Unterseeboot 3519

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U-3519
Type		XXI
Launch Date		November 23, 1944
Commission Date		January 7, 1945
Construction yard		Schichau, Danzig
Patrols
Start Date	End Date	Assigned Unit
No Patrols		8th Flotilla
No Patrols		5th Flotilla
Commanders
January, 1945	March, 1945	Kptlt. Richard von Harpe
Successes
Type of Ship Sunk	Number of Ships Sunk	Gross Registered Tonnage
Commercial Vessels	None	0
Military Vessels	None	0

Unterseeboot 3519 (usually abbreviated to U-3519) was a German Type XXI submarine built during World War II intended for service in the Atlantic Ocean. She was a brand new, high technology electric boat which could run constantly submerged rather than having to surface to recharge her batteries every day the way submarines until that point had had to do. Unfortunately for the Germans, these formidable hunters were only introduced to the Kriegsmarine late in 1944, much too late to influence the Second Battle of the Atlantic, and too late for many of them to serve in an offensive capacity at all. U-3519 was just such an unfortunate U-boat.

On the 2 March 1945, with the end of the war near, training on U-boats had dropped to a minimum due to lack of fuel, falling morale and the effectiveness of allied attacks on U-boat construction and preparation. The exception to this was the new type XXI boats, which continued to train in the Baltic Sea. To prevent this, the Royal Air Force dropped thousands of sea mines into German territorial waters, in the hope that submarines entering or leaving harbour or training in shallow waters would be lost on them. This is what destroyed the U-3519, when she ran afoul of an air-dropped mine near Warnemünde and sank to the bottom taking all 65 of her crew with her.