U-Boat Operations

Operations information for U-564
17.06.1941 - 27.07.1941 First Sailing - active patrol U-564 left Kiel under the command of Reinhard Suhren on 17th Jun 1941 for operations in the North Atlantic and arrived at return on 27th Jul 1941 after more than five weeks. Reinhard Suhren hit four ships on this patrol, three of these ships were in convoy, all of them from convoy HX-133. On 27th Jun 1941 he sank the British 8,651 ton Malaya II, sailing with convoy HX-133. On 27th Jun 1941 he sank the Dutch 8,812 ton Maasdam, a member of convoy HX-133. On 27th Jun 1941 he damaged the Norwegian 9,467 ton Kongsgaard, part of convoy HX-133. On 29th Jun 1941 he sank the Icelandic 1,215 ton Hekla. You can read more about the Norwegian ship listed for this patrol at www.warsailors.com. Click the link for more information on Kongsgaard.
16.08.1941 - 27.08.1941 Second Sailing - active patrol On the 16th Aug 1941, U-564 left Brest under the command of Reinhard Suhren for operations in the North Atlantic and after one and a half weeks arrived at return on 27th Aug 1941. Reinhard Suhren hit four ships on this patrol and all of them were in convoy, all of them from convoy OG-71. On 22nd Aug 1941 he sank the British 484 ton Empire Oak, from convoy OG-71. On 22nd Aug 1941 he sank the Irish 1,203 ton Clonlara, sailing with convoy OG-71. On 23rd Aug 1941 he sank the British 900 ton HMS Zinnia, a member of convoy OG-71. On 23rd Aug 1941 he damaged the Norwegian 2,129 ton Spind, part of convoy OG-71. Crew lists and details of the ship Clonlara can be found here.You can read more about the Norwegian ship listed for this patrol at www.warsailors.com. Click the link for more information on Spind.
16.09.1941 - 01.11.1941 Third Sailing - active patrol U-564 departed under Reinhard Suhren from Brest on 16th Sep 1941 for operations in the North Atlantic and arrived at return on 1st Nov 1941 after six and a half weeks. Reinhard Suhren hit three ships on this patrol and all of them were in convoy, all of them from convoy HG-75. On 24th Oct 1941 he sank the British 1,352 ton Alhama, from convoy HG-75. On 24th Oct 1941 he sank the British 2,176 ton Ariosto, sailing with convoy HG-75. On 24th Oct 1941 he sank the British 3,670 ton Carsbreck, a member of convoy HG-75. Early in this patrol U-564 and U-204 were detailed to escort the blockade runner Rio Grande, and after this both U-Boats were re-supplied in Cadiz (Spain) by Thalia on the night of the 14th/15th October.
11.01.1942 - 12.01.1942 Fourth Sailing U-564 left Lorient under the command of Reinhard Suhren on 11th Jan 1942 and after one day arrived at return on 12th Jan 1942.
18.01.1942 - 06.03.1942 Fifth Sailing - active patrol On the 18th Jan 1942, U-564 left La Pallice under the command of Reinhard Suhren for operations off the US East coast and arrived at return on 6th Mar 1942 after more than six weeks. Reinhard Suhren hit two ships on this patrol. On 11th Feb 1942 he sank the Canadian 11,410 ton Victolite. On 16th Feb 1942 he damaged the British 6,195 ton Opalia. U-564 was re-fuelled by U-107 for the return from this patrol.
04.04.1942 - 06.06.1942 Sixth Sailing - active patrol U-564 departed under Reinhard Suhren from Brest on 4th Apr 1942 for operations off the US East coast and after nine weeks arrived at return on 6th Jun 1942. Reinhard Suhren hit six ships on this patrol. On 3rd May 1942 he sank the British 7,174 ton Ocean Venus. On 4th May 1942 he damaged the British 9,767 ton Eclipse. On 5th May 1942 he damaged the American 3,478 ton Delisle. On 8th May 1942 he sank the American 6,078 ton Ohioan. On 9th May 1942 he sank the Panamanian 7,138 ton Lubrafol. On 14th May 1942 he sank the 4,000 ton Potrero del Llano.
09.07.1942 - 18.09.1942 Seventh Sailing - active patrol U-564 left Brest under the command of Reinhard Suhren on 9th Jul 1942 for operations in the Caribbean and arrived at return on 18th Sep 1942 after just over ten weeks. Reinhard Suhren hit five ships on this patrol, four of these ships were in convoy: two were from convoy OS-34 and two were from convoy TAW(S). On 19th Jul 1942 he sank the British 5,372 ton Lavington Court, part of convoy OS-34. On 19th Jul 1942 he sank the British 5,724 ton Empire Hawksbill, from convoy OS-34. On 19th Aug 1942 he sank the British 5,969 ton Empire Cloud, sailing with convoy TAW(S). On 19th Aug 1942 he sank the British 6,940 ton British Consul, a member of convoy TAW(S). On 30th Aug 1942 he sank the Norwegian 8,176 ton Vardaas. This patrol was extensively photographed by a War Correspondent of the Kriegsmarine's Propaganda Service. Many of these photos, and the story of this patrol, are included in U-Boat War Patrol - The Hidden Photographic Diary of U564 by Lawrence Paterson. This book is estimated to be available around January 2004. A link to the author's page is here and the publisher's page is hereYou can read more about the Norwegian ship listed for this patrol at www.warsailors.com. Click the link for more information on Vardaas.
27.10.1942 - 30.12.1942 Eighth Sailing - active patrol On the 27th Oct 1942, U-564 left Brest under the command of Hans Fiedler for operations off of Gibraltar and after just over nine weeks arrived at return on 30th Dec 1942.
11.03.1943 - 15.04.1943 Ninth Sailing - active patrol U-564 departed under Hans Fiedler from Brest on 11th Mar 1943 for operations in the North Atlantic and arrived at return on 15th Apr 1943 after five weeks.
15.05.1943 - 17.05.1943 Tenth Sailing U-564 left Bordeaux under the command of Hans Fiedler on 15th May 1943 and after two days arrived at return on 17th May 1943.
31.05.1943 - 03.06.1943 Eleventh Sailing On the 31st May 1943, U-564 left Bordeaux under the command of Hans Fiedler and arrived at return on 3rd Jun 1943 after three days.U-564 aborted this patrol due to defects.
09.06.1943 - 14.06.1943 Twelfth Sailing U-564 departed under Hans Fiedler from Bordeaux on 9th Jun 1943 for operations in the North Atlantic and after five days arrived at return on 14th Jun 1943.

