⚓ Shipwrecks Map

U-78 1945

Marker: recorded wreck position (Second World War).

Key facts

NameU-78Wikidata label
Year lost1945Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier
EraSecond World Warderived from year
Ship typeU-boatWikidata P31 instance of
Cause of lossWar actionKeyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence
Nationality / flagNazi GermanyWikidata P8047 country of registry
OperatorKriegsmarineWikidata P137 operator
ConflictWorld War IIWikidata P607 conflict
Nearest coastKaliningradNatural Earth (public domain)
Position54.6300, 19.9000Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0)

About the wreck

German submarine U-78 was a Type VIIC submarine of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was the only German submarine to be sunk by land-based artillery fire during the war. Built by Bremen-Vegesack.

She was ordered on 25 January 1939, and laid down on 28 March 1940, in the shipyard of Bremer Vulkan in the port city of Bremen-Vegesack as yard number 6. U-78 was launched on 7 December 1940 and formally commissioned into the Kriegsmarine as a "school boat" on 15 February 1941, with a crew of 41 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Alfred Dumrese.

Location

  • Recorded position: 54.6300, 19.9000 (Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0); may be approximate)
  • Nearest coast: Kaliningrad

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-78 (1940) (revision 1367242173), 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