German submarine U-514
Encyclopedia
German submarine U-514 was a Type IXC U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
of the German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, commissioned in December 1941 and sunk by RAF aircraft after 19 months.Humphrey Metzgen and John Graham, Caribbean Wars Untold: A Salute to the British West Indies, University of West Indies Press, 2007,
ISBN 976-640-203-5, ISBN 978-976-640-203-7
While commanded by Kapitänleutnant Hans-Jürgen Auffermann she attacked the Canadian merchant vessel on September 11, 1942 off Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, firing six torpedoes into Carlisle Bay. These either missed or impacted on the harbor's anti-torpedo netting. After returning fire with its four-inch gun, Cornwallis sustained a strike from one torpedo that had passed through one of at least four damaged portions of the netting around 4:30 PM. She was beached lest she sink in the harbor, repaired, and returned to service.
On the same voyage, U-514 later sank five ships totaling over 17,000 tons off the northeast coast of South America.
She was spotted by aircraft of RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force . Founded in 1936, it was the RAF's premier maritime arm, after the Royal Navy's secondment of the Fleet Air Arm in 1937. Naval aviation was neglected in the inter-war period, 1919–1939, and as a consequence the service did not receive...
224 Squadron
No. 224 Squadron RAF
No. 224 Squadron RAF was formed on 1 April 1918, at Alimini, Italy from part of No. 6 Wing RNAS, equipped with the De Havilland DH.4. In June 1918 it re-equipped with the De Havilland DH.9. The squadron moved to Taranto in December 1918, disbanding their in May 1919.On 1 February 1937, the squadron...
in the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
among a group of Spanish fishing boats on July 8, 1943, and attacked with depth charges, going down with all hands.