List of all U-boats

U-57

Type

IIC

 
Ordered17 Jun 1937
Laid down14 Sep 1937 Deutsche Werke AG, Kiel (werk 256)
Launched3 Sep 1938
Commissioned29 Dec 1938Oblt. Claus Korth
Commanders
29 Dec 1938 - 4 Jun 1940  Kptlt. Claus Korth (Knights Cross)
5 Jun 1940 - 15 Sep 1940  Oblt. Erich Topp (Knights Cross)
11 Jan 1941 - 16 May 1943  Oblt. Wilhelm Eisele
17 May 1943 - 31 Jul 1944  Oblt. Walter Zenker
1 Aug 1944 - Apr, 1945  Oblt. Peter Kühl
Career
11 patrols
29 Dec 1938-31 Dec 1939  5. Flottille (training)
1 Jan 1940-3 Sep 1940  1. Flottille (active service)
11 Jan 1941-30 Jun 1944  22. Flottille (school boat)
1 Jul 1944-Apr 1945  19. Flottille (school boat)
Successes11 ships sunk, total tonnage 48,053 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk, total tonnage 8,240 GRT
2 ships damaged, total tonnage 10,403 GRT
1 ship a total loss, total tonnage 10,191 GRT
Fate

Sank at 0015hrs on 3 September 1940 at Brunsbüttel, in position 53.53N, 09.09E, after an accidental collision with the Norwegian steamship Rona. 6 dead and 19 survivors.

Raised on 9 September and decommissioned at Kiel on 16 September 1940. Repaired by Deutsche Werke AG and returned to service on 11 January 1941.

Scuttled on 3 May 1945 at Kiel after being decommissioned in April 1945. Wreck broken up.

Final location

See the 15 ships hit by U-57 - View the 11 war patrols

Attacks on this boat and other events

15 Jul 1940
The British submarine HMS Tetrarch (Lt.Cdr. R.G. Mills, DSC, RN) fired a spread of three torpedoes at U-57 off the entrance to Korsfjord near Bergen, Norway, none of which found their target.

25 Aug 1940
On the morning of the 25th the boat was located on Asdic by HMS Westcott in the vicinity of convoy HX 65B, which depth charged U-57 twice, but without getting close. U-57 surfaced and chased the convoy until she caught up in the evening, and sank a straggler. She was then depth charged by HMS Westcott and HMS Gladiolus, escaping undamaged after contact was lost following the initial attacks. (Sources: ADM 199/1707)

2 recorded attacks on this boat.

Men lost from the boat

3 Sep 1940
The boat sank after an accidental collision with the Norwegian steamer SS Rona, taking six of her crew with her. She was raised shortly afterwards and put into service as a training boat. [Obermaschinenmaat Bernhard Henz, Maschinengefreiter Kurt Kopf, Matrosengefreiter Hermann Schneider, Funkobergefreiter Kurt Sparschuh,Matrosenobergefreiter Franz Tatzreiter]

  Related: For more info on such losses see - Men lost from U-boats -

U-boat Emblems

We have 3 emblem entries for this boat. See the emblem page for this boat or view emblems individually below.


The Running Devil - U-552
3 leaf Clover inside Horseshoe
Devil catching Churchill in a Net

Media links


U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 1
Wynn, Kenneth


German U-Boat Losses During World War II
Niestle, Axel


Hitler's U-boat War
Blair, Clay

There was another U-57 in World War One
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 29 Apr 1916 and commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 6 Jul 1916. The Naval war in WWI was brought to an end with the Armistice signed on 11 Nov, 1918. Read about SM U 57 during WWI.




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