U 701

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U 701
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U-701 rescue.jpg
Rescue operation after the sinking of U 701
Type : VII C
Field Post Number : M 44 322
Shipyard: HC Stülcken Sohn , Hamburg
Construction contract: October 9, 1939
Build number: 760
Keel laying: May 3, 1940
Launch: April 16, 1941
Commissioning: July 16, 1941
Commanders:

July 16, 1941 - July 7, 1942
Kptlt. Horst Degen

Calls: 3 patrols
Sinkings:
  • 5 merchant ships (25,390 GRT, 82 dead)
  • 3 auxiliary warships (1,666 t, 92 dead)
  • 4 merchant ships damaged (2 dead) and 1 warship damaged
Whereabouts: sunk on July 7, 1942 off Cape Hatteras (39 dead, 7 prisoners of war)

U 701 was a German type VII C submarine of the Kriegsmarine , which was used in the Second World War . On its three patrols it sank five merchant ships and three auxiliary warships and damaged five other ships, killing a total of 176 people. On July 7, 1942, it was sunk by a US Hudson bomber off Cape Hatteras (USA) , which killed 39 crew members, although 36 men initially left the boat in time but did not survive the following days on the high seas. On 10 July 1942, a spotted airship the US Navy seven survivors - among them the commander Horst Degen - who shortly afterwards in a daring rescue mission with a seaplane of the US Coast Guard rescued in rough seas and so in captivity came. The pilot Richard L. Burke received the Distinguished Flying Cross for rescuing the German submarine drivers .

history

The construction contract for U 701 was awarded to the Stülcken shipyard in Hamburg on October 9, 1939 . There the boat was laid down on May 3, 1940. The launch was on April 16, 1941. On July 16, 1941, it was put into service under Lieutenant Horst Degen (1913-1996).

U 701 belonged to the 3rd U-Flotilla in Kiel as a training boat until December 1, 1941 . Then it was until its sinking as a front boat with the 3rd U-Flotilla in Brest . As a coat of arms, this boat had a drawing of a gurnard , which was painted in black on both sides of the tower.

Calls

First patrol

On December 27, 1941, U 701 left Kiel for its first patrol. She led the boat into the North Atlantic , where it was assigned to the Ziethen group. On December 31, 1941, Lieutenant Bernhard Weinitschke was washed overboard. On January 6, 1942, the boat from the SC-62 convoy sank a ship. U 701 entered Saint-Nazaire on February 9, 1942 .

Successes during the patrols:

  • January 6, 1942: sinking of the British steamer Baron Erskine with 3,657 GRT ( Lage ). All 41 men on board were killed.

Second patrol

This mission began on February 26, 1942 in Saint-Nazaire and ended on April 1, 1942 in Brest. The area of ​​operation was again the North Atlantic. The boat was u. a. assigned to the Westwall group. During this 35-day voyage, two ships with 562 GRT and two auxiliary warships with 1,048 GRT were sunk.

  • March 6, 1942: sinking of the British trawler Rononia with 213 GRT. All 11 men on board were killed.
  • March 7, 1942: sinking of the Faroese trawler Nyggjaberg with 349 GRT. All 21 men on board were killed.
  • March 8, 1942: Sinking of the British auxiliary warship HMS Notts County with 541 t ( layer ). 41 men on board were killed and only one was saved.
  • March 11, 1942: Sinking of the British auxiliary warship HMS Stella Capella with 501 t ( layer ). All 33 men on board were killed.

Third patrol

On May 19, 1942, the boat left the port of Brest and made a stopover in Lorient . From there it left for the third patrol on the following day. The area of ​​operation this time was the east coast of the USA , in particular Cape Hatteras . On June 11, 1942, U 701 laid mines off Virginia Beach . Four days later the convoy KN-109 got into this lock. An auxiliary warship sank, two ships and a destroyer were damaged. Before its sinking on July 7, 1942, the boat was able to sink a total of four ships with 21,789 GRT and damage five ships with 38,283 GRT.

