depressed by this failure, in which he was in no way to blame, that I felt compelled to withdraw him for the time being from active operations and employ him as an instructor at home". In addition Dönitz had received reports from his men concerning problems with the defective G7e torpedoes that they were using and knew that the failures were caused by the faulty torpedoes. Zahn eventually recovered and later that year was given command of U-69. U-56 ended her third patrol arriving at Kiel, on 13 November 1939. Fourth patrol The submarine's luck changed for the better on her fourth foray. She damaged Eskdene on 2 December 1939, northeast of the Tyne. The following day, she sank Rudolf east of May Island (in the mouth of the Firth of Forth). Fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth patrols The fifth patrol was also uneventful and took the boat into the southern North Sea. Patrol numbers six and seven were both more of the same. The boat's eighth sortie ranged far and wide; across the North Sea to the Scottish west coast, north of Shetland, then the other side of the North Sea to the coast of Norway, but further success continued to elude her. Her ninth effort was to the north of the Hebrides and again round the Shetland Islands. Tenth patrol U-56s tenth patrol took her to the newly captured port of Lorient on the French Atlantic coast. She departed Wilhelmshaven on 29 June 1940; her route was to the west of Ireland, culminating in her arrival on 21 July. 11th patrol She was near Ireland once more when she sank the Boma on 5 August 1940 northwest of Malin Head. In a similar location, she sank the armed merchant cruiser northwest of Malin Head on 10 August. 12th patrol U-56 was attacked by the British submarine about northeast of St Kilda on 6 September. All the torpedoes missed; the Germans were unaware of the situation. The boat was on her way, via the gap between the Faroe and Shetland Islands, back to Germany. She arrived in Kiel on 15 September. Fate Whilst in Kiel on 3 April 1945, U-56 was badly damaged in a US air raid and subsequently decommissioned. She was then scuttled by her crew on 3 May 1945 in position . Soon after the war ended the wreck was raised and broken up. Summary