U-71
Type | VIIC | |||||||||||||
| Ordered | 25 Jan, 1939 | |||||||||||||
| Laid down | 21 Dec, 1939 | Germaniawerft, Kiel (werk 618) | ||||||||||||
| Launched | 31 Oct, 1940 | |||||||||||||
| Commissioned | 14 Dec, 1940 | Kptlt. Walter Flachsenberg | ||||||||||||
| Commanders |
| |||||||||||||
| Career | 10 patrols | 14 Dec, 1940 - 31 May, 1941 7. Flottille (training) 1 Jun, 1941 - 31 May, 1943 7. Flottille (front boat) 1 Jun, 1943 - 30 Jun, 1944 24. Flottille (training) 1 Jul, 1944 - 1 Feb, 1945 22. Flottille (school boat) | ||||||||||||
| Successes | 5 ships sunk for a total of 38.894 GRT | |||||||||||||
| Fate | Scuttled on 2 May, 1945 in Wilhelmshaven. | |||||||||||||
See the 5 ships hit by U-71 - View the 10 war patrols
Wolfpack operations
U-71 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
Wolf (13 Jul, 1942 - 21 Jul, 1942)
Steinbrock (1 Aug, 1942 - 7 Aug, 1942)
Veilchen (24 Oct, 1942 - 6 Nov, 1942)
Falke (31 Dec, 1942 - 22 Jan, 1943)
Landsknecht (22 Jan, 1943 - 28 Jan, 1943)
Adler (8 Apr, 1943 - 12 Apr, 1943)
Attacks on this boat
25 Jun, 1941
The British corvette HMS Gladiolus spotted the surfaced boat as she attempted to penetrate into a convoy and forced her to crash dive. Gladiolus then dropped 30 depth charges in 5 runs before being assisted by the corvette HMS Nasturtium which dropped 6 depth charges. The damaged U-boat then surfaced and attempted to run away on the surface which she managed to do. She received at least one hit on the tower from the Gladiolus. (Sources: Blair, vol 1, page 311)
26 Oct, 1941
During battle against convoy HG-75, U-71 attacked an escort with a four-torpedo fan, but all missed. The escort fought back with depth charges for 7 hours, damaging the boat so severely that she was forced to return to base. (Sources: Blair, vol 1, page 393)
30 Nov, 1941
An attack on 30 Nov, 1941 in the Bay of Biscay west of Nantes, France, in position
46.55N, 07.16W, by depth charges from a British Whitley aircraft (Sqdn 502/B) was formerly credited with sinking the U-206.
This attack was in fact against U-71 which escaped undamaged.
(Sources: 1991-08-01, FDS/NHB)12 Apr, 1943
At 06.25 hours, the boat was forced to dive by gunfire from a destroyer while shadowing the convoy ON-176. The destroyer dropped 38 depth charges, which caused only minor damages, but the boat had to remain submerged for about 6 hours and lost contact with the convoy. (Sources: Ritschel)
4 recorded attacks on this boat.
General notes on this boat
On 5 June, 1942 U-71 was damaged about 300km from La Pallice (Grid: BF 9442) at 15h49 by an Australian Sunderland aircraft (Sqdn. 10/U), piloted by S.R.C. Wood, with eight shallow-set depth charges and was then strafed with 2000 rounds of machine-gun fire. The boat dived and had to return to La Pallice (where she had left on 4 June at 19h30) under e-boat escort. She was repaired quickly and resailed a week later on 11 June. Two hours later (on June 5) the Sunderland was attacked by a German Fw 200 Condor aircraft (I./KG 40) and they damaged each other (two airmen from the Sunderland were slightly injured).
On 17 April, 1943 U-631 had a collision with U-71 in the North Atlantic. Both boats were damaged, and U-71 had to returnto base.
Men lost from U-boats
Unlike many other U-boats, which during their service lost men due to accidents and various other causes, U-71 did not suffer any casualties (we know of) until the time of her loss.
 German U-Boat Losses During World War II Niestle, Axel Buy this title at amazon.co.uk See more sellers |
Books dealing with this subject include: German U-Boat Losses During World War II, Niestle, Axel, 1998 Maritime Is Number Ten - The Sunderland Era 1939-45, Baff, K.C. (Flight Lieutenant), 1983 U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 1, Wynn, Kenneth, 1998 U-Boat Operations of the Second World War - Vol 2, Wynn, Kenneth, 1998 |
There was another U-71 in World War One
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 31 Oct, 1915 and commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 10 Dec, 1915. The Naval war in WWI was brought to an end with the Armistice signed on 11 Nov, 1918. Read about the U 71 during WWI.