U-376

Type

VIIC

Ordered

16 Oct 1939

Laid down

3 Apr 1940

Howaldtswerke AG, Kiel (werk 7)

Launched

10 Jul 1941

Commissioned

21 Aug 1941

Oblt. Friedrich-Karl Marks

Commanders

21 Aug 1941 - 13 Apr 1943

Kptlt. Friedrich-Karl Marks

Career

8 patrols

21 Aug 1941 - 1 Mar 1942  6. Flottille (training)
1 Mar 1942 - 30 Jun 1942  6. Flottille (front boat)
1 Jul 1942 - 28 Feb 1943  11. Flottille (front boat)
1 Mar 1943 - 13 Apr 1943  3. Flottille (front boat)

Successes

2 ships sunk for a total of 10,146 GRT

Fate

Listed as missing in the Bay of Biscay on 13 April, 1943.

No explanation exists for its loss. 47 dead (all hands lost).

See the 2 ships hit by U-376 - View the 8 war patrols

Previously recorded fate
(Last revised by Axel Niestlé during November 1996. More on revised fates.

Sunk 10 April, 1943 in the Bay of Biscay west of Nantes, France, in position 46.48N, 09.00W, by depth charges from a British Wellington aircraft (Sqdn. 172/C).

This attack was in fact against U-465 inflicting severe damages.

Wolfpack operations

U-376 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
Neptun (18 Feb 1943 - 3 Mar 1943)

Attacks on this boat

27 Jan 1943
The boat had to break off her one-day old patrol in the North Atlantic when some crew members were wounded in an air attack.

1 recorded attack on this boat.

General notes on this boat

The boat was outbound for a special mission code-named "Elster" to take on German Naval officers who escaped from a POW camp at North Point on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Was the boat sunk at Prince Edward Island?
Serious research strongly indicates that this boat was sunk while outbound in the Bay of Biscay. There are many who believe she was sunk on 7 May, 1943 off Prince Edward Island and is there in very shallow waters, regularly snagging nets of local fishing vessels. The boat failed to sent the mandatory radio signal to report that she had successfully left the Bay of Biscay and must therefore be assumed lost in the Bay to unknown causes.

Men lost from the boat

31 Jan 1943
The boat left Bergen, Norway on 30 Jan for the 6th patrol, but the next day at 0057 hrs lost the third watch officer when he was washed overboard. U-376 then headed back to Bergen, took aboard a replacement and departed for patrol the same day. [Obersteuermann Heinz Richter]

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

U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 2
Wynn, Kenneth