German submarine U-68 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 20 April 1940 at the DeSchiMAG AG Weser yard at Bremen as yard number 987, launched on 22 October and commissioned on 1 January 1941 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Karl-Friedrich Merten as part of 2nd U-boat Flotilla.

U-68 conducted ten combat patrols, sinking 32 merchant ships, for a total of ; she also sank one auxiliary warship of . She was a member of one wolfpack.

On 10 April 1944, during her tenth patrol, she was sunk northwest of Madeira by US aircraft from the escort carrier .

Design German Type IXC submarines were slightly larger than the original Type IXBs. U-68 had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. The U-boat had a total length of , a pressure hull length of , a beam of , a height of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke, nine-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of for use while surfaced, two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to .

The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of . When submerged, the boat could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at . U-68 was fitted with six torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and two at the stern), 22 torpedoes, one SK C/32 naval gun, 180 rounds, and a SK C/30 as well as a C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of forty-eight.

Service history

First patrol U-68 left Kiel on 30 June 1941 for the Atlantic Ocean via the gap between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. She was unsuccessfully attacked with 24 depth charges by the British corvette west northwest of Cape Finisterre in Spain.The Times Atlas of the World, 1995, p. 15 She docked at her new base at Lorient, on the French Atlantic coast, on 1 August. She would be based there for the rest of her career.

Second patrol Heading for the south Atlantic, the boat came across Silverbelle southwest of the Canary Islands and sank her on 22 September 1941. On 28 September she was involved in an action in Tarrafal Bay, Cape Verde islands, but escaped unscathed. The following month she sank RFA Darkdale while the ship was at anchor off Jamestown, Saint Helena on 22 October. Her third victim, Hazelside, was destroyed on the 28th, southeast of Saint Helena. U-68 also sank Bradford City west of South West Africa (now Namibia) on 1 November. The U-boat collided with the stricken ship while diving underneath her. The submarine's bow was bent.

Nevertheless, the submarine returned to Lorient on 25 December.

Third patrol U-68s third sortie was also conducted off the west coast of Africa. She sank Helenus on 3 March 1942 south of Freetown in Sierra Leone, followed by Baluchstan on the eighth. The boat's crew were kept busy, sinking Baron Newlands on the 16th and Ile de Batz on the 17th; all the vessels met their end in the vicinity of Liberia.

She also sank Scottish Prince about west of Takoradi in Gold CoastThe Times Atlas of the World, 1995, p. 48 and Allende, both on the 17th.

U-68 had turned for home when she sank Muncaster Castle with two torpedoes south southwest of Monrovia. More than ten lifeboats were seen by the Germans; there were 329 survivors.

Fourth patrol For her fourth patrol U-68 moved to the Caribbean Sea, leaving Lorient on 14 May 1942. On the night of 5 June she sank , which at 13,006 GRT was then the world's largest oil tanker.

On the night of 10 June, northeast of the Panama Canal, she torpedoed the 8,581 GRT British freighter Surrey. 5,000 tons of dynamite in the cargo detonated after the ship sank. The shock wave lifted the U-boat out of the water as if she had been hit herself; both diesel engines and the gyrocompass were disabled.

Another victim was Port Montreal. She was sunk with what Merten noted in the boat's war diary as a lucky [torpedo] hit.

In all, U-68 sank seven ships during this patrol before returning to Lorient on 10 July.

Fifth patrol The submarine left Lorient on her fifth patrol on 20 August 1942. She would not see her base again until December. At 109 days, this was to be her longest and most successful sally. Heading once more into the South Atlantic, she attacked and sank Trevilley east northeast of Ascension Island on 12 September. The Master and Chief Officer were taken prisoner.

She travelled further south, sinking ships such as Gasterkerk on 8 October and Sarthe on the same date, both in the area of the Cape of Good Hope. She also disposed of Belgian Fighter on the ninth.

Turning for home on 16 October, she sank City of Cairo on 6 November. U-68 returned a month later to Lorient on December 6.

Sixth patrol The boat's sixth patrol in the first half of 1943 was again to northern South America. Having sunk two ships, she was attacked by a US Mariner flying boat on 2 April; damage was slight.

Seventh and eighth patrols U-68 was attacked by one of four British De Havilland Mosquitos on the western edge of the Bay of Biscay on 14 June 1943. One man was killed, three were wounded

Patrol number eight was relatively uneventful.

Ninth patrol The boat returned to her most successful hunting ground - the South Atlantic. In another mammoth patrol (107 days), she sank four more ships.

One of them, the Norwegian tanker Litiopa, had numerous torpedoes and rounds from the deck gun fired at her, but stubbornly refused to succumb. Having been initially encountered at night on 21 October 1943, it was not until the following day that she sank.

The Litiopas sole escort was the mine-sweeping trawler HMS Orfasy. She was sunk relatively easily on 21 October before the attack on the tanker.

The other two ships were New Columbia, (sunk southwest of Bingerville, Ivory Coast) on 31 October and the French Fort de Vaux on 30 November. The latter vessel met her end after 'Aphrodite' radar decoys had been used to lure the escort vessels away.

U-68s inbound route took her close to the northwest Spanish coast. She docked at Lorient on 23 December 1943.

Tenth patrol and loss The boat left Lorient for the last time on 22 March 1944. On 10 April, she was sunk at position , northwest of the Portuguese island of Madeira, by depth charges and rockets from Grumman Avenger and Grumman Wildcat aircraft from the United States escort carrier .

56 men died; there was one survivor, who was the lookout left top-side when the submarine crash-dived in an attempt to avoid attack.

Wolfpacks U-68 took part in one wolfpack, namely: Eisbär (25 August - 1 September 1942)

Summary of raiding history DateShipNationalityTonnageMerchant ship tonnages are in gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.Fate22 September 1941Silverbelle5,302Sunk22 October 1941Darkdale8,145Sunk28 October 1941Hazelside5,297Sunk1 November 1941Bradford City4,953Sunk3 March 1942Helenus7,366Sunk8 March 1942Baluchistan6,992Sunk16 March 1942Baron Newlands3,386Sunk17 March 1942Allende5,081Sunk17 March 1942Ile de Batz5,755Sunk17 March 1942Scottish Prince4,917Sunk30 March 1942Muncaster Castle5,853Sunk5 June 1942L.J. Drake6,693Sunk5 June 194213,006Sunk10 June 1942Ardenvohr5,025Sunk10 June 1942 Port Montreal5,882Sunk10 June 1942Surrey8,581Sunk15 June 1942Frimaire9,242Sunk23 June 1942Arnaga2,345Sunk12 September 1942Trevilley5,296Sunk15 September 1942Breedijk6,861Sunk8 October 1942Gaasterkerk8,679Sunk8 October 1942Koumoundouros3,598Sunk8 October 1942Sarthe5,271Sunk8 October 1942Swiftsure8,207Sunk9 October 1942Belgian Fighter5,403Sunk9 October 1942Examelia4,981Sunk6 November 19428,034Sunk13 March 1943Ceres2,680Sunk13 March 1943Cities Service Missouri7,506Sunk21 October 1943HMT Orfasy545Sunk22 October 1943Litiopa5,356Sunk31 October 1943New Columbia6,574Sunk30 November 1943Fort de Vaux5,186SunkTotal amount of tonnage:197,998 gross register tons

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