German submarine U-74 (1940)

For other ships of the same name, see German submarine U-74.
Career
Name: U-74
Ordered: 2 June 1938
Builder: Bremer Vulkan of Bremen-Vegesack
Yard number: 2
Laid down: 5 November 1939
Launched: 31 August 1940
Commissioned: 31 October 1940
Fate: Sunk, 2 May 1942
General characteristics
Class and type: Type VIIB U-boat
Displacement: Surfaced 753 tons tons
submerged 857 tons
Length: Overall 66.6 m
pressure hull 48.8 m
Beam: Overall 6.2 m
pressure hull 4.7 m
Draught: 4.74 m
Propulsion: Surfaced: two supercharged MAN, 6 cylinder, 4-stroke M6V 40/46 diesels totalling 2,800 - 3,200bhp(2,400 kW). Max rpm: 470-490.
Speed: Surfaced 17.9 knot (33 km/h)
submerged 8 knot (15 km/h)
Range: Surfaced: 16,095 km
submerged: 175 km
Test depth: 230 m (754 ft). Calculated crush depth: 250-295 m (820-967 ft)
Complement: 44 to 48 officers & ratings
Armament: • 5 × 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes: 4 bow, 1 stern
• 14 × torpedoes or 26 TMA mines
• 1 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) deck gun with 220 rounds
• 1 × C30 20 mm AA

German submarine U-74 was a Type VIIB U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

Her keel was laid down 5 November 1939, by Bremer Vulkan of Bremen-Vegesack, Germany. She was commissioned 31 October 1940, with Kapitänleutnant Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat in command. Kentrat commanded her until March 1942, when he was relieved by Oberleutnant zur See Karl Friederich, who remained in command until the U-boat's loss.[1]

Contents

Service history

The U-74 conducted eight patrols, sinking five ships totalling 25,619 tons and damaging two others totalling 11,499 tons.[1]

On 24 May 1941, the Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen sank the battlecruiser HMS Hood, and heavily damaged the accompanying battleship HMS Prince of Wales, beginning a three-day hunt that would involve nearly a hundred ships.[2]

That concentration of ships was a very attractive set of targets, and Kapitänleutnant Kentrat was ordered to attack the British forces in this area. In the evening U-74 dived in order to listen for contact and detected another U-boat. Kentrat surfaced and a hundred meters away another U-boat appeared—U-556, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Wohlfarth.

Earlier, Flottenchef Admiral Lütjens requested that Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote (Commander-in-Chief for Submarines, Karl Dönitz) provide a U-boat to recover Bismarck's War Diary. BdU had given the order to Wohlfarth, but U-556 was both out of torpedoes and very low on fuel. Using a megaphone, Wohlfarth now passed the order on to Kentrat. Kentrat accepted and proceeded toward Bismarck's last known location.[2]

By dawn on 27 May, Bismarck was crippled and under fire from the battleships HMS Rodney and HMS King George V and the cruisers HMS Norfolk and HMS Dorsetshire. It was clear to her crew that she would not survive.

At 10:36 U-74 heard sinking sounds but could not determine whether it was Bismarck or a British ship. They came to periscope depth and saw battleships and cruisers directly in front of him. He tried to maneuver into an attack position, but the weather was too bad and the seas too high to remain on periscope depth or to shoot a torpedo. Wreckage and yellow life-vests were visible.[2]

After the British ships left, Kentrat surfaced amid debris and dead bodies. The sounds they heard that morning was the scuttling of Bismarck. They searched but they could find no one alive until that evening when they rescued a raft carrying three sailors, Georg Herzog, Otto Höntzsch, and Herbert Manthey.[2]

U-74 searched another day but found no one else alive and was ordered to return to Lorient. On the return trip, the three survivors recovered from their shock and gave the first statements of the end of Bismarck.

On 19 September 1941, U-74 sank the corvette HMCS Levis.[3] The next day, she sank the merchantman Empire Burton.[4] On 7 November 1941 she sank MV Nottingham (1941) making its first voyage from Glasgow to New York.

U-74 did not suffer any casualties to her crew during her career until 2 May 1942, when she was sunk with all hands (47 men) east of Cartagena by depth charges from a British Catalina of No. 202 Squadron RAF, and from the destroyers HMS Wishart and HMS Wrestler.[1]

References

Notes
  1. ^ a b c "The Type VIIB boat U-74 - German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net". www.uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/boats/u74.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-08. 
  2. ^ a b c d "U-74 and the Bismarck tragedy". www.uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/articles/index.html?article=25. Retrieved 2010-01-08. 
  3. ^ "HMCS Levis (K 115) (Corvette) - Ships hit by U-boats - uboat.net". www.uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/1111.html. Retrieved 2010-01-08. 
  4. ^ "Empire Burton (Catapult armed merchant) - Ships hit by U-boats - uboat.net". www.uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/1117.html. Retrieved 2010-01-08. 
Bibliography

External links

See also