German submarine 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 her mascot of a grinning devil, which was painted on the conning tower. 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 was involved in two controversial actions: On 31 October 1941, she sank the , the first US Navy warship to be lost in World War II; this was at a time when the US was still officially neutral, and caused a diplomatic row. On 3 April 1942, she sank the freighter David H. Atwater off the US seaboard. 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 in Helgoland Bight, to prevent her falling into enemy hands. Design German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines. U-552 had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of , a pressure hull length of , a beam of , a height of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two Germaniawerft F46 four-stroke, six-cylinder, supercharged diesel engines producing a total of for use while surfaced, and two Brown, Boveri & Cie GG UB 720/8 double-acting electric motors producing a total of for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to . The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of . When submerged, the boat could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at . U-552 was fitted with five torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and one at the stern), 14 torpedoes, one SK C/35 naval gun,