U-213 von Varendorff 26-May-1942 12 days
Oberleutnant zur See Amelung von Varendorff patrolled intensely north and northwest of Bermuda between 26 May and sixth June 1942 without sinking any ships. Earlier in the patrol von Varendorff had managed to insert a German espionage agent into the Bay of Fundy, on the 15th of May near Saint John, New Brunswick (the spy spent the money given him and surrendered when it was done).
U-213 was one of the seven Padfinder boats operating east of New York. Wynn says that von Varendorff attempted to sink the Norwegian motor ship Berganger of 6,826 tons on the 27th of May, between Bermuda and Nantucket, and that the ship was sunk later that day by Rehwinkel in U-584. The track of U-213’s patrol leads from north of Bermuda to a box to the northwest of the island as the sub circled around looking for prey, then a leg east as the boat returned towards France.
U-213 sailed for the 7thU-boat Flotilla of Brest, which it originally left on the 23rd of April, only to return two days later to retrieve its secret agent. The patrol ended in Brest on the 21st of May 1942. Von Varendorff was born in Kiel in 1913 and was a member of the Crew of 1935. He was a Second Watch Officer on U-47 during Prein’s famous raid on Scapa Flow. He was an instructor until taking command of U-213 in August 1941.
On the 31st of July 1942 U-213 was caught and depth-charged by HMS Erne, HMS Sandwich, and HMS Rochester and sunk with all hands west of Punta Delgada, in the Azores Islands. He was 28. Overall von Varendorff accrued 120 patrol days on 3 missions. He did not manage to sink any ships of his own and was awarded the U-boat War Badge of 1939.
SOURCES: Gudmundur Helgason, Rainer Kolbicz, www.uboat.net, 2013, Kenneth Wynn, U-boat Operations of the Second World War, Volume 1 and Volume 2, 1997, R. Busch, and H.-J. Röll, German U-boat Commanders of World War II, 1988, Franz Kurowski, Knights Cross Holders of the U-boat Service