German_submarine_U-701

German submarine <i>U-701</i>

German submarine U-701

German World War II submarine

German submarine U-701 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for the Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that served in the North Atlantic during World War II. It was launched on 16 April 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Horst Degen, with a crew of 43.

Quick Facts History, Nazi Germany ...

In three operational patrols U-701 sank five ships, of 25,390 gross register tons (GRT) and damaged four others for 37,093 GRT. She also sank four auxiliary warships and damaged a destroyer.

She was sunk in an air attack on 7 July 1942 and rests at a depth of 115 feet (35 m) at 35°14.330′N 75°06.690′W.[1]

Fate

U-701 was sunk on 7 July 1942 off Cape Hatteras. While running on the surface U-701 was attacked by a Hudson of 396 Sqdn USAAF. She was hit by two bombs and sunk. 17 of her crew were able to escape, but were adrift for two days before being found and rescued by the US Coast Guard. By that time just 7 men had survived.

Final resting place

Diving on the wreck of the U-701 in 2008.

At 115 feet (35 m) below the surface, U-701 is still intact, retaining its 8.8 cm (3.5 in) deck gun. Majority of the debris lies within 100 metres (330 ft) radius of the wreck.[1] This wreck has become an artificial reef that is heavily populated with Seriola dumerili.[1]

The wreck of the U-701 was originally discovered by Uwe Lovas in the coastal waters off Cape Hatteras in 1989.[2] The location of the wreck and the site remained a closely guarded secret and therefore undisturbed for 15 years.[2] 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.[citation needed]

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.[2][3][4] The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.[citation needed]

A dive to the wreck in 2011[5] was documented in the National Geographic TV documentary, Hitler's Secret Attack on America (2013).

Wolfpacks

U-701 took part in three wolfpacks, namely:

  • Zieten (6 – 22 January 1942)
  • Westwall (2 – 12 March 1942)
  • York (12 – 26 March 1942)

Summary of raiding history

Faroe postage stamp showing the trawler Nýggjaberg, which was sunk by U-701 on 28 March 1942
More information Date, Ship Name ...

See also

References

Notes

  1. [N 1]
    Merchant ship tonnages are in gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.

Citations

  1. [1]
    Hoyt, Joe C (2009). "2008 Battle of the Atlantic Survey Methodology". In: Pollock NW, ed. Diving for Science 2009. Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences 28th Symposium. Dauphin Island, AL: AAUS; 2009. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2013.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. [2]
    Hoyt, Joe C. "History and Disposition of the U-701" (PDF). Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  3. [3]
    Catherine Kozak, "Scuba Diving Thieves Plunder Rare Unspoiled WW II Submarine Wreck U-701," Virginian-Pilot, 8 September 2004
  4. [4]
    Jerry Allegood, "The U-boat," Raleigh News and Observer, 5 December 2004.
  5. [5]
    NOAA National Marine Sanctuary, 2011 Battle of the Atlantic Expedition
  6. [6]
    Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-701". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 6 February 2014.

Bibliography
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article German_submarine_U-701, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.