German submarine U-520 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The U-boat was laid down on 1 July 1941 at the Deutsche Werft yard in Hamburg as yard number 335, launched on 2 March 1942 and commissioned on 19 May 1942 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Volkmar Schwartzkopff. After training with the 4th U-boat Flotilla, she was transferred to the 2nd flotilla for front-line service on 1 October 1942.
German Type IXC submarines were slightly larger than the original Type IXBs. U-520 had a displacement of 1120t when at the surface and 1232t while submerged. The U-boat had a total length of 76.76m (251.84feet), a pressure hull length of 58.75m (192.75feet), a beam of 6.76m (22.18feet), a height of 9.6m (31.5feet), and a draught of 4.7m (15.4feet). The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke, nine-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of 4400PS for use while surfaced, two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of 1000shp for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two 1.92abbr=onNaNabbr=on 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-520 was fitted with six 53.30NaN0 torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and two at the stern), 22 torpedoes, one 10.52NaN2 SK C/32 naval gun, 180 rounds, and a 3.7sp=usNaNsp=us SK C/30 as well as a 2sp=usNaNsp=us C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of forty-eight.
U-520 sailed from Kiel on 3 October 1942, negotiated the gap between the Faeroe and Shetland Islands and then turned west toward Cape Farewell, (the southern tip of Greenland). After a brief journey in the direction of Iceland, she headed southwest, then south, before being sunk east of Newfoundland in position 47.7833°N -99°W by depth charges from a Canadian Douglas Digby light bomber of No. 10 Squadron RCAF on 30 October 1942. None of her 53 crew members survived the sinking.[1]
In January 2006 an article in the Edmonton Journal reported that a team of divers planned to search for U-520 and another U-boat, .