U-552 1945
Marker: recorded wreck position (Second World War).
Key facts
| Name | U-552 | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1945 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Second World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | U-boat | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Scuttled | Wikidata P793 significant event: scuttling |
| Nationality / flag | Nazi Germany | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Kriegsmarine | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | World War II | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | North Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Germany | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 8 km from land |
| Position | 53.5289, 8.1589 | Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0) |
About the wreck
German submarine U-552 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was laid down on 1 December 1939 at Blohm & Voss in Hamburg as yard number 528, launched on 14 September 1940, and went into service on 4 December 1940. U-552 was nicknamed the Roter Teufel ("Red Devil") after her mascot of a grinning devil, which was painted on the conning tower. She was one of the more successful of her class, operating for over three years of continual service and sinking or damaging 35 Allied ships with 164,276 gross register tonnage (GRT) and 1,190 tons sunk and 26,910 GRT damaged. She was a member of 21 wolf packs.
U-552 was involved in two controversial actions: On 31 October 1941, she sank the USS Reuben James, the first US Navy warship to be lost in World War II; this was at a time when the US was still officially neutral, and caused a diplomatic dispute. On 3 April 1942, she sank the freighter David H. Atwater off the US seaboard.
U-552 had an unusually long service life, surviving to the end of World War II; after evacuating from her French base during the spring of 1944, she operated on training duties in the Baltic Sea until she was…
Location
- Recorded position: 53.5289, 8.1589 (Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: North Sea
- Nearest coast: Germany
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article German submarine U-552 (revision 1379712945), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
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