German submarine U-71 (1940)


German submarine U-71 was a type VII C submarine of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during the Second World War.
Ordered on 25 January 1939, her keel was laid down as yard number 618 on 21 December that year. She was launched on 31 October 1940 and commissioned on 14 December. She entered the 7th U-boat Flotilla as a training submarine, then served as a front boat between 1 June 1941 and 31 May 1943. During that time she carried out ten war patrols, but had to return to port following damage after colliding with in the North Atlantic on 17 April 1943.
After that, she moved to the 24th U-boat Flotilla as a training submarine, then to the 22nd flotilla also as a training boat from 1 July 1944 until 1 February 1945. She was a member of 17 wolfpacks. She sank five ships and was scuttled on 2 May 1945 at Wilhelmshaven, six days before the German surrender.

Design

were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines. U-71 had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of, a pressure hull length of, a beam of, a height of, and a draught of. The submarine was powered by two Germaniawerft F46 four-stroke, six-cylinder supercharged diesel engines producing a total of for use while surfaced, two AEG GU 460/8–27 double-acting electric motors producing a total of for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to.
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of. When submerged, the boat could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at. U-71 was fitted with five torpedo tubes, fourteen torpedoes, one SK C/35 naval gun, 220 rounds, and one C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty.

Service history

1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th patrols

U-71s early history was fairly typical of many boats in the U-Boot-Waffe ; she began her operational life in Kiel, but soon moved to St. Nazaire in France, where despite being nearer to the main hunting grounds of the Atlantic, failed to take advantage of her more advanced location. This was between August 1941 and January 1942.

5th patrol

Her luck and that of her commander, Kapitänleutnant Walter Flachenberg, changed on her fifth foray, sinking a total of of shipping in March and April 1942. She returned to France, but this time to La Pallice.

6th patrol

Flachenberg was unable to repeat his success on U-71s sixth and his last patrol, returning to St. Nazaire empty-handed.

7th, 8th and 9th patrols

Under a new skipper, Hardo Rodler von Roithberg, the boat could not reproduce the form of her fifth patrol, despite sortieing three times between July 1942 and February 1943.

10th patrol

By now the writing was on the wall for Germany's U-boats; U-71 was only one submarine that departed La Rochelle and after another unsuccessful voyage, steamed to Königsberg, arriving in May 1943.

Wolfpacks

U-71 took part in 17 wolfpacks, namely.