The submarine was laid down on 17 November in Kiel , launched on 27 January , and commissioned on 15 March under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Heinrich Driver.
After training, U was ready for front-line service with the 1st U-boat Flotilla from 1 July Three men were killed, with 49 survivors. U had a displacement of tonnes long tons when at the surface and tonnes long tons while submerged. She had two shafts and two 1. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to metres ft.
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of U was fitted with five The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty. U was ordered by the Kriegsmarine on 23 September She was laid down about two months later at the Howaldtswerke yard in Kiel, on 17 November. Just over a year and two months later, U was launched on 27 January She was formally commissioned later that year on 15 March. She returned to Brest on 19 August. U departed from Brest on 16 September , sailing south, and then through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea.
After patrolling the coast of Egypt , the U-boat arrived at Salamis in Greece on 24 October, having had no successes, [ 8 ] officially transferring to the 23rd U-boat Flotilla on 1 November. U carried out two more patrols along the coast of Egypt and in the Eastern Mediterranean from December to January and again in March , but sank no ships.
However, on 7 May the U-boat was depth charged by two submarine chasers and was so badly damaged that she had to return to base. She arrived back at Salamis on 9 May. U departed La Spezia again on 7 April , once more heading to the Algerian coast, where she sank the 1, GRT Dutch merchant ship Merope on 27 April, before heading to her new home port of Toulon in southern France on 11 May The U-boat returned to base on 28 October.
