Wreck of U-378
Portugal /
Acores /
Lagoa /
World
/ Portugal
/ Acores
/ Lagoa
World
Second World War 1939-1945, navy, shipwreck, submarine
Unterseeboot 378 was a Type VIIC U-Boat laid down at the Howaldtswerke Shipyard at Kiel in May 1940 and commissioned into Kriegsmarine service in October 1941 as a member of the 8th Unterseebootflottille. Spending her first four months engaged in training, U-378 and her crew put to sea from Kiel in February 1942 and arrived at their Norwegian operating base of Helgoland where they departed on her maiden War Patrol on March 15th.
Operating through the Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter of 1942 in the Barents Sea hunting Allied Convoys bound for Russia, U-378 and her completed four patrols without success before encroaching sea ice idled her operations at Trondheim through March 1943. Conducting a final patrol in her Northern Waters home through early April without success, U-378 and her crew were ordered into the North Atlantic and Canadian waters on their first long-range patrol, though on their return to their new base at La Pallice 54 days later the U-Boat still had no victories to her credit. After receiving a full overhaul through August 1943, U-378 and her crew prepared for their 8th War Patrol which began on September 6th with orders to proceed to the North Atlantic and link up with the “Leuthen” wolfpack hunting Allied convoys.
Finding no targets in her first wolfpack, U-378 joined the “Rossbach” wolfpack on September 24th and within a matter of days found herself trailing Allied Convoy SC-143 as it made its way towards England. Sighting an escorting Destroyer off her bow shortly after dawn on the 8th of October, U-378’s skipper lined up his shot and sent a single German Navy Acoustic Torpedo (GNAT) out of his bow tubes toward the ship, scoring a direct hit which sank the Polish Destroyer ORP Orkan in five minutes with a loss of 183 of her crew and gave U-378 her first confirmed kill of the war. Finding the convoy rigorously defended following her attack, U-378 detached from her wolfpack the following day and made her way South towards the Azores, making little contact with either friend or foe until the 13th when a pair of American carrier aircraft appeared suddenly and attempted a torpedo attack on the surfaced U-Boat. Though skillful maneuvering and a crash dive got U-378 through the attack without any damage, the sighting of U-378 brought considerable attention from the Escort Carrier USS Core (CVE-13) and her Anti-Submarine hunter-killer group, which promptly increased both air and sea patrols to hunt down and destroy the enemy sub.
Continuing her Southern course for the next seven days, U-378 and her crew maintained a wary eye on the skies above as near-daily sightings of enemy aircraft reaffirmed the likely presence of an enemy Carrier in the area. Electing to spend as much time on the surface as possible to make the best use of his boats top speed, U-378’s Captain calculated risk to outrange his enemies went sour on the morning of October 20th, when a hunter-killer duo consisting of a F4F Wildcat fighter and TBM Avenger bomber spotted U-378 on the surface and promptly made an attack. Though the inbound aircraft were spotted by lookouts aboard the U-378, there was little her crew could do aside from going below decks when the Wildcat began pouring machine gun fire onto her conning tower, causing minor damage but heavy casualties. Likely ordered to crash-dive, U-378’s crew took their boat beneath the surface and made for the protection of deep water, but seasoned crews aboard the TBM Avenger quickly overflew the diving U-Boat and released their load of depth charges directly onto her, with both bombs straddling the U-378’s hull. Sinking to their predetermined depth, the two depth charges detonated directly beneath the U-378’s hull, causing catastrophic damage to the Submarine and sinking her with all 48 of her crew at this location on October 20th, 1943.
uboat.net/boats/u378.htm
Operating through the Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter of 1942 in the Barents Sea hunting Allied Convoys bound for Russia, U-378 and her completed four patrols without success before encroaching sea ice idled her operations at Trondheim through March 1943. Conducting a final patrol in her Northern Waters home through early April without success, U-378 and her crew were ordered into the North Atlantic and Canadian waters on their first long-range patrol, though on their return to their new base at La Pallice 54 days later the U-Boat still had no victories to her credit. After receiving a full overhaul through August 1943, U-378 and her crew prepared for their 8th War Patrol which began on September 6th with orders to proceed to the North Atlantic and link up with the “Leuthen” wolfpack hunting Allied convoys.
Finding no targets in her first wolfpack, U-378 joined the “Rossbach” wolfpack on September 24th and within a matter of days found herself trailing Allied Convoy SC-143 as it made its way towards England. Sighting an escorting Destroyer off her bow shortly after dawn on the 8th of October, U-378’s skipper lined up his shot and sent a single German Navy Acoustic Torpedo (GNAT) out of his bow tubes toward the ship, scoring a direct hit which sank the Polish Destroyer ORP Orkan in five minutes with a loss of 183 of her crew and gave U-378 her first confirmed kill of the war. Finding the convoy rigorously defended following her attack, U-378 detached from her wolfpack the following day and made her way South towards the Azores, making little contact with either friend or foe until the 13th when a pair of American carrier aircraft appeared suddenly and attempted a torpedo attack on the surfaced U-Boat. Though skillful maneuvering and a crash dive got U-378 through the attack without any damage, the sighting of U-378 brought considerable attention from the Escort Carrier USS Core (CVE-13) and her Anti-Submarine hunter-killer group, which promptly increased both air and sea patrols to hunt down and destroy the enemy sub.
Continuing her Southern course for the next seven days, U-378 and her crew maintained a wary eye on the skies above as near-daily sightings of enemy aircraft reaffirmed the likely presence of an enemy Carrier in the area. Electing to spend as much time on the surface as possible to make the best use of his boats top speed, U-378’s Captain calculated risk to outrange his enemies went sour on the morning of October 20th, when a hunter-killer duo consisting of a F4F Wildcat fighter and TBM Avenger bomber spotted U-378 on the surface and promptly made an attack. Though the inbound aircraft were spotted by lookouts aboard the U-378, there was little her crew could do aside from going below decks when the Wildcat began pouring machine gun fire onto her conning tower, causing minor damage but heavy casualties. Likely ordered to crash-dive, U-378’s crew took their boat beneath the surface and made for the protection of deep water, but seasoned crews aboard the TBM Avenger quickly overflew the diving U-Boat and released their load of depth charges directly onto her, with both bombs straddling the U-378’s hull. Sinking to their predetermined depth, the two depth charges detonated directly beneath the U-378’s hull, causing catastrophic damage to the Submarine and sinking her with all 48 of her crew at this location on October 20th, 1943.
uboat.net/boats/u378.htm
Coordinates: 47°39'59"N 28°26'59"W
- Wreck of U-248 137 km
- Wreck of U-880 150 km
- Wreck of U-1235 151 km
- Wreck of U-709 246 km
- Wreck of U-405 254 km
- Wreck of U-606 395 km
- Wreck of USS Reuben James (DD-245) 491 km
- Wreck of USS ATR-98 520 km
- U-765 (wreck) 538 km
- Wreck of U-525 1077 km
- USS Borie DD-215 Wreck 455 km
- SS Ville du Havre 536 km
- Atlantis 809 km
- SS City of Pretoria 1289 km