U-566 Borchert 30-May-1942 4 days
Kapitänleutnant (later Korvettenkapitän) Dietrich Borchert brought U-566 briefly into the area north of Bermuda on the 30th of May, 1942. Two days later, on the first of June, he sank the British 8,967-ton steamer Westmoreland north-northeast of Bermuda. On the way back to Brest U-566 was refueled by U-459 west of the Azores in mid-June and made it back to base on the 30th of June 1942.
Sailing for the 1st U-boat Flotilla, U-566 joined six other boats as part of the Padfinder line east of the US coast, looking for offshore prey. The patrol began in Brest on the 8thof April and in the middle of the month U-469 resupplied the boat. After unsuccessfully probing New York Borchert tried the Gulf of Maine north of Boston with similar results – none – until it dipped south of the Gulf Stream towards Bermuda.
Dietrich Borchert was born in 1909 and is believed to be still living in late 2013. Early in his naval career he was involved with naval aircraft weaponry in a leadership capacity up to November 1939, when he joined the U-boat arm. He began as an instruction commander and from August 1940 lead U-24. He commissioned U-566 in April 1941 and led her on this patrol a year later. After July 1942 he moved to various shore roles and received the Iron Cross First Class. Over five patrols Borchert accrued 196 patrol days and accounted for two ships sunk of 13,148 tons.
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