German submarine U-520

German submarine U-520 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The U-boat was laid down on 1 July 1941 at the Deutsche Werft yard in Hamburg as yard number 335, launched on 2 March 1942 and commissioned on 19 May 1942 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Volkmar Schwartzkopff. After training with the 4th U-boat Flotilla, she was transferred to the 2nd flotilla for front-line service on 1 October 1942.

Design
German Type IXC submarines were slightly larger than the original Type IXBs. U-520 had a displacement of 1120 t when at the surface and 1232 t while submerged. The U-boat had a total length of 76.76 m, a pressure hull length of 58.75 m, a beam of 6.76 m, a height of 9.60 m, and a draught of 4.70 m. The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke, nine-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of 4400 PS for use while surfaced, two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of 1000 shp for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two 1.92 m propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to 230 m.

The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 18.3 kn and a maximum submerged speed of 7.3 kn. When submerged, the boat could operate for 63 nmi at 4 kn; when surfaced, she could travel 13450 nmi at 10 kn. U-520 was fitted with six 53.3 cm torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and two at the stern), 22 torpedoes, one 10.5 cm SK C/32 naval gun, 180 rounds, and a 3.7 cm SK C/30 as well as a 2 cm C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of forty-eight.

Service history
U-520 sailed from Kiel on 3 October 1942, negotiated the gap between the Faeroe and Shetland Islands and then turned west toward Cape Farewell, (the southern tip of Greenland). After a brief journey in the direction of Iceland, she headed southwest, then south, before being sunk east of Newfoundland in position 47.78333°N, -49.83333°W by depth charges from a Canadian Douglas Digby light bomber of No. 10 Squadron RCAF on 30 October 1942. None of her 53 crew members survived the sinking.

In January 2006 an article in the Edmonton Journal reported that a team of divers planned to search for U-520 and another U-boat, GS U-190.