Unterseeboot 553 Article Index for
Unterseeboot
 

Information About

Unterseeboot 553




U-553 conducted ten patrols, sinking 13 ships totalling 64,612 tons and damaging two others totalling 15,273 tons.

On 25 April 1941 major engine trouble forced U-553 to return to base.

On 20 January 1943 , U-553 sent a radio message: "sehrohr unklar" (periscope not clear), and was never heard from again. She had suffered no casualties to her crew until lost with all hands.

Neal Stephenson 's novel Cryptonomicon includes a fictitious U-553 which runs aground in a fictional location near the northern British Isles . It is possible that Stephenson picked the number of the boat not for historical accuracy but rather as the product of two primes, 7 and 79.

''See also: List Of U-boats ''