First patrol

For her first patrol, U-223 departed Kiel on 12 January 1943. Keeping to the Norwegian side of the North Sea, she entered the Atlantic Ocean having negotiated the gap between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. She moved to the south of Greenland. There, she sank the troop transport SS Dorchester west of Cape Farewell on 3 February. The troop ship was sailing with a total of 904 people on board. 675 of them died. Four of the dead were chaplains of different faiths who had given up their lifebelts to soldiers among the incumbents. The clergymen were posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart; the US Congress declared 3 February 'Chaplains Observance Day' in 1961.

She also sank Winkler on 23 February; the ship went down in 45 seconds. The U-boat then prevented any retaliation from the convoy escort ships by diving underneath survivors in the water.

U-223 was attacked by a British Flying Fortress of No. 59 Squadron RAF on 1 March. The aircraft dropped seven depth charges which overshot. Damage to the U-boat was slight, but the Fortress was hit and only just managed to return to its base.

The submarine docked at St. Nazaire in occupied France on 6 March.

Second patrol

U-223 was depth charged to the surface and shelled by the destroyer HMS Hesperus in mid-Atlantic on 11 May 1943. Two men were lost overboard; one of them was rescued by U-359. Meanwhile, U-223 had escaped the wrath of the British ship and returned to St. Nazaire. Due to the repairs needed, she did not put to sea again until September.

Third patrol

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. The badly damaged ship was taken under tow by two tugs. She was beached at Cape Tenes^[2] where she broke in two and was declared a total loss.

Fourth and fifth patrols

Also a total loss was the British frigate HMS Cuckmere (K299). She had been escorting a convoy off Bougie^[3] when she was hit. She was towed to Algiers and returned to the US Navy in 1946.

U-223's fifth sortie was relatively uneventful, passing south of Sardinia and headed for the Italian mainland.

Sixth patrol and loss

The U-boat had left Toulon on 16 March 1944. She was detected by the ASDIC (sonar) of HMS Ulster on the 29th north of Palermo. Ulster was not alone; she was accompanied by two other destroyers - HMS Laforey and HMS Tumult. By early morning of the 30th, the U-boat, after heavy depth charging, was forced to the surface, where she was engaged by gunfire. Ulster had been replaced by two escort destroyers, HMS Hambledon and HMS Blencathra. Before being sunk, U-223 managed to sink HMS Laforey.

23 men died; there were 27 survivors.

Wolfpacks

U-223 took part in eight wolfpacks, namely:

• Haudegen (26 January – 2 February 1943)
• Nordsturm (2 – 9 February 1943)
• Haudegen (9 – 15 February 1943)
• Taifun (15 – 20 February 1943)
• Amsel (22 April – 3 May 1943)
• Amsel 2 (3 – 6 May 1943)
• Elbe (7 – 10 May 1943)
• Elbe 2 (10 – 12 May 1943)