U-545

Type

IXC/40

 
Ordered5 Jun 1941
Laid down 1 Aug 1942 Deutsche Werft AG, Hamburg (werk 366)
Launched3 Mar 1943
Commissioned19 May 1943Kptlt. Gert Mannesmann
Commanders
19 May 1943 - 10 Feb 1944  Kptlt. Gert Mannesmann
Career1 patrol 19 May 1943 - 30 Nov 1943  4. Flottille (training)
1 Dec 1943 - 10 Feb 1944  2. Flottille (front boat)
Successes1 ship damaged for a total of 7,359 GRT
Fate

Scuttled on 10 Feb, 1944 west of the Hebrides, in position 58.17N, 13.22W, after crippling damage from 4 depth charges dropped by a British Wellington aircraft (Sqdn. 612/O). 1 dead and 56 survivors.

See the 1 ships hit by U-545 - View the 1 war patrol

The boat was in fact attacked by two aircraft. The other one, a Canadian Wellington (Sqdn 407), was shot down during the attack.

The survivors were picked up by U-714 after a while and taken to St. Nazaire, France. Kptlt. Mannesmann then commanded U-2502. He died in an air raid on Hamburg on 8 April, 1945.

Attacks on this boat

26 Jan 1944
The I WO was washed overboard in the North Atlantic. [Oberleutnant zur See Hans Wilkening]

10 Feb 1944
Aircraft attack, aircraft shot down:British Wellington (Sqdn 407)

U-545 was scuttled after this attack

2 recorded attacks on this boat.

Men lost from the boat

26 Jan 1944
The I WO was washed overboard in the North Atlantic. [Oberleutnant zur See Hans Wilkening]

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



U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 2

Wynn, Kenneth


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Books dealing with this subject include:

German U-Boat Losses During World War II. Niestle, Axel, 1998.
Hitler's U-boat War. Blair, Clay, 1996.
Hitler's U-boat War, Vol II. Blair, Clay, 1998.
U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 1. Wynn, Kenneth, 1998.
U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 2. Wynn, Kenneth, 1998.