German submarine U-223 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

Ordered on 15 August 1940 from the Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel, she was laid down on 15 July 1941 as yard number 653, launched on 16 April 1942 and commissioned on 6 June under the command of Kapitänleutnant Karl-Jürg Wächter.

A member of eight wolfpacks, she sank two ships totalling 12,556 gross register tons (GRT) in six patrols.

The submarine was powered by two Germaniawerft F46 four-stroke, six-cylinder supercharged diesel engines producing a total of 2,800 to 3,200 metric horsepower (2,060 to 2,350 kW; 2,760 to 3,160 shp) for use while surfaced, two AEG GU 460/8–27 double-acting electric motors producing a total of 750 metric horsepower (550 kW; 740 shp) for use while submerged.

Keeping to the Norwegian side of the North Sea, she entered the Atlantic Ocean having negotiated the gap between Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

The clergymen were posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart; the US Congress declared 3 February 'Chaplains Observance Day' in 1961.

The U-boat then prevented any retaliation from the convoy escort ships by diving underneath survivors in the water.

Having left St. Nazaire on 14 September, the boat had passed the heavily fortified British base at Gibraltar by the 26th.

Before docking at Toulon on 16 October, she attacked Stanmore on the second near Cape Ivi, Algeria.

By early morning of the 30th, the U-boat, after heavy depth charging, was forced to the surface, where she was engaged by gunfire.