German submarine U-701

"U-701" was a type VIIC Nazi German U-boat that served in the North Atlantic during World War II. It was launched on April 16, 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Horst Degen, with a crew of 60 (4 officers and 56 enlisted men).

Patrols

*Patrol 1:12/27/1941 — left Kiel, Germany; Four days later, the "U-701" suffered a tragedy when one of its watch officers, Lieutenant Weinitshcke, was washed overboard and lost. On 1/6/42, NW of Rockall, Scotland, it came across a straggler from convoy SC-62, the British freighter, "Baron Erskine" carrying phosphates from Tampa, Florida to Scotland, via Nova Scotia. A torpedo from the "U-701" sent the ship to the bottom with the loss of its entire complement of 40 crewman. For the remainder of this patrol, the "U-701" patrolled the Newfoundland Bank area but had no further successes. She returned to St. Nazaire, France on 2/9/1942.

*Patrol 2:2/26/1941 — left St. Nazaire for operations in the North Atlantic. The "U-701" was assigned a patrol area west of the Faroes and the Hebrides. On March 6, S of Iceland, it torpedoed the fishing trawler "Nyggjaberg" with a loss of its entire crew of 21. On March 7, the "U-701" claimed another sinking SE of Iceland, but no records can confirm the kill. The next day, she scored again, this time confirmed, sinking the armed trawler, the HMS "Notts County" SE of Iceland. The "U-701" followed that up with another trawler, the HMS "Stella Capella", on March 11, again with no survivors. For the remainder of this patrol, the "U-701" was grouped with the "U-135", "U-553", and "U-569" to wait for a group of British naval vessels just west of the Shetland and Faroe Islands. The group waited two weeks with no sightings or further successes. The "U-701" returned to Brest, France on April 1, 1942.

*Patrol 3:5/19/1942 — left Brest, France and arrived in Lorient, France on 5/20/1942 for refueling.

*Patrol 4:5/20/1942 — left Lorient, France for operation in US waters. During its Atlantic passage, the "U-701" had several interesting encounters. It exchanged signals with a three-masted fishing barquentine on its way to fishing grounds off Grand Banks. The "Gazela Primeiro" was flying the neutral flag of Portugal was left to go on its way. The "Gazela" is now moored off Penn's Landing in Philadelphia, PA and is the largest of the tall ships still in existence. The U-boat reported another "protected" ship encounter when it chased the Swedish liner "Drottningholm" travelling under diplomatic immunity. The "Drottningholm" in its earlier incarnation as the "Virginian" was one of the first steam turbine liners built and had several crossing speed records. She also played minor roles in two great maritime tragedies — the sinking of the RMS "Titanic" and the RMS "Empress of Ireland".

On 6/12/42, the "U-701" was off the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, Virginia were it laid 15 TMB shallow water mines at the entrance to the Bay. Three days later as an allied convoy entered the Bay, the "Esso Augusta" and "Robert C. Tuttle" struck the mines. The destroyer USS "Bainbridge" thought the ships were under torpedo attack and proceeded to drop 8 depth charges, which ended up exploding more mines. The armed trawler HMS "Kingston Ceylonite" was escorting the convoy into the bay and struck another mine and was completely destroyed with the loss of its entire crew. The "Tuttle" was beached and later salvaged and the "Augusta" reached port with assistance. On 6/17/42, the "Santore", in an outbound convoy, struck a remaining "U-701" mine and went to the bottom.

While its minefield was claiming victims, KL Degen and the "U-701" were making their way towards Cape Hatteras, NC. On 6/16, she made a two torpedo attack on a freighter but missed. She came across the small armed trawler YP-389. Deeming it not worthy of a torpedo, Degen sank the vessel with his 88mm deck gun. This was one of the last recorded gun attacks made by a U-boat as increased air cover had made the practice extremely risky. On 6/26, the "U-701" torpedoed but did not sink the Norwegian freighter MV "Tamesis". The freighter captain ran the his damaged ship aground in shallow water. It was later towed to port for repair and month later made it to New York.

