönitz . On January 18 , 1944 , Lüssow reported to his submarine command that he attacked and sank an unknown destroyer ; however , this could not be verified to any known Allied losses during World War II . On January 28 , 1944 she was attacked by an Australian - crewed Sunderland aircraft from No . 461 Squadron RAAF west of Ireland and was destroyed by depth charge s . The aircraft ' s captain , Flight Lieutenant R . D . Lucas , reported that most of the crew successfully abandoned ship , but soon died from hypothermia . " U - 571 " sank with all hands — 52 dead — at . She had not suffered any casualties to her crew during her career until then . The plane , " EK577 " ( callsign " D for Dog " ) , was crewed partly by Royal Air Force ( RAF ) personnel and was based at RAF Pembroke Dock , in Wales . The crew was Lucas , Sergeant ( Sgt ) J . R . Brannan ( RAF , a Canadian ) , Flight Sergeant ( F / Sgt ) W . J . Darcey , Sgt D . Musson ( RAF ) , F / Sgt S . T . Burnett , Sgt D . McWalker ( RAF ) , Flying Officer ( F / O ) H . D . Roberts , F / Sgt G . H . Simmonds ( RAF ) , F / O R . H . Prentice , and F / Sgt C . D . Bremner . " U - 571 " conducted eleven war patrols , sinking seven ships totalling 47 , 169 tons , and damaging one other , which displaced 11 , 394 tons . Popular culture . " U - 571 " was the name of the eponymous U - boat in " U - 571 " , a movie released in 2000 , starring Matthew McConaughey , Bill Paxton and Jon Bon Jovi . The real " U - 571 " was never captured by the Allies , nor was her Enigma Machine ever taken . The events in the film are loosely based on the British capture of " U - 110 " and her Enigma and cipher keys .