Unterseeboot 512

U-Boat Infobox
type=IXC
fieldpost number=
yard number=
order date=
keel=February 24, 1941
launch=October 9, 1941
commission=December 20, 1941
yard=Deutschewerft, Hamburg
U-Boat Patrol
startdate=Start Date
enddate=End Date
assigned unit=Assigned Unit
U-Boat Patrol
startdate=August 15 1942
enddate=October 2 1942
assigned unit=10th FlotillaU_Boat Command
startdate=December, 1941
enddate=October, 1942
name=Kptlt. Wolfgang Schultze
U_Boat Sink
type=Type of Ship Sunk
total=Number of Ships Sunk
tonnage=Gross Registered Tonnage
U_Boat Sink
type=Commercial Vessels
total=3
tonnage=20,619
U_Boat Sink
type=Military Vessels
total=None
tonnage=0

Unterseeboot 512 (usually abbreviated to U-512) was a German Type IXC U-boat of the Kriegsmarine built for service in the Second Battle of the Atlantic. Although she was short lived, "U-512" was a quite successful boat, making full use of the time she enjoyed in the entrance to the Caribbean Sea, during the Second happy time. She was commanded by Kptlt. Wolfgang Schultze, an admiral's son and previously training captain of "U-17".

The Deutschewerft shipyards in Hamburg built her during 1941, and she was completed in December, ready for her working-up period in the Baltic Sea to train her crew and iron out any engineering problems. Following this, she was detailed to cross the Atlantic Ocean and operate off the northern coast of South America in order to catch unescorted allied shipping heading for or leaving the Panama Canal.

War Patrol

Departing from Kiel on the 15 August 1942, U-512 headed into the Atlantic and then to the southwest, arriving in her designated patrol zone by the second week in September. She was almost immediately successful, sinking the slow, unescorted 10,000 ton American tanker SS "Patrick J. Hurley" with her deck guns, claiming 17 lives. [ [http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/2154.html uboat.net - Allied Ships hit by U-boats - Patrick J. Hurley (Steam tanker) ] ] A week later, a second ship was found, the lone Spanish freighter SS "Monte Gorbea", which was sunk with 52 lives despite her neutral status. This act would undoubtedly have led to Schultze's court-martial, had he returned from the patrol. [ [http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/2185.html uboat.net - Allied Ships hit by U-boats - Monte Gorbea (Motor merchant) ] ] "U-512"'s final victory came on the 24 September, when another American ship, the 6,000 ton SS "Antionus" was sunk by two torpedoes off Venezuela [ [http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/2208.html uboat.net - Allied Ships hit by U-boats - Antinous (Steam merchant) ] ] .

On the 2 October, while still lurking off the South American coast, U-512 was spotted by a B-18 Bolo aircraft belonging to the 99th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Force off Cayenne. The aircraft flew low and dropped its bomb load directly on the boat, sinking her and 51 of her crew instantly. Only one man, Matrosengefreiter Franz Machen of U-512 escaped the boat and was rescued from his raft by USS "Ellis" ten days later. [Uboat.net: [http://uboat.net/boats/u512.htm U-512] ]

Raiding career

Crew Manifest

References

* Sharpe, Peter, "U-Boat Fact File", Midland Publishing, Great Britain: 1998. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.
* [http://www.uboat.net/boats/u512.htm U-boat.net webpage for "U-512"]

ee also

*List of U-boats