  • June 15, 1942: sinking of the British auxiliary warship HMS Kingston Ceylonite with 448 t through a mine ( location ). 18 men on board were killed and 14 were saved.
  • June 15, 1942: Damage to the American destroyer USS Bainbridge with 1,190 tons by a mine. There was no loss of life.
  • June 15, 1942: Damage to the American tanker ESSO Augusta with 11,237 GRT by a mine. There was no loss of life.
  • June 15, 1942: Damage to the American merchant ship Robert C. Tuttle with 11,615 GRT by a mine. One man of the 47-strong crew was killed.
  • June 17, 1942: sinking of the American merchant ship Santore with 7,117 GRT through a mine ( location ). 3 men on board were killed and 43 were saved.
  • June 19, 1942: sinking of the American auxiliary warship USS YP-389 with 170 tons by artillery fire . 6 men on board were killed and 18 were saved.
  • June 25, 1942: Damage to the Norwegian merchant ship Tamesis with 7,256 GRT by a torpedo . There was no loss of life.
  • June 27, 1942: Damage to the British tanker British Freedom with 6,985 GRT by a torpedo. One man of the 57-strong crew was killed.
  • 28/29 June 1942: Sinking of the American tanker William Rockefeller with 14,054 GRT by two torpedoes ( Lage ). All 50 crew members were rescued.

Downfall

U 701 was submerged in front of Cape Hatteras to choose a worthwhile destination from the passing ship traffic. On the afternoon of July 7, 1942, she was forced to surface due to lack of oxygen on board. Too late, the lookout noticed an approaching Hudson from the 396th USAAF bomber squadron, which was piloted by 24-year-old Lieutenant Harry J. Kane. The submarine was hit by two bombs on the stern while diving, which tore open the pressure hull. 36 out of 43 men were able to leave the mostly flooded boat in two separate groups. The Hudson dropped four life jackets and a rubber dinghy for the survivors and notified a coast guard boat. The wreck of U 701 is at the position 34 ° 50 '  N , 74 ° 55'  W .

rescue

The rescued are brought ashore

The castaways drifted away from the sinking site through the Gulf Stream . Gradually, 29 men died over the next two days. US patrol boats and planes searched the area for survivors but found nothing or anyone for two days. On July 10, 1942, a US Navy airship finally discovered the last seven survivors of U 701 - among them the only surviving officer, Commander Horst Degen - and dropped a life raft some 90 nautical miles from the sinking site. At 4:05 p.m., a Coast Guard Hall PH-2 seaplane rescued all seven men. The pilot, Commander Richard L. Burke, Commodore of Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, received the second Distinguished Flying Cross of his career for his courageous splashdown in rough seas .

literature

  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. Preface by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rohwer, Member of the Presidium of the International Commission on Military History. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1996, p. 49. ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: Submarine construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1997, pp. 50, 253. ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 3: The German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2008, pp. 258f. ISBN 978-3-8132-0513-8 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 4: The German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2008, p. 51f. ISBN 978-3-8132-0514-5 .
  • Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maas: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 3: Submarines, auxiliary cruisers, mine ships, net layers. Bernhard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7637-4802-4 .
  • Clay Blair : The Submarine War - The Hunters 1939–1942 . Heyne Verlag, 1998. pp. 531f., 554, 644, 699-707, 728, 789, 803f. ISBN 3-4531-2345-X .
  • Clay Blair: The Submarine War - The Hunted 1942–1945 . Heyne Verlag, 1999. p. 146. ISBN 3-4531-6059-2 .
  • Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Maling's German submarines 1939–1945. 4th edition. Koehler, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-7822-0826-9 .
  • Ed Offley: The Burning Shore. How Hitler's U-Boats Brought World War II to America. Basic Books, New York 2014.
  • Jim Bunch: U-Boats off the Outer Banks: Shadows in the Moonlight. History Press, Charleston (SC) 2017, pp. 173-177. ISBN 1-55750-862-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Malings German submarines 1939-1945. 4th edition. 2001.
  2. ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit by U-701 , as of October 16, 2008.
  3. ^ A b Clay Blair : The Submarine War. The hunters 1939–1942. License issue. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 2001, ISBN 3-8289-0512-9 , p. 865 ff.
  4. ↑ Photos of the wreck at Spiegel online