German submarine U-60 (1939)

German submarine U-60 was a Type IIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that served in the Second World War. She was built by Deutsche Werke AG, Kiel. Ordered on 21 July 1937, she was laid down on 1 October that year as yard number 259. She was launched on 1 June 1939 and commissioned on 22 July under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Georg Schewe.

U-60 was initially sent to the 5th U-boat Flotilla for training, until 1 October 1939, when she was reassigned to the 1st flotilla for a front-line combat role. U-60 carried out nine war patrols, sinking three ships for a total of and damaging one other of. She then became a 'school' or training boat with the 21st flotilla for the rest of her career.

She was scuttled on 5 May 1945 at Wilhelmshaven.

Design
German Type IIC submarines were enlarged versions of the original Type IIs. U-60 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-60 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
U-60's first patrol meant that she left and returned to Kiel in November 1939, it involved the boat keeping close to the Norwegian coast.

She moved from Kiel to Wilhelmshaven on 4 December 1939.

The boat began her second patrol on 12 December 1939 and laid mines off Great Yarmouth on the 15th. One of them was struck by the City of Kobe on the 19th. The ship sank, one crew member was lost.

The submarine's third sortie involved patrolling the southern North Sea. It was uneventful.

fourth, fifth and sixth patrols
U-60's next three outings took her as far north as the eastern Scottish coast, as far east as the Norwegian coast and as far south as Belgium in the North Sea, all to no avail.

Seventh, eighth and ninth patrols
Nor did her run of bad luck end there. On 1 August 1940 she was attacked by the Dutch submarine O 21. That same day Junkers Ju 88s of KG 30 also attacked the boat. No damage from either assault was sustained. Things changed when she sank the Nils Gorthan 25 nmi north northeast of Malin Head (the northernmost tip of the island of Ireland), on the 13th. After the patrol, she docked at Lorient in occupied France, on 18 August.

The boat's eighth patrol included an attack on the Volendam about 200 nmi west of the Bloody Foreland (northwest Ireland) on 31 August 1940. The ship survived a hit from a torpedo, but while she was being docked prior to repairs being carried out, a second, unexploded torpedo was discovered lodged in the vessel's hull. U-60 was more successful with the Ulva, sinking her on 3 September 180 nmi north northwest of Inishtrahull (the most northerly island of Ireland).

U-60 departed her French Atlantic base (Lorient) on 16 September 1940, heading for Bergen in Norway. Her route took her west of Ireland and through the gap between the Faroe and the Shetland Islands. The boat arrived in the Nordic port on 2 October.

She then moved from Bergen back to Kiel over October.