April 1944 - November 1944 8 U-Flottille (Danzig)
December 1944 - January 1945 11 U-Flottille (Bergen) frontboat Patrol
1 7 December 1944. Left Kiel and arrived at Horten on 10 December 1944.
Patrol 2 23 December 1944. Left for British coastal waters. From
mid-January 1945 U 1172 operated in the Irish Sea. On 15 January, the boat claimed two
torpedo attacks. They are believed to have been against the British escort carrier HMS
Thane and the Norwegian tanker Spinanger which
were both hit by torpedoes and damaged. These ships were previously believed to have been
hit by the U-482 but that boat was almost certainly lost in early December 1944. On the
23rd she torpedoed and sank the SS Galatea (Norwegian 1200t.) and
SS Vigsnes (Norwegian 1599t) from convoy MH 1, north east of Point Lynas,
Angelsey.
Some authorities suggest that U 1172 attacked HMS Manners on the
26 January , but this may have been an attack by U 1051. U 1172 was sunk in depth-charge
attacks on the 27th by the frigates HMS Bligh, Keats and Tyler of the
British hunter-killer Support Group 5, north west of Holyhead (in position 52°24’N,
05°42’W). There were no survivors, 52 dead.