on 15 july 1942 off the coast of north carolina, the "u-576" encountered convoy ks-520, which consisted of 19 merchant ships and five escorts steaming from hampton roads, virginia, to key west, florida. she fired four torpedoes; one hit and sank the nicaraguan cargo ship "bluefields", one hit and damaged the american cargo ship "chilore" that then struck an allied mine whilst under tow and sank off cape henry, while the other two hit the panamanian tanker "j. a. mowinckel", damaging her. after firing the torpedoes, the "u-576" unintentionally surfaced in the middle of the convoy, prompting one of the convoy′s ships, the "unicoi", to open fire on her and two united states navy vought os2u kingfisher aircraft to attack her with depth charges, one of which was seen to land on her deck and roll overboard before exploding. the "u-576" sank, leaving a large pool of oil on the surface. all 45 crewmen on "u-576" died; there were no survivors.