German submarine U-94 (1940)

Unterseeboot 94 (commonly abbreviated U-94) was a German submarine commissioned and used operationally during World War II. U-94 had sunk a total of 26 Allied ships at the time of her sinking in 1942.

Wartime career

The keel of U-94 was laid down on 9 September 1939 at Germaniawerft in Kiel, Germany. U-94 was built as a Type VIIC U-boat, the workhorse of the German submarine fleet. U-94 was commissioned on 10 August 1940 and assigned to "7. Unterseebootsflottille" (German submarine 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 7". Unterseebootsflottille", during which she completed ten wartime patrols and sank a total of 26 allied ships and damaged one other. [Bishop. p. 78.] The ships sunk by U-94 totalled 141,853 Gross Register Tonnes or GRT, the single damaged ship totalled , and "Empire Statesman".
*Second patrol (9 January 1941 to 19 February 1941) - U-94 sank three British ships, "Florian", "West Wales", and "Rushpool".
*Third patrol (29 March 1941 to 18 April 1941) – U-94 sank one British ship, "Harbledown" and one Norwegian ship, "Lincoln Ellsworth".
*Fourth patrol (29 April 1941 to 4 June 1941) – U-94 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) – U-94 did not sink any ships during the patrol.
*Sixth patrol (2 September 1941 to 9 September 1941) – U-94 sank three British ships, "Newbury", "Empire Eland", and San "Florentino" and one Greek ship, "Pegasus".
*Seventh patrol (12 January 1942 to 30 January 1942) - U-94 did not sink any ships during the patrol.
*Eight patrol (12 February 1942 to 2 April 1942) – U-94 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) – U-94 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) - U-94 did not sink any ships during the patrol and was sunk on 28 August 1942.

Attempted Capture by Allies

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 an American seaplane. 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 SLt H.E.T. Lawrence and PO A.J. Powell, [http://images.oakville.halinet.on.ca/details.asp?ID=14343&number=5] 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 19 German survivors were recovered by OAKVILLE and the American destroyer USS LEA. [http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/community/MapleLeaf/vol_9/vol9_29/929_14.pdf]

inking

U-94 was sunk on 28 August 1942 [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] in the Caribbean Sea while preparing to attack an allied convoy. U-94 was spotted and attacked 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". 19 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 "HMCS Oakville" and brought to Guantanamo, Cuba, where they were interrogated by American officials on 29 August.

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. ["Report of the interrogation of survivors from U-94 sunk on August 27, 1942. Chapter.II, p.4"]
*The Sabaton song "Wolfpack" from the album Primo Victoria mentions U-94 during The Battle of the Atlantic.

Notes

References

*Bishop, C. "Kriegsmarine U-Boats, 1939-45". Amber Books, 2006.
*Kriegsmarine and U-Boat history. "U-Boat Operations, U-94". Accessed 18 April 2007. From http://www.ubootwaffe.net.
*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 August 27, 1942". Washington, September 16, 1942. Accessed 18 April 2007. From http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-94INT.htm
*U-Boat.Net."U-94". Accessed 18 April 2007. From http://www.uboat.net.