Notes for U-564

U-564 was one of a group of 5 U-Boats including U-159, U-185, U-415 and U-634 that were sailing outbound through the Biscay together during the period of the 'Fight Back' order. This meant in effect the boats had to stay on the surface if attacked by air. They were passing through Coastal Command's area designated as 'Seaslug' on the 13th when they were located by a Sunderland of 228 SQN RAF. U-564's gun crews indeed fought back, shooting down the Sunderland. None of the aircrew survived. Their attack was not in vain as the boat was damaged and was forced to abort, being escorted by U-185.

Meanwhile 19 Group had been alerted to the location of the U-Boats and had sent more aircraft to hunt them. On the afternoon of the 14th a Whitley of Coastal Command's 10 OTU (Sgt A Benson) found U-185 and U-564, and circled while calling for assistance. Another Whitley failed to arrive, and Benson carried out an attack on his own. U-564 once more fought it out, damaging one of the Whitley's engines. Benson's attack was good, and U-564 was severely damaged. The Whitley aircraft were never good at flying on one engine, and Benson was forced to ditch when the damaged engine failed. The aircrew were rescued by a fishing boat, and landed in France where they became PoWs.

Meanwhile U-185 tried to take U-564 in tow, but the badly damaged boat could not be saved. OL Fiedler and 17 of his crew were taken off by U-185, the other 28 having been killed during the earlier attack. The survivors were then taken by the Destroyers Z24 and Z25 that evening.

See the notes for U-564's 7th patrol for links about Lawrence Paterson's book on 'Teddy' Suhren and one of U-564's patrols.

More information about Lawrence Paterson's book here.

We have 103 crew names for this boat. click here for crew names of U 564
You can perform other crew searches here. Note that the number of names we give possibly includes prior crew members.

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