German submarine U-98 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II, operating from March 1941 until she was sunk in November 1942.
She was launched on 31 August 1940 and commissioned on 12 October, with a crew of 46 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Robert Gysae, operating from St. Nazaire in France.
On 27 March she sank the British 6,695 GRT Koranton, a straggler from Convoy SC 25, with a single torpedo south southwest of Reykjavík.
There at 04:00 hours on 13 May, she spotted the British 10,549 GRT armed merchant cruiser (AMC) HMS Salopian, escorting Convoy SC 30 in fog.
A third attack an hour later was more successful, hitting the AMC amidships and in the bow, although not preventing the ship from opening fire on the submarine, which forced the boat to dive.
[10] Former merchant vessels such as Salopian, when converted for naval use, had their cargo holds filled with buoyant material such as empty barrels, so they could withstand a considerable number of torpedo hits and remain afloat.
[11] The next day Salopian's commander, Captain Sir John Meynell Alleyne and 277 officers and ratings were picked up by the destroyer HMS Impulsive.
There, on 15 February 1942, she torpedoed the British 5,298 GRT Biela, originally from Convoy ON 62, sinking her about 400 miles southeast of Cape Race (on the eastern tip of Newfoundland).
However, at 00:47 on 2 April, still in the Bay of Biscay the U-boat was attacked by a Whitley bomber of 502 Squadron RAF Coastal Command with six 250-pound (110 kg) depth charges.
[20] U-98 next patrol began on 14 July 1942, it took her back to the Florida coast to lay mines, one of which damaged the American 185 tons minesweeper Bold (AMc-67) on 10 August 1942.
The U-boat departed St. Nazaire on 22 October 1942, and after a voyage out to the mid-Atlantic without result[22] was sunk on 15 November west of the Strait of Gibraltar at 36°09′N 7°42′W / 36.150°N 7.700°W / 36.150; -7.700, by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Wrestler, all 46 hands were lost.