List of all U-boats

U-585

Type

VIIC

 
Ordered8 Jan 1940
Laid down1 Oct 1940 Blohm & Voss, Hamburg (werk 561)
Launched9 Jul 1941
Commissioned28 Aug 1941Kptlt. Ernst-Bernward Lohse
Commanders
28 Aug 1941 - 30 Mar 1942  Kptlt. Ernst-Bernward Lohse
Career
4 patrols
28 Aug 1941-1 Dec 1941  6. Flottille (training)
1 Dec 1941-30 Mar 1942  6. Flottille (active service)
SuccessesNo ships sunk or damaged
Fate

Sunk on or about 30 March 1942 in the Barents Sea north-east of Rybachy Peninsula, in approx. position 70.00N, 34.00E, by a drifting mine from the German barrage Bantos-A. 44 dead (all hands lost). (Claude Huan, January 1977).

Loss position

View the 4 war patrols

U-585 left Kirkenes to operate against convoy PQ-13, sent its last radio message from approx. position 71.05N/34.00E on 29 March 1942 and was posted as missing on 5 April 1942 after it failed to report its position. In absence of an Allied attack to account for its loss, the U-boat was probably lost to one of many mines that drifted from the German defensive barrage Bantos-A that had been laid on 20 March 1942.

Previously recorded fate

  • Sunk by the British destroyer HMS Fury on 29 March, 1942 in position 72.15N, 34.22E. (Postwar assessment, January 1977)
    Notes. This attack was actually against U-378 causing no damage.
  • Sunk by the Soviet destroyer Gremyashchiy on 30 March, 1942 in position 69.36N, 34.03E.
    Notes. This attack was actually against U-435 causing no damage.

Wolfpack operations

U-585 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
   Eiswolf (29 Mar 1942 - 30 Mar 1942)

Attacks on this boat and other events

24 Mar 1942
On 24 March 1942 U-585 was depth charged by 3 enemy ships and was forced to return to base due to damage to all forward torpedo tubes.

29 Mar 1942
06.50 hrs, Varangerfjord, Norway: Russian submarine M-171 fired both of its torpedoes from a distance of about 1800m at an outbound U-boat and claimed a hit after hearing a detonation. This must have been U-585, which did not report any attack. (Sources: Rohwer)

2 recorded attacks on this boat.

Men lost from the boat

5 Feb 1942
21 year old Fähnrich zur See Eberhardt Vollmer (Crew 1940) was lost overboard in the south Barents Sea.

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


Media links


German U-Boat Losses During World War II

Niestle, Axel


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

Wynn, Kenneth


Hitler's U-boat War

Blair, Clay




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