⚓ Shipwrecks Map

U-68 1944

U-68: U-505chicago
Image: Jeremy Atherton, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Marker: recorded wreck position (Second World War).

Key facts

NameU-68Wikidata label
Year lost1944Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier
EraSecond World Warderived from year
Ship typeU-boatWikidata P31 instance of
Cause of lossScuttledWikidata P793 significant event: scuttling
Nationality / flagNazi GermanyWikidata P8047 country of registry
OperatorKriegsmarineWikidata P137 operator
ConflictWorld War IIWikidata P607 conflict
Sea / oceanNorth Atlantic OceanNatural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon
Position33.4000, -18.9833Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0)

About the wreck

German submarine U-68 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 20 April 1940 at the DeSchiMAG AG Weser yard at Bremen as yard number 987, launched on 22 October and commissioned on 1 January 1941 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Karl-Friedrich Merten as part of 2nd U-boat Flotilla.

U-68 conducted ten combat patrols, sinking 32 merchant ships, for a total of 197,453 gross register tons (GRT); she also sank one auxiliary warship of 545 GRT. She was a member of one wolfpack.

On 10 April 1944, during her tenth patrol, she was sunk northwest of Madeira by US aircraft from the escort carrier Guadalcanal.

Location

  • Recorded position: 33.4000, -18.9833 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
  • Sea / ocean: North Atlantic Ocean

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.

OpenStreetMap

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article German submarine U-68 (1940) (revision 1367245605), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.

Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).

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Further reading