U-85

Type

VIIB

 
Ordered9 Jun 1938
Laid down 18 Dec 1939 Flender Werke AG, Lübeck (werk 281)
Launched10 Apr 1941
Commissioned7 Jun 1941Oblt. Eberhard Greger
Commanders
7 Jun 1941 - 14 Apr 1942  Oblt. Eberhard Greger
Career4 patrols 7 Jun 1941 - 31 Aug 1941  3. Flottille (training)
1 Sep 1941 - 14 Apr 1942  3. Flottille (front boat)
Successes3 ships sunk for a total of 15,060 GRT
Fate

Sunk 14 Apr, 1942 near Cape Hatteras, USA, in position 35.55N, 75.13W, by gunfire from the US destroyer USS Roper. 46 dead (all hands lost).

See the 3 ships hit by U-85 - View the 4 war patrols

Attacks on this boat

10 Sep 1941
The boat, having sunk the British freighter Thistleglen from convoy SC-42, was attacked by convoy escorts and damaged so heavily that she was forced to abort to France. (Sources: Blair, vol 1, page 361)

1 recorded attack on this boat.

General notes on this boat

14 Apr 1942. U-85 was the first U-boat to be sunk off the North American coast after the start of the Operation Drumbeat (Paukenschlag) on January 13, 1942.

On the day that she was sunk, 14 April, U-85 stayed on the surface through the engagement. After repeated hits on the boat, fatally damaging her, the order to abandon ship was given and maybe half of the crew got into the water and then U-85 started to sink again fast. USS Roper then dropped 11 depth charges onto the already sinking U-boat and its 2 dozen survivors and in the process killed everyone in the water.

This boat is now a popular dive site.

Men lost from U-boats

Unlike many other U-boats, which during their service lost men due to accidents and various other causes, U-85 did not suffer any casualties (we know of) until the time of her loss.



U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 2
Wynn, Kenneth


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Books dealing with this subject include:

The Approaching Storm. Chewning, Alpheus J., 1994.
Dive into History. Keatts, Henry C. and Farr, George C., 1994.
Diving the U-85. Bunch, Jim W., 1986.
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-85, A Shadow in the Sea. Bunch, Jim, 2003.
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.


There was another U-85 in World War One
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 22 Aug 1916 and commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 23 Oct 1916. The Naval war in WWI was brought to an end with the Armistice signed on 11 Nov, 1918. Read about the U 85 during WWI.