U-572
Type | VIIC | |||||||||
| Ordered | 24 Oct 1939 | |||||||||
| Laid down | 15 Jun 1940 | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg (werk 548) | ||||||||
| Launched | 5 Apr 1941 | |||||||||
| Commissioned | 29 May 1941 | Kptlt. Heinz Hirsacker | ||||||||
| Commanders |
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| Career 9 patrols |
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| Successes | 6 ships sunk for a total of 19,323 GRT 1 ship damaged for a total of 6,207 GRT | |||||||||
| Fate | Sunk 3 Aug, 1943 north-east of Trinidad, in position 11.35N, 54.05W, by depth charges from a US Mariner aircraft (VP-205/P-6). 47 dead (all hands lost). | |||||||||
Wolfpack operations
U-572 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
Brandenburg (15 Sep 1941 - 1 Oct 1941)
Störtebecker (5 Nov 1941 - 19 Nov 1941)
Gödecke (19 Nov 1941 - 26 Nov 1941)
Hai (3 Jul 1942 - 21 Jul 1942)
Streitaxt (20 Oct 1942 - 2 Nov 1942)
Schlagetot (9 Nov 1942 - 16 Nov 1942)
Falke (28 Dec 1942 - 19 Jan 1943)
Landsknecht (19 Jan 1943 - 28 Jan 1943)
Hartherz (3 Feb 1943 - 7 Feb 1943)
Seeteufel (21 Mar 1943 - 30 Mar 1943)
Löwenherz (1 Apr 1943 - 10 Apr 1943)
Attacks on this boat
31 Jul 1943
The boat reported repelling an allied aircraft east of Trinidad. (Sources: Blair, vol 2, page 367)
3 Aug 1943
Aircraft attack, aircraft shot down:American Mariner (Sqdn VP-205/P-6)
The aircraft and the boat must have killed each other. No survivors from either side.
2 recorded attacks on this boat.
General notes on this boat
24 Apr 1943. Kptlt. Heinz Hirsacker was condemned to death by military tribunal in 1943, charged with "Cowardice in the face of the enemy" - the only U-boat commander to suffer that fate, taking his own life on April 24th, 1943 shortly before his scheduled execution. We'll write more about this later.
Another commander, Oscar Kusch, of U-154 was also executed but for "defeatism" after he removed the mandatory picture of Adolf Hitler from the boat and his IWO reported on him.
Men lost from U-boats
Unlike many other U-boats, which during their service lost men due to accidents and various other causes, U-572 did not suffer any casualties (we know of) until the time of her loss.
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