Wreck of U-172

 Second World War 1939-1945  Add category

Unterseeboot 172 was a Type IXC U-Boat built at the AG Weser Shipyard in Bremen and commissioned into service with the Kriegsmarine in November 1941.

Departing on her first official war patrol in April of 1942, the U-172 would enjoy 5 highly successful patrols during her service life, ranging as far West as the approaches to the Panama Canal, and as far South as Uruguay and South Africa's Western Coast. During her time at sea under the command of Kptlt. Carl Emmermann, she was credited with sinking 26 allied merchant ships, for a total of 152,080 tons. Kptlt. Emmermann's high success rate earned him the Knights Cross and a promotion to command the 6th Flotilla in St. Nazaire, France, and also earned the U-172 a new Captain Oblt. Hermann Hoffmann for her sixth patrol.

Departing Lorient in late November 1943 for a patrol in the South Atlantic, the U-172 was 21 days out of port when she was detected on the surface by aircraft from the Anti-Submarine warfare escort group commanded by the USS Bogue (CVE-9) on December 11th. U-172 immediately went deep and silent to elude her attackers, but the ships and aircraft of the US escort group kept after the sub. For the next 27 hours, the U-172 was subjected to several new 'FIDO' equipped homing torpedoes dropped from the air and over 200 depth charges from US destroyers before she was forced to the surface from heavy damage.

As her crew attempted to abandon the sub she suddenly took a heavy pitch towards the Stern, throwing the men on her deck into the Atlantic. After going nearly vertical, the U-172 sank Stern-first at this location on December 12th, 1943, carrying 13 of her crew with her to the bottom. 46 men including her Captain survived the sinking and spent the rest of the war as POW's.

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