German submarine U-52 was a type VIIB U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was initially ordered on 15 May 1937, in violation of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, and laid down on 9 March 1938, at the yards of F. Krupp Germaniawerft AG in Kiel as 'Werk 587. Launched on 21 December 1938, she was commissioned on 4 February 1939, under the command of Kapitänleutnant (Kptlt.) Wolfgang Barten. U-52 undertook eight war patrols in the Battle of the Atlantic, she sank thirteen ships before being scuttled at Danzig in 1945 and broken up in 1947.