German submarine U-94 (1940)
 Karl Dönitz observing the arrival of U-94 at St. Nazaire in June 1941. |
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| Career (Nazi Germany) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-94 |
| Ordered: | 30 May 1938 |
| Builder: | Germaniawerft, Kiel |
| Yard number: | 599 |
| Laid down: | 9 September 1939 |
| Launched: | 12 June 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 10 August 1940 |
| Fate: | Sunk 28 August 1942 in the Caribbean Sea. |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Type VIIC submarine |
| Displacement: | 769 tonnes (757 long tons) surfaced 871 t (857 long tons) submerged |
| Length: | 67.1 m (220 ft 2 in) o/a 50.5 m (165 ft 8 in) pressure hull |
| Beam: | 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in) o/a 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) pressure hull |
| Draft: | 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × supercharged Germaniawerft 6-cylinder 4-stroke M6V 40/46 diesel engines, totalling 2,800–3,200 bhp (2,100–2,400 kW). Max rpm: 470-490 2 × electric motors, totalling 750 shp (560 kW) and max rpm: 296 |
| Speed: | 17.7 knots (20.4 mph; 32.8 km/h) surfaced 7.6 knots (8.7 mph; 14.1 km/h) submerged |
| Range: | 15,170 km (8,190 nmi) at 10 kn (19 km/h) surfaced 150 km (81 nmi) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h) submerged |
| Test depth: | 230 m (750 ft) Crush depth: 250–295 m (820–968 ft) |
| Complement: | 44–52 officers & ratings |
| Armament: | • 5 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 1 stern) • 14 × torpedoes or 26 TMA mines • 1 × C35 88mm gun/L45 deck gun (220 rounds) • Various AA guns |
| Service record | |
| Part of: | Kriegsmarine: 7th U-boat Flotilla |
| Identification codes: | M 07 970 |
| Commanders: | Herbert Kuppisch Otto Ites |
| Operations: | 10 |
| Victories: | 26 ships sunk; 141,853 gross register tons (GRT) |
German submarine U-94 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. U-94 had sunk a total of 26 Allied ships at the time of her sinking in 1942.
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[edit] Wartime career
The keel of U-94 was laid down on 9 September 1939 at Germaniawerft in Kiel, Germany, launched on 12 June 1940, and commissioned on 10 August 1940 and assigned to 7th U-boat Flotilla on the same date. Herbert Kuppisch commanded U-94 from its commissioning until 29 August 1941. Otto Ites commanded U-94 from then until her sinking on 28 August 1942. U-94 served her entire career with 7th Flotilla, during which she completed ten wartime patrols and sank a total of 26 Allied ships and damaged one other.[1] The ships sunk by U-94 totalled 141,853 gross register tons (GRT), the single damaged ship totalled 8,022 GRT.[2]
[edit] Wartime patrols
- First patrol (20 November 1940 to 31 December 1940) – sank three British ships, Stirlingshire, Wilhelmina, and Empire Statesman.
- Second patrol (9 January 1941 to 19 February 1941) – sank three British ships, Florian, West Wales, and Rushpool.
- Third patrol (29 March 1941 to 18 April 1941) – sank one British ship, Harbledown and one Norwegian ship, Lincoln Ellsworth.
- Fourth patrol (29 April 1941 to 4 June 1941) – sank two British ships, Ixion and Norman Monarch and two Norwegian ships, Eastern Star and John P Pedersen.
- Fifth patrol (12 July 1941 to 16 August 1941) – did not sink any ships during the patrol.
- Sixth patrol (2 September 1941 to 9 September 1941) – sank three British ships, Newbury, Empire Eland, and San Florentino and one Greek ship, Pegasus.
- Seventh patrol (12 January 1942 to 30 January 1942) – did not sink any ships during the patrol.
- Eighth patrol (12 February 1942 to 2 April 1942) – sank one British ship Empire Hail and damaged one British ship, Imperial Transport, sunk a Brazilian ship, Cayrú and sunk a Norwegian ship, Hvoslef.
- Ninth patrol (4 May 1942 to 23 June 1942) – sank four British ships, Batna, Ramsay, Empire Clough, and Pontypridd, the Panamanian ship, Coclé, the Swedish ship, Tolken, and the Portuguese ship, Maria de Gloria.
- Tenth patrol (3 August 1942 to 28 August 1942) – did not sink any ships during the patrol and was sunk on 28 August 1942.
[edit] Action and sinking of 28 August 1942
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U-94 was sunk on 28 August 1942[3] in the Caribbean Sea while preparing to attack an allied convoy.
On 28 August 1942, in the company of American warships and the corvettes HMCS Halifax and HMCS Snowberry, the corvette HMCS Oakville was escorting a convoy off Haïti when it attacked U-94. The submarine, which had been on the point of attacking the convoy, was first spotted and bombarded by a United States Navy Catalina flying boat of patrol squadron VP-92, with depth charges. This attack crippled U-94, she surfaced and was subsequently rammed and fired upon by a Royal Canadian Navy Corvette, HMCS Oakville. Oakville dropped depth charges to force it to surface, and after bombarding it, rammed the submarine twice. The submarine, struck by a depth charge on the surface, gave up the fight. A boarding party was dispatched to seize the vessel.
Eleven sailors, under the command of S.Lt H.E.T. Lawrence and P.O A.J. Powell, [1] leapt onto the deck of the crippled U-94 and rushed toward the conning tower, which was riddled by shellfire. After clearing away the dead bodies covering the hatchway, Lawrence and Powell headed below. They were then surprised by two Germans who emerged from an escape hatch. After ordering them to back inside, the Canadians opened fire on the two men, who were dashing toward them.
The German crew, in a panic at the thought that the U-boat could sink at any moment, surrendered quickly. Despite the danger, Lawrence went searching for the Enigma machine and documents. But finding that U-94 had been scuttled, he retraced his steps, having to swim to the ladder which led to the conning tower. After giving the order to abandon ship, Lawrence leapt into the water just before the submarine went down. The Allied sailors and the German survivors were recovered by Oakville and the American destroyer USS Lea.[2] Nineteen crewmembers of U-94 were killed in the sinking, 26 survived the attack including the commander. The losses U-94 suffered during her sinking were the first known losses for U-94 during her career. The survivors of U-94 were rescued by Oakville and brought to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they were interrogated by American officials on 29 August.
[edit] Trivia
- One of the 19 crew members of U-94 killed during the attack, Gerhardt Slawik, was a German-American who lived in the United States until the age of 15 before moving to Germany.[4]
- The Sabaton song "Wolfpack" from the album Primo Victoria mentions U-94 during The Battle of the Atlantic.
[edit] References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: U-94 |
- Notes
- ^ Bishop. p.78.
- ^ Bishop. p.78
- ^ Note: United States Navy records list U-94 as being sunk on 27 August (see U.S. Navy report). Yet post-war publications (Bishop, p.78 and Miller, p.174) list U-94 as being sunk on 28 August
- ^ Report of the interrogation of survivors from U-94 sunk on 27 August 1942. Chapter.II, p.4
- Bibliography
- Bishop, C. Kriegsmarine U-Boats, 1939–45. Amber Books, 2006.
- U-94 at ubootwaffe.net (Accessed 18 April 2007.)
- Miller, David. U-Boats: the Illustrated History of the Raiders of the Deep. Washington: Brassey’s Inc, 2000.
- Navy Department Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Washington. Report of the interrogation of survivors from U-94 sunk on 27 August 1942. Washington, 16 September 1942. (Accessed 18 April 2007)
- U-94 at uboat.net (Accessed 18 April 2007.)
