Patrol info for U-404
| Departure | Arrival / Fate | Days | ||
| 24 Jul 1943 | St. Nazaire | 28 Jul 1943 | Lost | 5 days |
Commander | Officers * |
 Oblt. Adolf Schönberg |
U-404's daily positions during the patrol
We have 2 daily positions for the 5 days U-404 was at sea.
Ships hit by U-404 during this patrol
No entries found.
No ships hit by U-404 on this patrol.
General Events during this patrol
We have no events listed for this patrol. Add more events! If you know of an interesting event either missing from this date or an upcoming event that you'd like to share please contact us. We continuously update these databases. |
Attacks on U-404 during this patrol
28 Jul 1943
The sinking of U-404
At 11.07 hours, the boat was located after a radar contact by an American B-24 Liberator aircraft (4th A/S Sqdn USAAF/Y, pilot Maj Stephen McElroy) but the attack failed because the depth charges failed to release. The aircraft waited for the boat to resurface and attacked again at 15.17 hours. Despite of an 20mm shell detonating inside the cockpit without hurting anyone, the pilot dropped eight depth charges into the swirl of the diving boat. AA damage to the radio and one of the engines forced the Liberator to return to base.Another American Liberator (4th A/S Sqdn USAAF/H, pilot 1Lt Arthur J. Hammer) attacked U-404 twice after resurfacing at 17.45 hours. Again the Liberator had to left due to AA hits in one of the engines, the tail and the fuselage. The last attack was seen by a third aircraft, the British Liberator BZ781 (224 Sqdn RAF/W, pilot F/O R.V. Sweeny), which eventually attacked and sank the boat. The third Liberator had also been hit by AA fire in one of the engines during the attack run and barely made it back to base after jettison all guns and other loose equipment. (Sources: Franks/Zimmerman)
About this data
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* These are officers that later became commanders themselves.
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