German submarine U-520

German submarine U-520 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The U-boat was laid down on 1 July 1941 at the Deutsche Werft yard in Hamburg as yard number 335, launched on 2 March 1942 and commissioned on 19 May 1942 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Volkmar Schwartzkopff. After training with the 4th U-boat Flotilla, she was transferred to the 2nd flotilla for front-line service on 1 October 1942. She was sunk on 30 October 1942 off Newfoundland.

Design

German Type IXC submarines were slightly larger than the original Type IXBs. U-520 had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. The U-boat had a total length of, a pressure hull length of, a beam of, a height of, and a draught of. The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke, nine-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of for use while surfaced, two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to.
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of. When submerged, the boat could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at. U-520 was fitted with six torpedo tubes, 22 torpedoes, one SK C/32 naval gun, 180 rounds, and a SK C/30 as well as a C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of forty-eight.

U-520 sailed from Kiel on 3 October 1942, negotiated the gap between the Faeroe and Shetland Islands and then turned west toward Cape Farewell,. After a brief journey in the direction of Iceland, she headed southwest, then south, before being sunk east of Newfoundland in position by depth charges from a Canadian Douglas Digby light bomber of No. 10 Squadron RCAF on 30 October 1942. None of her 53 crew members survived the sinking.
In January 2006 an article in the Edmonton Journal reported that a team of divers planned to search for U-520 and another U-boat,.