Unterseeboot 94 (1940)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Career (Nazi Germany)
Name: U-94
Ordered: 30 May 1938
Builder: Germaniawerft, Kiel, yard 599
Laid down: 9 September 1939
Commissioned: 10 August 1940
Fate: Sunk 28 August 1942 in the Caribbean Sea.
Class and type: VIIC
Service record
Part of Kriegsmarine:
7. Unterseebootsflottille
Identification codes M 07 970
Commanders Herbert Kuppisch
Otto Ites
Operations 10
Victories 26 ships sunk; 141,853 gross register tons (GRT)

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.

Contents

[edit] 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.[1] The ships sunk by U-94 totalled 141,853 Gross Register Tonnes or GRT, the single damaged ship totalled 8,022 GRT.[2]

[edit] Wartime patrols

  • First patrol (20 November 1940 to 31 December 1940) – U-94 sank three British Ships, Stirlingshire, Wilhelmina, 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.

[edit] Sinking

U-94 was sunk on 28 August 1942[3] 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.

[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]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Bishop. p. 78.
  2. ^ Bishop. p.78
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ Report of the interrogation of survivors from U-94 sunk on August 27, 1942. Chapter.II, p.4

[edit] 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.

Coordinates: 17°40′N 74°30′W / 17.667, -74.5

Languages