Wreck of U-524

Spain / Santa Cruz de Tenerife / Garafia /
 Second World War 1939-1945, watercraft

Unterseeboot 524 was a Type IXC U-Boat laid down at the Hamburg Deutsche Werft shipyard in August 1941 and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine in July 1942. Departing on her first war patrol in November 1942 to the North Atlantic, the U-524 returned to Lorient 57 days later, having notched her first kill; the British Tanker Empire Spenser on December 8th.

Following a period of voyage repairs and upkeep, the U-524 sailed on her second war patrol on March 3rd, 1943 bound for the Azores and Moroccan Coast. Finding good hunting as part of the Wohlgemut Wolfpack, the U-524 torpedoed and sank her second ship of the war, the SS Wyoming on March 15th. US and British efforts to counter the actions of the wolfpack were stepped up after four straight days of attacks preceding and following U-524's success against the Wyoming, and after spending the night of March 21st on the surface recharging her batteries the U-524's lookouts spotted an aircraft shortly after dawn heading straight for them.

Racing to submerge the sub, the crew scrambled below decks as the U-524 attempted to crash dive and elude the American B-24 bearing down on them, but their efforts proved to be in vain. The US Army crew in the bomber caught up with the U-524 just as she slipped below the surface and dropped several depth charges directly onto the sub, which detonated alongside her hull. The concussive effects of the explosion blew open the hull of the U-524 and sank her with all 52 of her crew at this location on March 22nd, 1943.


uboat.net/boats/u524.htm
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Coordinates:   30°14'59"N   18°12'59"W

Comments

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This article was last modified 7 years ago