U-Boat Operations

Operations information for U-566

26.07.1941 - 29.07.1941
First Sailing
U-566 left Trondheim under the command of Dietrich Borchert on 26th Jul 1941 and arrived at return on 29th Jul 1941 after three days.

30.07.1941 - 19.08.1941
Second Sailing - active patrol
On the 30th Jul 1941, U-566 left Kirkenes under the command of Dietrich Borchert and after nearly three weeks arrived at return on 19th Aug 1941.

30.08.1941 - 20.09.1941
Third Sailing - active patrol
U-566 departed under Dietrich Borchert from Kirkenes on 30th Aug 1941 and arrived at return on 20th Sep 1941 after three weeks.

22.09.1941 - 27.09.1941
Fourth Sailing
U-566 left Kirkenes under the command of Dietrich Borchert on 22nd Sep 1941 and after five days arrived at return on 27th Sep 1941.

29.09.1941 - 02.10.1941
Fifth Sailing
On the 29th Sep 1941, U-566 left Bergen under the command of Dietrich Borchert and arrived at return on 2nd Oct 1941 after three days.

03.12.1941 - 04.12.1941
Sixth Sailing
U-566 departed under Dietrich Borchert from Kiel on 3rd Dec 1941 and after one day arrived at return on 4th Dec 1941.

09.12.1941 - 23.12.1941
Seventh Sailing - active patrol
U-566 left Kristiansand under the command of Dietrich Borchert on 9th Dec 1941 and arrived at return on 23rd Dec 1941 after two weeks.

15.01.1942 - 09.03.1942
Eighth Sailing - active patrol
On the 15th Jan 1942, U-566 left Lorient under the command of Dietrich Borchert and after seven and a half weeks arrived at return on 9th Mar 1942.
Dietrich Borchert hit one ship on this patrol from convoy ON-60.

On 15th Feb 1942 he sank the Greek 4,181 ton Meropi, sailing with convoy ON-60.

08.04.1942 - 30.06.1942
Ninth Sailing - active patrol
U-566 departed under Dietrich Borchert from Brest on 8th Apr 1942 and arrived at return on 30th Jun 1942 after nearly twelve weeks.
Dietrich Borchert hit one ship on this patrol.

On 1st Jun 1942 he sank the British 8,967 ton Westmoreland.

06.08.1942 - 05.09.1942
Tenth Sailing - active patrol
U-566 left Brest under the command of Gerhard Remus on 6th Aug 1942 and after over four weeks arrived at return on 5th Sep 1942.
Gerhard Remus hit three ships on this patrol and all of them were in convoy: One was from convoy SL-118 and two were from convoy SL-119.

On 17th Aug 1942 he sank the Norwegian 6,607 ton Triton, a member of convoy SL-118.
On 28th Aug 1942 he sank the British 5,661 ton City of Cardiff, part of convoy SL-119.
On 28th Aug 1942 he sank the Dutch 8,424 ton Zuiderkerk, from convoy SL-119.

You can read more about the Norwegian ship listed for this patrol at www.warsailors.com.
Click the link for more information on Triton.

28.10.1942 - 01.12.1942
Eleventh Sailing - active patrol
On the 28th Oct 1942, U-566 left Brest under the command of Gerhard Remus and arrived at return on 1st Dec 1942 after nearly five weeks.
Gerhard Remus hit one ship on this patrol from convoy ON-143.

On 7th Nov 1942 he sank the British 4,252 ton Glenlea, sailing with convoy ON-143.

Air Attacks this patrol

On the 17th November at 0856, despite rough seas the wake of a surfaced U-Boat was sighted by 233 SQN RAF Hudson (SGT E H Smith). As Smith approached the boat dived. The Hudson dropped 4 D/Cs, producing an oil patch that grew quite sizeable. OzS Remus managed to escape however the boat was damaged and had to abort this patrol.

06.02.1943 - 25.03.1943
Twelfth Sailing - active patrol
U-566 departed under Hans Hornkohl from Brest on 6th Feb 1943 and after more than six weeks arrived at return on 25th Mar 1943.
On 10th Feb 1943 in square BE 65, U-566 came under attack from an aircraft of USAAF 2 Squadron. U-566 was not damaged by the attack. The boat defended itself with flak without destroying the aircraft.

24.04.1943 - 28.04.1943
Thirteenth Sailing - active patrol
U-566 left Brest under the command of Hans Hornkohl on 24th Apr 1943 and arrived at return on 28th Apr 1943 after four days.
On 26th Apr 1943 in square BF 45, U-566 came under attack from an aircraft of RAF 172 Squadron. U-566 was heavily damaged in the attack. The boat defended itself with flak without destroying the aircraft.

Air Attacks this patrol

On the 26th April while outward bound through the Bay of Biscay, a Leigh Light Wellington of 172 SQN RAF (SGT A Coumbis) got a radar contact at 2325. Coumbis closed in, illuminated the boat and dropped 6 D/Cs. The Wellington then circled around but U-566 drove it off with fierce gunfire. Hornkhol managed to escape in the darkness, yet damage sustained in this attack forced the boat to abort this patrol early.

05.07.1943 - 01.09.1943
Fourteenth Sailing - active patrol
On the 5th Jul 1943, U-566 left Brest under the command of Hans Hornkohl and after over eight weeks arrived at return on 1st Sep 1943.
Hans Hornkohl hit one ship on this patrol.

On 5th Aug 1943 he sank the American 2,265 ton USS Plymouth.

Air Attacks this patrol

On the 5th of August 1943 U-566 sank the USS Plymouth with a torpedo to the starboard side. By the 7th no fewer than 11 aircraft were hunting the boat. At approx 0700 a Ventura of VB-128 out of Floyd Bennett Field (LT F C Cross) got a radar contact. Cross approached and opened fire and U-566 replied, knocking out the starboard engine and badly wounding the pilot. The Ventura dropped 4 D/Cs at 0722. However Cross could not keep the aircraft up and had to ditch. He later died in the water, only 2 of the crew survived to be rescued by search aircraft later.
Next, at 1215 another Ventura of VB-128 (LT J M George) attacked, dropping 4 D/Cs, but U-566 again replied with flak. One of the Lockheed's engines caught fire and the aircraft crashed, killing all the crew.
Another Ventura this time from VB-126 (LT J R Smith) based from Quonset promptly attacked and KL Hornkhol may have thought things were getting a bit hot as after some defensive gunnery he had the boat dive. Smith took the opportunity to drop 4 D/Cs over where the boat had submerged. The explosions blew the boat to the surface. At this time another aircraft, a Mariner PBM of VB-211 (LT E C Scully) from Elizabeth City joined the attack, as the now re-surfaced boat once more manned its guns. However due to damage sustained the boat went into an uncontrolled dive and the flak crew was lost overboard, but not before firing at the PBM and damaging it. Scully made a couple passes but each time the D/Cs hung up until the emergency release was used, dropping 8 D/Cs which again blew the boat to the surface. Hornkhol ordered another flak crew topside as the two aircraft circled. Smith's Ventura tried a stafing run but was driven off by good gunnery from U-566. Hornkhol had the boat turned about and picked up the men lost overboard earlier and then submerged and made good their escape.
In the final analysis on this day U-566 shot down 2 aircraft and damaged another two - it is thought that the Ventura of Smith had one of its fuel tanks shot off during the attacks.

18.10.1943 - 24.10.1943
Fifteenth Sailing
U-566 departed under Hans Hornkohl from Brest on 18th Oct 1943 and arrived at return on 24th Oct 1943 after six days.

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