U-431

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The U-431 was a submarine (U-boot) of the German Navy, part of the Type VIIc class and entered service in April 1941.

Active during World War II, after a short period in the Atlantic Ocean, he worked mainly in the Mediterranean theatre in force on 29. Basic fleets in La Spezia; in total he sank six merchant ships, an auxiliary ship and two military units, operating under two separate commanders in 16 war missions. The boat was then sunk on October 21, 1943 off the eastern coast of Spain by a British plane.

History
Ordered at the yards of the Schichau-Werke of Gdansk on 23 September 1939, the unit was set on 4 January 1940 and launched on 2 February 1941 with the appellation of U-431; the unit then entered service on 5 April 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Dommes, under force at 3. Kiel's flotillas for training. After completing the training phase of the crew, in June 1941 the boat moved to Trondheim and on 10 July sailed for its first war mission, entering the Atlantic and reaching the base of Saint-Nazaire in France on 11 August. Engaged against allied naval convoys in the Atlantic, on October 2, 1941 the U-431 made his first victim torpedo and sinking about 600 miles east of Cape Race the British steamship Hatasu, remained separated from the ON-19 convoy.

On 16 November the boat received the order to move from Saint-Nazaire to the base of La Spezia; once in the Mediterranean, the U-431 was sent to patrol the Egyptian waters and on 13 December struck with a torpedo the British oil tanker Myriel little north of el-Alamein: the ship however did not sink and was successfully returned to Alexandria of Egypt. On 29 January 1942, the submarine attacked the TA-21 convoy off Bardia, peaking with a torpedo the British tanker HMS Sotra; on 20 May the U-431 attacked the convoy AT-46 always off Bardia, hitting and sinking the British oil tanker Eocene. Operating from the new base of Salamina in Greece, on June 15, the U-431 attacked off Tobruch the British landing vehicle LCT-119, brought to beach after being damaged by cannon; on November 2, the submarine was attacked by a plane off the coast of Algeria and, damaged, had to return to La Spezia.

On November 10, 1942 the Anglo-American troops began the invasion of the French colonies of North Africa (Operation Torch), and the U-431 was sent to counter the naval forces engaged in the action: that same November 10 the silurò boat and plagued the British destroyer (erroneously mistaken for a Leander class cruiser) to the north-east of Algiers, while the following November 13 The