 "U-574" was fitted with five torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and one at the stern), fourteen torpedoes, one SK C/35 naval gun, 220 rounds, and a C/30 anti-aircraft gun.The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty.The submarine was laid down on 15 June 1940 at Blohm & Voss, Hamburg as yard number 550, launched on 12 April 1941 and commissioned on 12 June under the command of "Oberleutnant zur See" Dietrich Gengelbach.