German submarine U-573 was a Type VIIC U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

 built for the German

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 Kriegsmarine

Kriegsmarine

The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...

 for service during World War II.

Her keel was laid down 8 June 1940 by Blohm + Voss of Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

. She was commissioned on 5 June 1941 with Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Heinsohn (*12 February 1910 – 6 May 1943*) in command. Heinsohn commanded her for her entire career in the Kriegsmarine. In May 1941 Heinsohn had arranged that the city of Landeck in Tyrol

Landeck

Landeck is a city in Tyrol, Austria with approximately 7,633 inhabitants. It is located at an elevation of about 820 m in the west of Tyrol, on the rivers Sanna and Inn...

 adopted the submarine within the then popular sponsorship programmme (Patenschaftsprogramm), organising gifts and holidays for the crew, earning her the honorary name U-573 Landeck.

U-573 conducted four war patrols, sinking one ship, the Norwegian Hellen on 21 December 1941, displacing 5,289 tons and with all her 41 men rescued.

On 29 April 1942, northwest of Algiers

Algiers

' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

, U-573 was attacked with depth charge

Depth charge

A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...

s by Lockheed Hudson

Lockheed Hudson

The Lockheed Hudson was an American-built light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built initially for the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and primarily operated by the RAF thereafter...

s of No. 233 Squadron RAF

No. 233 Squadron RAF

No. 233 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron that operated from 1918–1919, 1937–1945, 1952 - 1957 and 1960–1964. The squadron was formed from several Royal Naval Air Service flights and took part in the tail end of World War I before being disbanded. The squadron was reformed with the...

. Seriously damaged, she limped north to Spain, arriving in Cartagena

Cartagena, Spain

Cartagena is a Spanish city and a major naval station located in the Region of Murcia, by the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Spain. As of January 2011, it has a population of 218,210 inhabitants being the Region’s second largest municipality and the country’s 6th non-Province capital...

 on 2 May. International agreements allowed ships in neutral ports 24 hours to make emergency repairs before they were to be interned. The Spanish authorities granted U-573 a three-month period for repairs, which prompted several strong protests from the British Embassy in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

. On 19 May Heinsohn flew from Madrid to Stuttgart, then travelling to Berlin, in order to discuss the further proceeding with the Kriegsmarine. On 28 May he returned by train via Hendaye

Hendaye

Hendaye is the most south-westerly town and commune in France, lying in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department and located in the traditional province Lapurdi of the French Basque Country...

 to Spain. Realizing that even three months would not be enough to repair the boat, the Kriegsmarine sold the boat to Spain for 1.5 million Reichsmark

German reichsmark

The Reichsmark was the currency in Germany from 1924 until June 20, 1948. The Reichsmark was subdivided into 100 Reichspfennig.-History:...

. On 2 August 1942, at 10 am, (one day before the three-month period was to expire), the Spanish navy commissioned the boat as the Spanish submarine G-7

Spanish submarine G-7

Spanish submarine G-7 was originally U-573, a Type VIIC submarine of the German Kriegsmarine.On May 2, 1942, U-573 limped into Cartagena harbor, badly damaged after an air attack. Realizing that repair was impractical, the Kriegsmarine sold the boat to Spain for 1.5 million Reichsmark...

.

U-573's crew suffered no casualties during her career in the Kriegsmarine. The crew had been interned in Cartagena and was gradually released in groups of two to three men. The last five members of the crew left with Kptlt. Heinsohn, who returned to the Kriegsmarinearsenal in Gdynia

Gdynia

Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together...

, then German-annexed Poland

Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia

The Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia was a Nazi German province created on 8 October 1939 from the territory of the annexed Free City of Danzig, the annexed Polish province Greater Pomeranian Voivodship , and the Nazi German Regierungsbezirk West Prussia of Gau East Prussia. Before 2 November 1939,...

, on 13 February 1943. In March he was ordered to Brest

Brest, France

Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

, then German-occupied France

Military Administration in Belgium and North France

The Belgium and Northern France was an Axis-occupied territory that included present-day Belgium and the French departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais...

 to take command of U-438

Unterseeboot 438

German submarine U-438 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II.The submarine was laid down on 25 April 1940 at the Schichau-Werke yard at Danzig, launched on 6 September 1941, and commissioned on 22 November 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Rudolf Franzius.The...

, and died with all his crew two months later.

G-7's repairs were completed in 1947. In 1958 Arca-Filmproduktion GmbH rented G-7 to take the partially fictitious movie U 47 – Kapitänleutnant Prien

Günther Prien

Lieutenant Commander Günther Prien was one of the outstanding German U-boat aces of the first part of the Second World War, and the first U-boat commander to win the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Under Prien's command, the submarine sank over 30 Allied ships totaling about...

, partially based on his patrol to Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow

right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...

, where he sank HMS Royal Oak.

In 1961 G-7 was renamed S-01, and she served the Spanish Navy

Spanish Navy

The Spanish Navy is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Armada is responsible for notable achievements in world history such as the discovery of Americas, the first world circumnavigation, and the discovery of a maritime path...

 until 1970.

One other U-boat was interred in Spain during World War II: U-760

Unterseeboot 760

German submarine U-760 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II.Her keel was laid down 5 August 1940 by the Kriegsmarinewerft of Wilhelmshaven, and she was commissioned 15 October 1942 with Oberleutnant zur See Otto-Ulrich Blum in command...

.

See Also: List of U-boats