| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-512 |
| Ordered: | 20 October 1939 |
| Builder: | Deutsche Werft, Hamburg |
| Yard number: | 308 |
| Laid down: | 24 February 1941 |
| Launched: | 9 October 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 20 December 1941 |
| Fate: | Sunk by aircraft, 2 October 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Type IXC submarine |
| Displacement: | 1,120 t (1,100 long tons) surfaced 1,232 t (1,213 long tons) submerged |
| Length: | 76.8 m (252 ft 0 in) o/a 58.7 m (192 ft 7 in) pressure hull |
| Beam: | 6.8 m (22 ft 4 in) o/a 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) pressure hull |
| Height: | 9.4 m (30 ft 10 in) |
| Draft: | 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × MAN M9V40/46 supercharged 9-cylinder diesel engines, 4,400 hp (3,281 kW) 2 × SSW GU345/34 double-acting electric motors, 1,000 hp (746 kW) |
| Speed: | 18.2 knots (33.7 km/h) surfaced 7.7 knots (14.3 km/h) submerged |
| Range: | 24,880 nmi (46,080 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) surfaced 117 nmi (217 km) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h) submerged |
| Test depth: | 230 m (750 ft) |
| Complement: | 48 to 56 |
| Armament: | • 6 × torpedo tubes (4 bow, 2 stern) • 22 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedoes • 1 × Utof 105 mm/45 deck gun (110 rounds) • AA guns |
| Service record[1][2] | |
| Part of: | 4th U-boat Flotilla (20 December 1941–31 August 1942) 10th U-boat Flotilla (1 September–2 October 1942) |
| Commanders: | Kptlt. Wolfgang Schultze (December 1941–October 1942) |
| Operations: | 1st patrol: 15 August–2 October 1942 |
| Victories: | 3 commercial ships sunk (20,619 GRT) |
German submarine U-512 was a Type IXC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine built for service during World War II. Although she was short-lived, U-512 was a quite successful boat, making full use of the time she enjoyed in the entrance to the Caribbean Sea, during the Second Happy Time. She was commanded by Kapitänleutnant Wolfgang Schultze, an admiral's son and previously training captain of U-17.
The Deutsche Werft shipyards in Hamburg built her during 1941, and she was completed in December, ready for her working-up period in the Baltic Sea to train her crew and iron out any engineering problems. Following this, she was detailed to cross the Atlantic Ocean and operate off the northern coast of South America in order to catch unescorted allied shipping heading for or leaving the Panama Canal.
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Departing from Kiel on the 15 August 1942, U-512 headed into the Atlantic and then to the southwest, arriving in her designated patrol zone by the second week in September. She was almost immediately successful, sinking the slow, unescorted 10,000-ton American tanker SS Patrick J. Hurley with her deck guns, claiming 17 lives.[3] A week later, a second ship was found, the lone Spanish freighter SS Monte Gorbea, which was sunk with 52 lives despite her neutral status. This act would undoubtedly have led to Schultze's court-martial, had he returned from the patrol.[4] U-512's final victory came on the 24 September, when another American ship, the 6,000-ton SS Antionus was sunk by two torpedoes off Venezuela.[5]
On the 2 October, while still lurking off the South American coast, U-512 was spotted off Cayenne by a B-18 Bolo aircraft belonging to the 99th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Force. The aircraft flew low and dropped its bomb load directly on the boat, sinking her and 51 of her crew instantly.[6] Only one man, Matrosengefreiter Franz Machon (Polish: Franciszek Machoń) escaped the boat and was rescued from his raft by the Wickes class destroyer USS Ellis ten days later.[1]
| Date | Ship | Nationality | Tonnage | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 September 1942 | SS Patrick J Hurley | American | 10,865 | Sunk |
| 19 September 1942 | SS Monte Gorbea | Spanish | 3,720 | Sunk |
| 24 September 1942 | SS Antionus | American | 6,034 | Sunk |
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