German submarine U-57 (1938)

German submarine U-57 was a Type IIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that served in the Second World War. She was built by Deutsche Werke in Kiel as yard number 256. Ordered on 17 June 1937, she was laid down on 14 September, launched on 3 September 1938 and commissioned on 29 December under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Claus Korth.

U-56 was initially part of the 5th U-boat Flotilla during her training period, until 31 December 1939, when she was reassigned to the 1st U-boat Flotilla for operations. She carried out eleven war patrols, sinking eleven ships for a total and one auxiliary warship of ; she also damaged two vessels totalling ; one ship was declared a total loss.

Design
German Type IIC submarines were enlarged versions of the original Type IIs. U-57 had a displacement of 291 t when at the surface and 341 t while submerged. Officially, the standard tonnage was 250 LT, however. The U-boat had a total length of 43.90 m, a pressure hull length of 29.60 m, a beam of 4.08 m, a height of 8.40 m, and a draught of 3.82 m. The submarine was powered by two MWM RS 127 S four-stroke, six-cylinder diesel engines of 700 PS for cruising, two Siemens-Schuckert PG VV 322/36 double-acting electric motors producing a total of 410 PS for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two 0.85 m propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to 80 - 150 m.

The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 12 kn and a maximum submerged speed of 7 kn. When submerged, the boat could operate for 35 - 42 nmi at 4 kn; when surfaced, she could travel 3800 nmi at 8 kn. U-57 was fitted with three 53.3 cm torpedo tubes at the bow, five torpedoes or up to twelve Type A torpedo mines, and a 2 cm anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of 25.

First, second and third patrols
The boat's first patrol was brief and passed without incident. For her second sortie, she departed Kiel on 5 September 1939, but went no further than the Kattegat. Her third effort was as far as the waters separating Orkney and Shetland, but success continued to elude her.

Fourth and fifth patrols
It was more of the same for her fourth and fifth patrols, although her activity was centred more in the southern North Sea.

Sixth and seventh patrols
The submarine's luck changed for the better on her sixth foray, when she sank the Miranda about 30 nmi northwest of Peterhead in Scotland on 20 January 1940.

Sally number seven began with the boat's departure from Wilhelmshaven on 8 February 1940. On the 14th, she attacked the Gretafield southeast of Noss Head. The burnt-out ship, which had been abandoned, drifted ashore at Dunbeath in Caithness. She broke in two and was declared a total loss.

U-57 was one of six U-boats that took part in Operation Nordmark; carrying out reconnaissance in the area of the Orkney and Shetland Islands for a subsequently unsuccessful sortie by the German capital ships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Admiral Hipper between 18 and 20 February 1940.

Eighth and ninth patrols
On her eighth patrol, also executed in the vicinity of Orkney, she sank the Daghestan 9 nmi east of Copinsay, Orkney, on 25 March 1940.

Patrol number nine saw the boat sweeping the area of the North Sea off the English/Scottish borders, Orkney and Shetland and all points east, with no result.

Tenth patrol
U-57 had moved to Bergen in Norway; HMS Tetrarch (N77), a British submarine, fired three torpedoes at the U-boat in the entrance to Kors fjord on 15 July 1940: they missed. On the 17th, she sank the O.A. Brodin 15 nmi northwest of Noup Head in the Orkney Islands. She also successfully attacked the Manipur 8 nmi northwest of Cape Wrath, (on the northern Scottish mainland). Her next victim was the Atos which went to the bottom in three minutes about 30 nmi north of Malin Head (in Ireland) on 3 August.

She then docked at the recently captured port of Lorient on the French Atlantic coast on 7 August.

11th patrol
Although her base had changed, the boat's area of operations had not. She damaged the Havildar 25 nmi northeast of Malin Head on 24 August 1940 and sank the Cumberland but was unsuccessfully attacked by British warships the next day. As sort of a farewell gift, she sank the Pecten in the evening of the 25th; the ship went down in 90 seconds.

Training duties
Returning to Germany, she was relegated to duties as a training boat and sank after a collision with the Norwegian ship Rona at Brunsbüttel (northwest of Hamburg) on 3 September 1940 with the loss of six of her 25 crew members. She was raised, repaired and returned to service in January 1941.

With the end of the war in sight, she was scuttled on 3 May 1945 at Kiel.