Wreck of U-513

 Second World War 1939-1945, navy, shipwreck, submarine

Unterseeboot 513 was a Type IXC U-Boat laid down at the Deutsche Werft Shipyard at Hamburg in April 1941 and commissioned into Kriegsmarine service in January 1942. Assigned to the 4th Unterseebootflottille at Stettin for training lasting through August 1942, U-513 put to sea on her maiden War Patrol from Kiel bound for North America.

Arriving of Newfoundland in early September, U-513's skipper expertly penetrated Conception Bay's defenses and was rewarded with a formation of Allied cargo vessels riding at anchor. Sinking two vessels in the subsequent attack before escaping to the open ocean, U-513 and her crew remained in Canadian waters for the duration of their patrol, damaging another vessel before returning to the U-Boat pens at Lorient in October. Conducting two more patrols through April 1943 but finding no success for their efforts, U-513's crew were hoping for better luck when their orders for the U-Boats 4th Patrol revealed they would cross the Atlantic once again, this time to hunt Allied shipping off the Brazil coast.

Departing Lorient in late May 1943, U-513 arrived in her hunting grounds a month later and found many of the ships operating in the area to be moving alone and without escort. Taking immediate advantage, U-513's Captain sank four ships and damaged a fifth in the period from June 21st through July 16th, efforts which notched a further 23,000 tons of Allied shipping to the U-Boats tally but also drew considerable attention from Allied anti-submarine patrols in the area. Actively hunted from her July 16th attack onward, U-513's crew did their best to avoid detection for the next three days but ran out of luck on the morning of July 19th.

Spotted while running on the surface and recharging her batteries by a patrolling US Navy Martin Mariner Aircraft, U-513's crew raced to crash-dive their boat as the Allied bomber closed on their position to attack. Overhauled by the aircraft while less than 100ft from the surface, U-513 was bracketed by several well-placed depth charges that detonated alongside her hull and severely damaged her ballast tanks.

Vacillating between uncontrollable rising and diving motions, U-513's crew managed to regain control of their boat long enough return her to the surface where the order was passed to abandon ship. Wallowing uneasily as her crew raced topside, U-513's hull lost its buoyancy shortly after breaking the surface and the Submarine plunged bow-first to the bottom of the Atlantic, spilling the seven crew who had gotten topside into the water and taking the 46 men still aboard to the bottom with her at this location on July 19th, 1943.

Located lying on her side in 243ft of water by a Brazilian team on July 14th, 2011, U-513's wreck is now designated and protected as a War Grave for the crew still on duty aboard her.

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