World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseGerman Navy Type VII C submarine U-570 held her first voyage, one of training, between 15 May and 1 Aug 1941. On 23 Aug 1941, she sailed from Trondheim, Norway under the command of Lieutenant Captain Hans-Joachim Rahmlow on her first war patrol. On 27 Aug 1941, south of Iceland, she was attacked by depth charges by a British Hudson bomber; heavily damaged and unable to dive, her crew called for help with a white sheet on the deck of the boat. A British Catalina flying boat, following by the trawler Northern Chief, then destroyers HMS Burwell and HMCS Niagara arrived to take in the damaged submarine. She was towed to Þorlákshöfn (Thorlaks-hafn), Iceland where she received temporary repairs. Towed to Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, United Kingdom, she received permanent repairs.

ww2dbaseOn 19 Sep 1941, U-570 was pressed into Royal Navy service as HMS Graph; the name which began in the letter G noted she was German in origin. On 21 Oct 1942, she fired four torpedoes at U-333 in the Bay of Biscay off France, but all torpedoes missed. In Dec 1942, she sighted German cruiser Admiral Hipper, but failed to catch up to the German ship for an attack; on the same day, three hours later, she sighted a German destroyer towing another and attacked, though her torpedoes missed. In Feb 1944, she was decommissioned largely due to a shortage of replacement parts since she was a captured vessel. She was beached on the west coast of Islay, Scotland, United Kingdom on 20 Mar 1944, and she was salvaged and scrapped in 1947. She was completely broken up by 1961. She left the legacy of being the only German-built submarine to have fought for both sides in the European War.

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