U-Boat Type VII-C
U-552 – The Red Devil Boat

The U-boat Type VII C was the main combat unit of the German U-boat arm in World War II, carrying the bulk of operations and achieving most of the successes. It was employed mainly in the North Atlantic against allied convoys. The U-boats built and commissioned at later stages had minor improvements not only in the shape of the hull but also in the armament, in particular anti aircraft defence. There were forms of the conning tower with considerable variations, such as more and enlarged platforms for AA guns, accomodation of snorkels etc.

The U-552 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was laid down on 1 December 1939 at Blohm & Voss in Hamburg as yard number 528, launched on 14 September 1940 and went into service on 4 December 1940. U-552 was nicknamed the Roter Teufel ("Red Devil") after its mascot of a grinning devil which was painted on the conning tower.

The Running Devil emblem first appeared on U-57 under the command of Kptlt. Claus Korth. There were two variants: a devil with a torch, and a devil netting a small boat with Winston Churchill on board (designed by the WO Oblt. z. See von Hartmann). Erich Topp took over the red devil and made him famous, displaying him on U-57, U-552 and U-2513.

Topp wrote of: "The two dancing red devils carrying the torches of life and of destruction."

She was one of the more successful of her class, operating for over three years of continual service and sinking or damaging 35 Allied ships with 164,276 GRT and 1,190 tons sunk and 26,910 GRT damaged. She was a member of 21 wolf packs.

U-552 had an unusually long service life, surviving to the end of World War II; after evacuating from her French base during the spring of 1944 she operated on training duties in the Baltic Sea until she was decommissioned in February 1945. On 5 May 1945, she was scuttled together with 22 other submarines in the IV. Entry of the west chamber of the Raederschleuse in Wilhelmshavenin (Helgoland Bight), to prevent her falling into enemy hands.