German submarine U-507

German World War II submarine

German submarine U 507 was a Type IXC U boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine built for service in the Second World War and the Battle of the Atlantic. She was mainly notable for two patrols she conducted during the "Second Happy Time" in mid 1942, during the first of which she caused havoc in the Gulf of Mexico amongst unprotected American shipping, and then in the second she attacked ships along the coast of Brazil, in an inexplicable and shocking attack on a neutral nation's shipping in its own waters which almost single handedly provoked the Brazilian declaration of war on Germany. The U boat was built during 1941 by the Deutsche Werft shipyards in Hamburg, and commissioned on 8 October 1941, with Korvettenkapitän Harro Schacht in command. Schacht commanded the boat for its entire lifespan, receiving the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 9 January 1943 in recognition of his successful patrols in the preceding year. He never wore his award however, as he was killed with his entire crew when the boat was sunk four days later.

German Type IXC submarines were slightly larger than the original Type IXBs. U 507 had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. The U boat had a total length of , a pressure hull length of , a beam of , a height of , and a draught of The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four stroke, nine cylinder diesel engines producing a total of for use while surfaced, two Siemens Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double acting electric motors producing a total of for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of When submerged, the boat could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at U 507 was fitted with six torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and two at the stern), 22 torpedoes, one SK C/32 naval gun, 180 rounds, and a SK C/30 as well as a C/30 anti aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of forty eight.

Once the U 507 had completed her working up period of six months following her commissioning, she departed German waters and entered the Atlantic Ocean for her first patrol; an uneventful and simple cruise to Lorient in occupied France, which was to be her permanent home port for the remainder of her life.

The second patrol was more eventful, as the boat rounded Florida at the end of April 1942, taking full advantage of the lit up settlements on the shoreline to pick and choose her targets amongst the unescorted shipping which bottlenecked between Cuba and the Floridan peninsula. Here she sank four large cargo ships in three days before following the coastline along Western Florida and Alabama, where in three more days she sank four more large unprotected ships, making full use of the failure of the local authorities to enforce either convoy regulations or the blackout. On 6 May she sank the about 45 miles south southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. On the 12 May she sank the 10,731 GRT Virginia in the mouth of the Mississippi, killing 26 sailors in an audacious attack which shocked the American authorities. Swinging south, she sank a Honduran freighter as she cruised out of the Caribbean Sea, leaving a shaken seaboard behind her. On this cruise alone she had sunk nine ships totalling 44,782 GRT.

Her third patrol was even more controversial, as a fruitless passage across the Atlantic brought her to the Brazilian coast in mid August 1942. There she searched for Allied shipping hugging the coastline in Brazilian territorial waters heading for North America. Here she again saw unescorted ships and a lit coastline, and Schacht made the inexplicable decision to attack without first ascertaining the nationalities of her targets. The first was the Brazilian Baependy on 16 August, which was torpedoed and sunk with 270 civilian lives. A few hours later the Araraquara was sunk, killing 131 people, followed by the Annibal Benevolo, on which 150 civilians drowned. The next day the slaughter continued, the Itagiba sunk within sight of the city of Valença, killing 36, and the Arara similarly sunk with 20 deaths as she picked up the survivors of the Itagiba. Two days after this, the tiny sailing vessel Jacyra was sunk, and a Swedish ship was torpedoed three days after that. In just one week, U 507 had sunk seven ships of 18,131 GRT and killed over 600 people, all of them neutral civilians. Although since February 1942 German and Italian submarines had attacked Brazilian ships, during May Brazilian aero naval forces began to attack Axis submarines. From July popular demonstrations occurred demanding that the Brazilian government officially abandon its neutrality; the political ramifications of what Schacht and his crew had done off the Brazilian coast were enormous. The then Brazilian dictatorship went from a neutral nation somewhat favourable towards the Axis powers, to an enraged opponent in the space of few days, declaring war on Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Brazil would send an Expeditionary Force to the Mediterranean theatre of operations, besides the full involvement of its navy in the Battle of the Atlantic. More importantly, Brazilian Air Force bases were made available to American naval air squadrons, thus denying the U boats their previous advantage of hiding in Brazilian coastal waters, and giving the Allies air cover across most of the Southern Atlantic, making the job of the U boats significantly harder. In addition, Germany's standing amongst neutral nations, particularly the formerly pro German dictatorships of South America, was in tatters, never to recover. The third patrol of U 507, was also highly significant, as after two months ineffective cruising between the West African and Brazilian coasts of the South Atlantic, U 507 received a radio call from U 156 was launched in 1941. on 15 September reporting that she had sunk a ship carrying 1,500 Italian prisoners of war. This ship was the , and U 507 made all haste to aid in the rescue operation, collecting a large number of survivors on board and towing several lifeboats, until attacks by American aircraft on the rescuing submarines forced her to dive and escape. She returned to Germany with her human cargo, and there received the orders which were the result of the Laconia incident, which consisted of a total ban on aiding shipwreck survivors, except ships' officers who were to be captured for information purposes.

On her fourth and final patrol she put these new orders to full use, as she sank three British ships off the northern Brazilian coast, and captured the masters of all the ships; J. Stewart, F. H. Fenn and D. MacCullum. These victories had taken her into 1943 with a reputation for success, confirmed when her captain was informed of his Knight's Cross award. On 13 January 1943 U 507 was spotted by a U. S. Navy PBY Catalina aircraft of VP 83 flying from a newly available Brazilian base, which dropped several depth charges on the boat. The site of the attack was 330 miles off the Brazilian coast at Cape São Roque (Cape of Saint Roch). There were no survivors from the entire crew of 56 including the three captives and the boat's new captain Heinz Radau, who was conducting an observation and familiarization patrol.

DateShip NameNationalityTonnage(GRT)Fate30 April 1942Federal2,881Sunk4 May 1942Norlindo2,686Sunk5 May 1942Munger T. Ball5,104Sunk5 May 1942Joseph M. Cudahy6,950Sunk6 May 19426,759Sunk7 May 1942Ontario3,099Sunk8 May 1942Torny2,424Sunk12 May 1942Virginia10,731Sunk13 May 1942Gulfprince6,561Damaged16 May 1942Amapala4,148Sunk16 August 1942Baependy4,801Sunk16 August 1942Araraquara4,872Sunk16 August 1942Annibal Benévolo1,905Sunk17 August 1942Itagiba2,169Sunk17 August 1942Arará1,075Sunk19 August 1942Jacyra89Sunk22 August 1942Hammaren3,220Sunk27 December 1942Oakbank5,154Sunk3 January 1943Baron Dachmont3,675Sunk8 January 1943Yorkwood5,401Sunk