German submarine U-83 was a Type VIIB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was laid down in the Flender Werke at Lübeck as yard number 291 on 5 October 1939. Launched on 9 December 1940, she was commissioned on 8 February 1941. U-83 served with 1st U-boat Flotilla from 8 February 1941 to 31 December, with the 23rd flotilla from 1 January 1942 to 30 April and with the 29th flotilla from 1 March 1942 until she was sunk.

Design

German Type VIIB submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIA submarines. U-83 had a displacement of 753 t when at the surface and 857 t while submerged. She had a total length of 66.50 m, a pressure hull length of 48.80 m, a beam of 6.20 m, a height of 9.50 m, and a draught of 4.74 m. The submarine was powered by two Germaniawerft F46 four-stroke, six-cylinder supercharged diesel engines producing a total of 2800 to 3200 PS for use while surfaced, two AEG GU 460/8-276 double-acting electric motors producing a total of 750 PS for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two 1.23 m propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to 230 m. The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 17.9 kn and a maximum submerged speed of 8 kn. When submerged, the boat could operate for 90 nmi at 4 kn; when surfaced, she could travel 8700 nmi at 10 kn. Differently from other VII B U-Boats, U-83 was fitted with only the front four 53.3 cm torpedo tubes, and only twelve instead of 14 torpedoes, one 8.8 cm SK C/35 naval gun, 220 rounds, and one 2 cm anti-aircraft gun The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty.

Service history

U-83 conducted twelve patrols and sank five ships totalling and one auxiliary warship - the Q-ship HMS Farouk, of. She damaged one other ship of and damaged the fighter catapult ship HMS Ariguani (F105), of. U-83 was sunk on 4 March 1943 with all hands southeast of Cartagena in Spain in position 37.16667°N, 0.08333°W, by three depth charges dropped from an RAF Hudson bomber (500 Squadron).

Wolfpacks

U-83 took part in three wolfpacks, namely:

Summary of raiding history

Citations