 "U-521"s first patrol ended on 8 December 1942.She put in at Lorient in occupied France where she had been assigned to the 2nd U-boat Flotilla, commanded by "Korvettenkapitän" Viktor Schütze of the 1925 naval term.Schütze was greatly admired by Bargsten, he spoke of a four-hour interview that he (Bargsten) had had with the flotilla commander.