U-564

Type

VIIC

 
Ordered24 Oct 1939
Laid down 30 Mar 1940 Blohm & Voss, Hamburg (werk 540)
Launched7 Feb 1941
Commissioned3 Apr 1941Oblt. Reinhard Suhren (Oak Leaves with Swords)
Commanders
3 Apr 1941 - 1 Oct 1942  KrvKpt. Reinhard Suhren (Knights Cross)
1 Oct 1942 - 14 Jun 1943  Oblt. Hans Fiedler
Career9 patrols 3 Apr 1941 - 1 Jun 1941  1. Flottille (training)
1 Jun 1941 - 14 Jun 1943  1. Flottille (front boat)
Successes18 ships sunk for a total of 95,544 GRT
1 warship sunk for a total of 900 tons
4 ships damaged for a total of 28,907 GRT
Fate

Sunk at 1730hrs on 14 June, 1943 north-west of Cape Ortegal, Spain, in position 44.17N, 10.25W, by depth charges from a British Whitley aircraft (10 OTU/G). 28 dead and 18 survivors.

See the 23 ships hit by U-564 - View the 9 war patrols

Wolfpack operations

U-564 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
   Natter (1 Nov 1942 - 8 Nov 1942)
   Westwall (25 Nov 1942 - 25 Dec 1942)
   Seeteufel (21 Mar 1943 - 30 Mar 1943)
   Lowenherz (3 Apr 1943 - 7 Apr 1943)

Attacks on this boat

24 Oct 1941
After some successful attacks in the morning against convoy HG-75, U-564 was attacked twice in the evening, first by an aircraft with one bomb and 3 hours later by an escort with depth charges. The boat sustained no damage.

13 Jun 1943
Aircraft attack, aircraft shot down:British Sunderland (228 Sqdn RAF/U, pilot F/O L.B. Lee)

At 18.59 hours, a group of five outbound boats (U-185, U-358, U-564, U-634 and U-653) were attacked by the Sunderland northwest of Cape Finisterre. The aircraft singled out U-564, dropped its bombs and crashed in flames after being hit by the intense AA fire, all 11 crew members were killed. The badly damaged boat turned back under escort by U-185, but was sunk by aircraft the next day.

(Sources: Franks/Zimmerman)

14 Jun 1943
Aircraft attack, aircraft shot down: British Whitley Mk.V BD220 (10 OTU RAF/G, pilot Sgt A.J. Benson)

The sinking of U-564 At 14.39 hours, two inbound boats were spotted by the Whitley in the Bay of Biscay and shadowed. U-564 was unable to dive after an air attack the day before and was escorted back to France by U-185. At 16.45 hours, the fuel of the aircraft was running low and the pilot decided to attack U-564. Both boats opened fire and hit the bomber, but its depth charges caused more damages on the boat and she sank at 17.30 hours. The hydraulics and the starboard engine of the Whitley were damaged, so the crew was forced to ditch and ended up as German prisoners after being picked up by a French trawler.

The commander and 17 crewmen were picked up by U-185, which transferred them to the German destroyer Z-24 two hours later and then continued her patrol. The Canadian Hampden aircraft X2961 (415 Sqdn RCAF/S, pilot S/L J.G. Stronach) arrived in the area around the time of the air attack, but was shot down by a German Ju88C fighter (15./KG 40, Hptm Hans Morr) with the loss of all four crewmen. (Sources: Franks/Zimmerman/Goss)

3 recorded attacks on this boat.

Annoucements related to this boat

Over 400 pictures of U-564 found in England (15 Mar 2001)

Men lost from the boat

28 Mar 1943
A man was lost in the North Atlantic. [Fähnrich zur See Heinrich Feuerhake]

  Related: For more info on such losses see - Men lost from U-boats -


We have an emblem for this boat!

You can view it here. (The emblem on the left is not the emblem for this boat).



U-boat War Patrol

Paterson, Lawrence


Buy this title at


amazon.com
See more sellers

Books dealing with this subject include:

German U-Boat Losses During World War II. Niestle, Axel, 1998.
Hitler's U-boat War. Blair, Clay, 1996.
Hitler's U-boat War, Vol II. Blair, Clay, 1998.
Nasses Eichenlaub. Brustat-Naval, Fritz, 1995.
The Nightmare Convoy. Lund, Paul and Harry Ludlam, 1987.
Submarine Design. Gabler, Ulrich, 1986.
U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 1. Wynn, Kenneth, 1998.
U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 2. Wynn, Kenneth, 1998.
U-boat War Patrol. Paterson, Lawrence, 2004.
Unterseebootsbau. Gabler, Ulrich, 1996. (transl.)