Unterseeboot 553
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| Career (Nazi Germany) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-553 |
| Ordered: | 25 September 1939 |
| Builder: | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |
| Yard number: | 529 |
| Laid down: | 21 November 1939 |
| Launched: | 7 November 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 23 December 1940 |
| Fate: | Missing, presumed sunk, in the mid North Atlantic on 20 January 1943. All hands lost. |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | VIIC |
| Service record | |
| Part of | Kriegsmarine 7. Unterseebootsflottille (Training) 1940-12-23 7. Unterseebootsflottille (Front Boat) |
| Identification codes | M 23 789 |
| Commanders | Kptlt. Karl Thurmann 1940-12-23 — 1943-01-20 |
| Operations | 10 patrols |
| Victories | 13 ships sunk for a total of 64.612 gross register tons (GRT) 2 ships damaged for a total of 15.273 GRT |
Unterseeboot 553 (U-553) was a Type VIIC submarine of the Kriegsmarine. Her keel was laid down 21 November 1939, by Blohm + Voss of Hamburg. She was commissioned 23 December 1940, with Kapitänleutnant Karl Thurmann in command. Thurmann commanded her for her entire career.
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 unready for action), 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 about ten miles north of Qwghlm, a fictional pair of islands, Inner Qwghlm and Outer Qwghlm, off the northwestern coast of Great Britain.
