Patrol info for U-568
| Departure | Arrival / Fate | Duration | ||
| 9 Oct 1941 | St. Nazaire | 7 Nov 1941 | St. Nazaire | 30 days |
Commander | Officers * | |
 Kptlt. Joachim Preuss |
1WO Oblt. Adolf Oelrich |
Cdr training Rudolf Lemcke |
Daily positions, sinkings and allied attacks during the patrol of U-568
Legend
means a ship hit (sunk or damaged).
indicates an Allied attack on the boat.
The route is shown in a red line. You may have to zoom out to see all data.
In some cases missing data may make the route appear go overland which U-boats of course never did on patrols.
Left click to zoom-in and right-click to zoom out.
We have daily positions for all 30 days on this patrol.
Departure from St. Nazaire on 9 Oct 1941.
10 Oct 1941 - 11 Oct 1941 - 12 Oct 1941 - 13 Oct 1941 - 14 Oct 1941 - 15 Oct 1941 - 16 Oct 1941 - 17 Oct 1941 - 18 Oct 1941 - 19 Oct 1941 - 20 Oct 1941 - 21 Oct 1941 - 22 Oct 1941 - 23 Oct 1941 - 24 Oct 1941 - 25 Oct 1941 - 26 Oct 1941 - 27 Oct 1941 - 28 Oct 1941 - 29 Oct 1941 - 30 Oct 1941 - 31 Oct 1941 - 1 Nov 1941 - 2 Nov 1941 - 3 Nov 1941 - 4 Nov 1941 - 5 Nov 1941 - 6 Nov 1941 -
Arrival at St. Nazaire on 7 Nov 1941.
Wolfpack operations during this patrol
U-568 operated with the following Wolfpacks during this patrol
Reissewolf (21 Oct 1941 - 31 Oct 1941)
Ships hit by U-568 during this patrol
| Date | U-boat | Commander | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Oct 1941 | U-568 | Joachim Preuss | Empire Heron | 6,023 |  | br | SC-48 | |
| 17 Oct 1941 | U-568 | Joachim Preuss |  | USS Kearny (DD 432) (d.) | 1,630 |  | am | SC-48 |
| 7,653 | ||||||||
1 ship sunk (6,023 tons) and 1 ship damaged (1,630 tons). Legend | ||||||||
General Events during this patrol
We have no events listed for this patrol.
Add more events! If you know of an interesting event either missing from this date or an upcoming event that you'd like to share please contact us. We continuously update these databases.
Attacks on U-568 during this patrol
17 Oct 1941
At 05.49 hours, the boat was sighted by HMCS Pictou on the port side of the convoy SC-48 and tried to escape at full speed on the surface into a rain squall. The corvette immediately began to chase U-568 and fired six rounds from the 4in gun but missed. At 06.02 hours, the U-boat fired its stern torpedo which was seen on HMCS Pictou to miss 15 feet on port and shortly thereafter crash dived after turning sharply to starboard. U-568 was already on 40 meters when the first pattern of five depth charges detonated at the diving spot and also the second pattern of five charges detonated too far above the U-boat to cause any damage. No further attacks were carried out because the Asdic of HMCS Pictou broke down and HMS Highlander and HMCS Wetaskiwin were unable to obtain a contact, probably because U-568 already surfaced 45 minutes later with two corvettes in sight and escaped on the surface. (Sources: KTB U-568/ADM 237-164)
About this data
If you believe we have missed an attack on a German U-boat in this listing please let us know.
See all patrols for U-568
* These are officers that later became commanders themselves.
Return to U-boat Patrols main page