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German submarine U-76 (1940) was a Type VIIB 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 It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine.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...

. U-76 played a minor role in the Battle of the Atlantic, but was destroyed somewhere south of Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

.

1st patrol

Completed in December 1940, U-76 was available for service from March following the completion of her working-up period and sea trials. Her commander, Kplt. Friedrich von Hippel, had previously served on during her trails until November the previous year.

Six days into her first and only patrol on 2 April, U-76 fired upon the Finnish steam merchant on her way to Lillehammer

Lillehammer

is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway, globally known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. As of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. All twenty-two crew members were killed in the attack.

The next day, U-76 followed the mostly British convoy SC 26

Convoy SC 26

SC 26 was a North Atlantic convoy of the SC series which ran during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II.-Prelude:SC 26 was an east-bound convoy of 23 ships which sailed from Halifax on 20 March 1941 bound for Liverpool...

 travelling from Sydney, Nova Scotia

Sydney, Nova Scotia

Sydney is a Canadian urban community in the province of Nova Scotia. It is situated on the east coast of Cape Breton Island and is administratively part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality....

 to Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

. The U-Boat fired a torpedo at the British merchant , disabling the vessel. The forty people on board were rescued by .

The attack attracted the attention of the armed escort vessels, who pinpointed her position. Deploying depth-charges from and , U-76 was sunk. Forty-two of her forty-three-man crew survived and were captured.

Raiding career

Date	Ship	Nationality	Tonnage	Fate
3 April 1941		Finnish	1,939	Sunk
4 April 1941		British	5,351	Sunk