German submarine U-75 was a Type VIIB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. U-75 was moderately successful in her early career in the Battle of the Atlantic, but in autumn 1941 she was dispatched to the Mediterranean Sea with poor results, leading to the eventual destruction of the boat and her crew.
German Type VIIB submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIA submarines. U-75 had a displacement of 753t when at the surface and 857t while submerged. She had a total length of 66.5m (218.2feet), a pressure hull length of 48.8m (160.1feet), a beam of 6.2m (20.3feet), a height of 9.5m (31.2feet), and a draught of 4.74m (15.55feet). The submarine was powered by two MAN M 6 V 40/46 four-stroke, six-cylinder supercharged diesel engines producing a total of NaNPS for use while surfaced, two BBC GG UB 720/8 double-acting electric motors producing a total of 750PS for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two 1.23abbr=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-75 was fitted with five 53.30NaN0 torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and one at the stern), fourteen torpedoes, one 8.82NaN2 SK C/35 naval gun, 220 rounds, and one 2cm (01inches) anti-aircraft gun The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty.
She was laid down on 15 December 1939 at the Bremer Vulkan-Vegesacker Werft (yard), in Bremen as yard number 3, launched on 18 October 1940 and commissioned on 19 December under the command of Kapitänleutnant (Kptlt.) Helmuth Ringelmann.
U-75 carried out training with the 7th U-boat Flotilla on 19 December 1940 until 31 March 1941. She then became operational with the same organization until October. After that, she was reassigned to the 23rd flotilla.
Ringelmann was a good sea officer, who made an impact within three weeks of the boat's initial patrol starting, when on 29 April the submarine torpedoed and sank the 10,146 GRT liner in the Central North Atlantic Ocean, killing fifteen sailors and one passenger.[1]
This success was followed on her second foray with another victim, this time a Dutch freighter, the Elbergen, which went down about 650nmi north of the Azores. As the Germans watched her demise, the U-boat was illuminated by a searchlight which was hurriedly extinguished by fire from the boat's AA gun.
On her third patrol U-75 sank two British cargo ships, the Harlingen and the Cape Rodney, both west of Ireland on 5 August 1941. The latter ship was taken in tow after being hit, but foundered west of Ushant on the ninth. These operations were conducted from the new submarine base at Saint-Nazaire in France, which provided type VII boats like U-75 with a greater patrol range and cruising ability, thus conferring an essential advantage.
The boat's fourth patrol was more unusual, requiring her to slip unnoticed through the heavily defended Strait of Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean to attack allied shipping operating from Gibraltar, Malta and Egypt. She was accompanied in this task by,,, and, which together formed the 'Goeben' group, (so-named for the German battleship of the same name which had operated in the Mediterranean in 1914). For these operations, U-75s home base was now Salamis in Greece, where she arrived on 2 November. On the journey there, the boat had taken a successful detour along the Libyan coast to see if she could catch any British resupply convoys. On 12 October she had seen just such a convoy and managed to sink two landing craft with gunfire before she escaped.
Her final patrol was from 22 December 1941, and consisted of a similar sweep along the Libyan coast. On 28 December, six days since leaving Salamis, a small coastal convoy was spotted off Mersa Matruh, U-75 launched an attack which sank the small British freighter .[2] The convoy's escorts had spotted the U-boat, however, and ran the submarine down and dropped depth charges on the boat. The explosions forced U-75 to the surface, where 30 of her crew were rescued and taken prisoner by her erstwhile opponent before the boat heeled over and sank, taking 15 men with her, including her only captain.
U-75 took part in two wolfpacks, namely:
| - | Date | Ship | Nationality | Tonnage[3] | Fate[4] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 April 1941 |  | 10,146 | Sunk | ||
| 3 June 1941 | Eibergen |  | 4,801 | Sunk | |
| 3 June 1941 | Inversuir | | 9,456 | Sunk | |
| 25 June 1941 | Schie | | 1,967 | Sunk | |
| 5 August 1941 | Cape Rodney | | 4,512 | Sunk | |
| 5 August 1941 | Harlingen | | 5,415 | Sunk | |
| 12 October 1941 | HMS TLC-2 (A2) | 372 | Sunk | ||
| 12 October 1941 | HMS TLC-7 (A7) | 372 | Sunk | ||
| 28 December 1941 | | 1,587 | Sunk |