U-371

Type

VIIC

Ordered

23 Sep 1939

Laid down

17 Nov 1939

Howaldtswerke AG, Kiel (werk 2)

Launched

27 Jan 1941

Commissioned

15 Mar 1941

Oblt. Heinrich Driver

Commanders

15 Mar 1941	-	5 Apr 1942	Kptlt. Heinrich Driver
26 Mar 1942	-	6 Apr 1942	Oblt. Karl-Otto Weber
6 Apr 1942	-	24 May 1942	Kptlt. Heinz-Joachim Neumann (in deputize) -- acting
25 May 1942	-	4 Apr 1944	Kptlt. Waldemar Mehl (Knights Cross)
5 Apr 1944	-	4 May 1944	Oblt. Horst-Arno Fenski (Knights Cross)

Career
19 patrols

15 Mar 1941	-	30 Jun 1941	1. Flottille (training)
1 Jul 1941	-	31 Oct 1941	1. Flottille (front boat)
1 Nov 1941	-	14 Apr 1942	23. Flottille (front boat)
15 Apr 1942	-	4 May 1944	29. Flottille (front boat)

Successes

8 ships sunk for a total of 51,401 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 545 GRT
2 warships sunk for a total of 2,286 tons
4 ships damaged for a total of 28,072 GRT
2 warships damaged for a total of 2,500 tons
2 ships a total loss for a total of 13,341 GRT

Fate

Sunk at 0409hrs on 4 May, 1944 in the Mediterranean north of Constantine, in position 37.49N, 05.39E, by depth charges from the US destroyer escorts USS Pride and USS Joseph E. Campbell, the French destroyer escort Sénégalais and the British escort destroyer HMS Blankney. 3 dead and 49 survivors.

See the 19 ships hit by U-371 - View the 19 war patrols

Swamp
This boat was unlucky enough to be the first victim to an allied sub-hunting tactic in the Mediterranean known as Swamp. This tactic simply called for the area of a known or suspected U-boat to be packed with surface escorts and patrol aircraft. They would then systematically and continually search the area and force the U-boat to remain submerged until its batteries ran out or try to escape at night on the surface. Either was almost hopeless.

The Hunt
U-371 was spotted recharging her batteries on the surface off Djidjelli on the Algerian coast on the night of 2/3 May 1944 and was immediately detected and the area was swamped with 6 escorts and 3 aircraft squadrons. They hunted the boat until the early morning of May 4 when Oblt. Fenski had to surface the boat and save his crew. He had managed to fight back and torpedoed and damaged the US destroyer escort USS Menges and the French destroyer escort Sénégalais before calling it quits.

Wolfpack operations

U-371 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
Kurfürst (17 Jun 1941 - 20 Jun 1941)
Goeben (16 Sep 1941 - 24 Sep 1941)

Attacks on this boat

7 May 1942
The boat was depth charged by two sub chasers. and was so heavily damaged that she had to return to base.

1 recorded attack on this boat.

Men lost from U-boats

Unlike many other U-boats, which during their service lost men due to accidents and various other causes, U-371 did not suffer any casualties (we know of) until the time of her loss.