Patrol info for U-552
| Departure | Arrival / Fate | Duration | ||
| 25 Oct 1941 | St. Nazaire | 26 Nov 1941 | St. Nazaire | 33 days |
Commander | Officers * | |||||
 Kptlt. Erich Topp |
1WO Oblt. Ulrich Graf von Soden-Fraunhofen |
2WO Oblt. Siegfried Koitschka |
Cdr training Kptlt. Josef Röther |
ObStrm Franz Säck |
WO Werner Klug |
WO sea training Walter Kimmelmann |
The translated war diary of U-552 for this patrol is available here: http://www.uboatarchive.net/KTB552-6.htm
Daily positions, sinkings and allied attacks during the patrol of U-552
Legend
means a ship hit (sunk or damaged).
The route is shown in a red line. You may have to zoom out to see all data.
In some cases missing data may make the route appear go overland which U-boats of course never did on patrols.
Left click to zoom-in and right-click to zoom out.
We have daily positions for all 33 days on this patrol.
Departure from St. Nazaire on 25 Oct 1941.
26 Oct 1941 - 27 Oct 1941 - 28 Oct 1941 - 29 Oct 1941 - 30 Oct 1941 - 31 Oct 1941 - 1 Nov 1941 - 2 Nov 1941 - 3 Nov 1941 - 4 Nov 1941 - 5 Nov 1941 - 6 Nov 1941 - 7 Nov 1941 - 8 Nov 1941 - 9 Nov 1941 - 10 Nov 1941 - 11 Nov 1941 - 12 Nov 1941 - 13 Nov 1941 - 14 Nov 1941 - 15 Nov 1941 - 16 Nov 1941 - 17 Nov 1941 - 18 Nov 1941 - 19 Nov 1941 - 20 Nov 1941 - 21 Nov 1941 - 22 Nov 1941 - 23 Nov 1941 - 24 Nov 1941 - 25 Nov 1941 -
Arrival at St. Nazaire on 26 Nov 1941.
Wolfpack operations during this patrol
U-552 operated with the following Wolfpacks during this patrol
Stosstrupp (30 Oct 1941 - 4 Nov 1941)
Störtebecker (15 Nov 1941 - 19 Nov 1941)
Benecke (19 Nov 1941 - 22 Nov 1941)
Ships hit by U-552 during this patrol
| Date | U-boat | Commander | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 Oct 1941 | U-552 | Erich Topp |  | USS Reuben James (DD 245) | 1,190 |  | am | HX-156 |
| 1,190 | ||||||||
1 ship sunk (1,190 tons). Legend | ||||||||
General Events during this patrol
1941
31 Oct 1941. The first US Navy ship lost in the Atlantic On 31. October, 1941 U-552 was attacking the eastbound convoy HX-156 and at roughly 0525 hours torpedoed one of its escorts. The ship's magazine exploded and the ship sank quickly and 100 out of its crew of 144 perished. The ship was the destroyer USS Reuben James and it was the first US Navy ship lost in hostile action in WWII. This took place roughly 6 weeks before war was declared between Germany and the United States although US Navy ships had been escorting convoys and attacking U-boats for months before that.
Add more events! If you know of an interesting event either missing from this date or an upcoming event that you'd like to share please contact us. We continuously update these databases.
Attacks on U-552 during this patrol
We have no recorded attacks on U-552 during this patrol.
If you believe we have omitted an attack on U-552 please let us know.
See all patrols for U-552
* These are officers that later became commanders themselves.