Editing German submarine U-238 (section)

===War Patrols===
''U-238''{{'}}s first patrol was conducted from [[Trondheim]] in Norway as part of the [[1st U-boat Flotilla]], and entailed the submarine exiting the [[North Sea]] via the [[Denmark Strait]] and operating against Allied shipping in the so-called "air cover gap" in the Central Atlantic, where Allied aircraft had insufficient range, on account of fuel limitations, to effectively operate against German U-boats. This first patrol was by far the most successful, as on 20 September 1943, the boat attacked a [[Convoys ONS 18/ON 202|large convoy]], sinking one 7,176 GRT cargo ship and damaging another. This was followed by three more victims on 23 September, when two Norwegian ships and a British freighter were sunk from the same convoy.

''U-238''{{'}}s second patrol was less successful. Two weeks after leaving [[Brest, France|Brest]], on the French Atlantic coast, she was attacked by a [[Grumman TBF Avenger]] [[torpedo bomber]] from the [[escort carrier]] {{USS|Bogue|CVE-9}}, whose rockets killed two crew members and wounded five more, prompting the submarine to return to Brest with severe damage, which put her out of service for a month. It was during this patrol that the submarine captured two British [[Royal Air Force]] personnel whose [[Vickers Wellington]] bomber had been shot down by {{GS|U-764||2}}.

''U-238''{{'}}s third and last patrol began in January 1944, and lasted a fruitless month, until on 9 February, she was caught by convoy escorts of [[List of World War II convoys|
SL-147]] and [[List of World War II convoys|MKS-38]] {{convert|270|nmi|km}} off [[Cape Clear Island|Cape Clear]]. She counter-attacked, unsuccessfully, and was sunk by the [[Black Swan class sloop|sloops]] {{HMS|Kite|U87|6}}, {{HMS|Magpie|U82|2}} and {{HMS|Starling|U66|2}}. There were no survivors.{{sfn|Kemp|1999|pp=167-8}}