German submarine U - 556 German submarine " U - 556 " was a Type VIIC U - boat of the Nazi German " Kriegsmarine " during World War II . She was laid down on 2 January 1940 at the Blohm & Voss yard in Hamburg as ' werk ' 532 , launched on 7 December 1940 , and commissioned on 6 February 1941 under the command of " Kapitänleutnant " Herbert Wohlfarth , who commanded her for her entire career . " U - 556 " conducted only two patrols , sinking six ships totalling 29 , 552 tons and damaging one other of 4 , 986 tons , before she was sunk on 27 June 1941 . Service history . 1st patrol . " U - 556 " sailed from Kiel for her first patrol on 1 May 1941 . She headed out into the waters of the northern Atlantic , south of Greenland . She made her first kill on 6 May , sinking the 166 ton Faroese fishing trawler " Emanuel " with her deck gun west of the Faroe Islands . On 10 May she joined the wolfpack " West " attacking Convoy OB - 318 south - east of Cape Farewell . Her first victim was the 4 , 986 ton British merchant ship " Aelybryn " , hit by one of the torpedoes fired by the U - boat at 04 : 42 . Badly damaged , but suffering only a single casualty , the ship was towed to Reykjavík by . The convoy scattered , but at 07 : 52 " U - 556 " torpedoed and sank the 4 , 861 ton British merchant ship " " . Nine crew members and two gunners were later picked up by , but the master , 31 crewmen , and two gunners were lost . The U - boat has her third success of the day at 20 : 37 , sinking the 5 , 086 ton Belgian merchant ship " Gand " . One crew member was lost and another wounded . The master , 38 crewmen and four gunners were rescued . Ten days later , on 10 May , the wolfpack attacked Convoy HX - 126 . Between 14 : 48 and 15 : 16 " U - 556 " fired torpedoes at the convoy and sank two British merchant ships , the 4 , 974 ton " Darlington Court " and the 5 , 995 ton " Cockaponset " , and the 8 , 470 ton tanker " British Security " . Loaded with 11 , 200 tons of benzine and kerosene , the tanker caught fire and burned for three days before sinking . There were no survivors from her crew of 53 . The sinking of the " Bismarck " . On 26 May , while returning from patrol , low on fuel and having fired all her torpedoes , " U - 556 " was ordered to reconnoitre the most recently reported position of the battleship . " U - 556 " and " Bismarck " had been neighbours in the ways at Blohm & Voss and they completed construction at about the same time . ( " Bismarck " was commissioned on 24 August 1940 . ) In January 1941 , as " U - 556 " s commissioning ceremony approached , Wohlfarth wanted a band for the celebration , but could not afford to hire one . " Kapitän " Ernst Lindemann , commanding officer of " Bismarck " , loaned him his ship ' s band . As thanks , Wohlfarth drew up a humorous " Patenschaftsurkunde " ( " Certificate of Sponsorship " ) promising that " U - 556 " would protect " Bismarck " . A drawing shows Wohlfarth as the knight Parzival [ Percival ] ( his nickname ) on the deck of " U - 556 " simultaneously bringing down planes with a sword and reaching underwater to stop a torpedo with his thumb . A second drawing then shows the submarine towing the battleship to safety . The text accompanying the drawing reads : Around 19 : 50 , Wohlfahrt saw the battlecruiser and the aircraft carrier coming out of the mist at high speed . He recorded in his log , " Enemy bows on , 10 degrees to starboard , without destroyers , without zigzagging , " but without any torpedoes , could only submerge and avoid them . Wohlfahrt saw activity on " Ark Royal ' s " flight deck , which transpired to be the launching of the second , fatal attack on " Bismarck " . At 20 : 39 , Wohlfahrt surfaced and transmitted , " Enemy in view , a battleship , an aircraft carrier , course 115 , enemy is proceeding at high speed . Position 48° 20 ′ N , 16° 20 ′ W . " " Renown " s and " Ark Royal " s course toward " Bismarck " coincided almost exactly with his own ; he proceeded on the surface at full speed behind them . Wohlfahrt ' s War Diary contains these entries for 27 May 1941 : Around 06 : 30 Wohlfahrt sighted and transferred the mission of maintaining contact with " Bismarck " to " Kapitänleutnant " Eitel - Friedrich Kentrat . He gave Kentrat " Bismarck " s position based on his observations of the star shells fired during the night , adding : " I have not seen her directly . You assume contact . I have no more fuel . " Wohlfahrt then submerged and did not surface again until noon , a time at which radio signals were routinely repeated . That was when he heard for the first time the order radioed to him between 07 : 00 and 08 : 00 to pick up " Bismarck " s War Diary . He replied to the " Befehlshaber der U - Boote " ( " Commander - in - Chief for Submarines " ) Karl Dönitz , asking that this mission be transferred to Kentrat , who received the radio order , " U - boat Kentrat pick up Bismarck War Diary , " but was unable to locate " Bismarck " . The battleship had been sunk before Wohlfahrt had received the first message at noon . " U - 556 " arrived at Lorient , in occupied France on 30 May 1941 after 30 days at sea , where Wohlfahrt received the Knight ' s Cross ( " Ritterkreuz " ) from Dönitz personally . 2nd patrol . " U - 556 " departed from Lorient on 19 June 1941 , and once more headed out into the Atlantic . However , on 27 June , she was sunk south - west of Iceland , in position , by depth charge s from the British s , and . Five of the crew were killed and 41 survived .