 On 23 or 24 February (sources vary), "U-53" was engaged and sunk by depth charges dropped by the British destroyer west of the Orkney Islands with the loss of all hands, (42 dead).In the 1953 film "The Cruel Sea" "U53" was the last (and only) submarine the crew of the fictitious frigate HMS "Saltash Castle" sank.In the film "Eye of the Needle" U-53 is the escape U-boat of the Needle (played by Donald Sutherland) waiting offshore.