One day later (6/27), the "U-701" torpedoed and damaged the tanker "British Freedom". Before it could finish the tanker off, the U-boat was attacked by the auxiliary armed yacht, USS|St. Augustine which dropped 5 depth charges. The depth charges damaged the conning tower gauges, electric motors and air-circulators. The "U-701" crew was able to repair all but the air-circulators. These later proved its undoing. The tanker made to Norfolk, VA for repairs.

At noon on 6/28, approximately 16 ENE of the Diamond Shoals Light Buoy, Degen had brought the "U-701" to the surface trying to get relief from the bad air and heat that had built up inside of ship during the night. He noticed a large smoke smudge on the horizon. The vessel proved to be the U-boat captain's dream. It was the tanker SS "William Rockefeller", one of the largest tankers [14,054 tons] in the world at that time. It was carrying over 136,000 barrels of bunker "C" fuel oil and heading to New York. The "U-701" fired a single torpedo which struck the tanker amidships on the port side. The ship quickly became a raging inferno. Before "U-701" could confirm the tanker's doom, the air escort, a USCG J2F-5 dropped 4 depth cannisters and the USCG Cutter "CGC-470" followed up with 7 depth charges. Shaken but not further damaged, the "U-701" escaped to later pick up the burning tanker 12 hours later. A second torpedo sent the tanker to the bottom.

The next several days brought increased pressure and frustration to Degen and the "U-701". Constant air patrols forced the U-boat to spend day light on the ocean bottom until darkness brought protection from the searching enemy planes. The worsening state of air-circulators and the warm Gulf Stream waters made extended time underwater aboard the "U-701" almost unbearable as air stagnated, CO2 built-up, the heat increased, and the crew became sick and lethargic. At the point of desperation and to have his crew rejuvenated for the nights action, Degen brought the "U-701" to the surface on July 7th at approximately 3:00 pm to ventilate his poisoned boat. The "U-701" was preparing to return to its underwater refuge when it was spotted by a patrolling Army A-29 Hudson aircraft. The plane was piloted by Lt. HJ Kane who knew exactly what to do. Coming out of the clouds, he was on the U-boat before he was spotted by its lookouts. The A-29 dropped 3 depth charges as the "U-701" was trying to make its emergency dive. The first fell short, but numbers two and three hit the U-boat just aft of the conning tower and cracked its pressure hull.

With water filling his boat, Degen immediately saw that the wound was fatal and ordered abandon ship. The "U-701" made it part way to the surface but then immediately sank to the bottom. 17 crew members, including Degen, escaped to the surface. The Hudson A-29 circled sinking sub and dropped a life raft and vests to the survivors which quickly were carried away by the Gulf Stream current. Hopes that they would be recovered quickly faded as night came. The survivors drifted for two days getting weaker or dying with each passing hour. Finally, on July 9, seven survivors were spotted by a patrolling airship north of the Wimble Shoals light. The airship lowered a raft, blankets and supplies to the now desperate men. That afternoon, the U-boat crew and their captain were picked up by a Coast Guard floatplane and taken to Norfolk, VA.

Final resting place

At 115 feet below the surface, "U-701" is still intact, retaining its 88mm deck gun. Because of the limited exposure of the wreck, there are not large quantities of marine life on the wreck; the bottom fish seem to be predominately tautog and black sea bass - all more indicative of the cooler waters north of Diamond Shoals.

aving U-701

The wreck of the "U-701" was originally discovered by a small group of divers in the coastal waters off Cape Hatteras in 1989. The location of the wreck and the site remained a closely guarded secret and therefore undisturbed for the past 15 years. The "U-701" represents a virtually intact, pristine wreck site and a unique opportunity to explore and experience an unspoiled U-boat within recreational diving depths on the East Coast of the United States.

Recently, the vessel’s location has been rediscovered and the coordinates have become accessible to the general public, who have already begun diving the site. An overwhelming majority of the local recreational and wreck diving community is deeply concerned about the potential for disturbance, damage and loss resulting from unauthorized salvage.

ee also

List of shipwrecks

References

* [http://www.nc-wreckdiving.com/WRECKS/U701/U701.HTML Article by Paul M. Hudy]
* [http://www.projectaware.org/americas/english/news/U-701.asp Article about preserving the "U-701" on the Project Aware website]
* [http://www.dunellendiveclub.org/blog/archives/00000050.html A blog about the "U-701"]