Commanding/Commissioning Officer: Kapitanleutnant Wolfgang Barten 

 

 

U-52 left the port of Kiel on the 19th of August and returned a month later on September 17th, 3 days before its change in command.

 

Status- Active patrol, No ships sunk on this patrol.

 

 

 

 

Two months later, U-52 received its new captain Otto Salman and departed on the 20th of Feburary 1940, and returned to the base of Helgoland on the 27th, making various stops at Wilhemshaven.  This was a total of three sailings with each merely lasting a day.

 

Status- No active patrols during this time period, no ships sunk.

 

 

 

 

On the same day of Feb 27th, U-52 departed from Helgoland on its second active patrol which lasted over five weeks and returned to Wilhelmshaven.

 

Status- Active patrol, no ships sunk.

 

 

 

Route: Wilhelmshaven - Kiel

 

Three days later, U-52 left Wilhelmshaven for its second wartime patrol and arrived at Kiel after three weeks at sea.

 

Status- Active patrol, no ships sunk

 

 

 

 

Two months later on June 8th, U-52 departed from Kiel on its third patrol and arrived at the French base of Lorient (captured at the time) over a month later.  Commander Salman torpedoed and sunk four ships during this patrol.

 

Status- Active patrol, four ships sunk:

 

-The Monarch (Brit) on June 19th. 

-Ville de Namur (Belg) on June 19th.

-Hilda (Finn) on June 21st.

-Thetis A. (Greek) on July 14th. 

 

 

 

Route: Lorient - Kiel

 

U-52 left Lorient on the 17th of July and continued onto its fourth active patrol, the boat later arrived at Kiel on August 13th.  On this patrol, Otto Salman hit three ships which were all British coming from the convoy HX-60.

 

Status- Active patrol, three ships sunk:

 

-Gogovale (Brit)

-King Alfred (Brit)

-Geraldine Mary (Brit)

All ships were hit on the same day of Aug 4th, 1940.

 

 

 

 

The boat left on its fifth patrol of six weeks and arrived at Lorient on the 28th of December.  On the 2nd of December, U-52 comboed with the U-47 (Prien) and the U-99 (Kretschmer)  and formed a wolfpack which did a good amount of damage from the convoy HX-90, heading from Halifax to Liverpool. The convoy lost ten out of its thirty ships, sunk by the wolfpack and a few other U-boat which later joined the fight (U-95, U-94, and U-140), two of which were sunk by Otto Salman.

 

Status- Active patrol, two ships sunk:

 

-Tasso (Brit)

-Goodleigh (Brit)

 

 

 

Route: Lorient - Lorient

 

On its sixth patrol, U-52 left Lorient and returned to the same base over a month later on Feburary 24th.  During this patrol, Otto Salman had two successes.

 

Status- Active patrol, two ships sunk:

 

-Ringhorn (Norw) on Feburary 4th.

-Canford Chine (Brit) on Feburary 10th.

 

 

 

 

During this time this time period, U-52 did not receive any patrols thus only made short sailings from Lorient and return, a total of two sailings were made.

 

Status- No active patrols during this time, no ships sunk.

 

 

 

 

During its seventh patrol, U-52 left Lorient on the 3rd of April and returned to Kiel a month later on May 1st.  Otto Salman hit two ships on this patrol.

 

Status- Active patrol, two ships sunk:

 

-Saleier (Dutch) on April 10th.

-Ville de Liége (Belg) April 14th.

 

 

 

 

 

Otto Salman spent several days later in command of U-52 and was later promoted to the rank of Kapitanleutnant and Korvettenkapitan on his successes.  The boat also received other captains such as Oblt. Helmut Mohlmann and Oblt. Hermann Rossmann.  The reason why there aren't operation statuses for the period of 1942 and beyond is because U-52 was transfered to various training flottilas afterwards, acting as a "school boat" for new Kriegmarine U-boat recruits.  U-52's life ended when it was scuttled on May 3rd, 1945 when the war ended between the Allies and Germany, the boat's wreck was later broken up in post-war years. 

 

Although U-52's life only lasted for 6 years, she sank a total of 13 ships totalling up to 56 000 tons and more.

 

 

 

 

 

-Thanks to the staff at Ubootwaffe.net for their wonderful site.