German submarine U-74 (1940)
U-52, a similar Type VIIB boat.
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History | |
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Nazi Germany | |
Name | U-74 |
Ordered | 2 June 1938 |
Builder | Bremer Vulkan of Bremen-Vegesack |
Cost | 4,760,000 Reichsmark |
Yard number | 2 |
Laid down | 5 November 1939 |
Launched | 31 August 1940 |
Commissioned | 31 October 1940 |
Fate | Sunk, 2 May 1942 by British warships HMS Wishart and HMS Wrestler [1] |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Type VIIB U-boat |
Displacement | |
Length |
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Beam |
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Draught | 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range |
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Test depth |
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Boats & landing craft carried | 1 inflatable rubber boat |
Complement | 4 officers, 40 to 56 enlisted |
Sensors and processing systems | FuMO 61 Hohentwiel U |
Armament |
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Service record | |
Part of: |
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Identification codes: | M 14 151 |
Commanders: |
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Operations: |
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Victories: |
German submarine U-74 was a
.Her keel was
Design
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 17.9 knots (33.2 km/h; 20.6 mph) and a maximum submerged speed of 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph).
Service history
U-74 conducted eight patrols, sinking four ships totalling 25,619 GRT and damaging two others, totalling 11,525 GRT.[2] She was a member of three wolfpacks.
First patrol
Having first moved from
U-74 docked in
Second patrol
The boat's second foray was in a northwesterly direction, toward Greenland.
On 13 May she was assigned to group West in the area SSE of Cape Farewell, Groenland.[5] On 16 May she comes across a group of American warships with 2 battleships and 3 destroyers.[6]
On 21/22 May she was trying to attack
U-74's involvement with the Bismarck
On 24 May 1941, the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen sank the British battlecruiser HMS Hood and damaged the accompanying battleship HMS Prince of Wales, beginning a three-day hunt that would involve nearly a hundred ships.[8]
That concentration of ships was a very attractive set of targets; Kentrat was ordered to attack the British forces in this area. In the evening U-74 dived in order to listen for contact and detected another U-boat. By dawn on May 27, she surfaced; a hundred meters away, another U-boat appeared – U-556, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Wohlfarth.
Earlier, Flottenchef Admiral Lütjens requested that
Bismarck was crippled and under fire from the battleships HMS Rodney and HMS King George V and the cruisers HMS Norfolk and HMS Dorsetshire. It was clear to her crew that she would not survive.
At 10:36 U-74 heard sinking sounds but Kentrat could not determine whether it was Bismarck or a British ship. He came to
After the British ships left, Kentrat surfaced amid debris and dead bodies. The sounds they had heard that morning was Bismarck's destruction. They searched but they could find no one alive until that evening when they came across a raft carrying three sailors, Georg Herzog, Otto Höntzsch, and Herbert Manthey.[8] U-74 searched for another day but found no one else alive and was ordered to return to Lorient. On the return trip, the three survivors recovered from their shock and gave the first statements of Bismarck's loss.
Third patrol
For her third sortie, U-74 sank Kumasian on 5 August 1941 west of Ireland. She returned to St. Nazaire on the 12th.
Fourth patrol
Departing St. Nazaire on 8 September 1941, U-74 sank HMCS Levis about 120 nautical miles (220 km; 140 mi) east of Cape Farewell (Greenland)[9] on 19 September 1941. This success was followed the next day when she sank the Catapult Armed Merchantman SS Empire Burton.[10]
Fifth patrol
On 7 November 1941 U-74 sank MV Nottingham 550 nautical miles (1,020 km) southeast of Cape Farewell. This ship was on her maiden voyage, which was from Glasgow to New York. There were no survivors. The U-boat returned to St. Nazaire for the last time on 12 November 1941.
Sixth patrol
U-74's next patrol was into the
Seventh patrol
The German submarine's first patrol in new surroundings was between Sicily and the Italian mainland and toward the British controlled port of Alexandria, which was reached on 3 January 1942. She returned to La Spezia on the eighth.
Eighth patrol and loss
Having been ordered to operate against Allied aircraft carriers at the western end of the Mediterranean, U-74 was diverted to search for U-573 (which had been damaged in an air attack), when she was bombed by a Lockheed Hudson of No. 233 Squadron RAF on 1 May 1942. That evening, she also had torpedoes fired at her by the British submarine HMS Unbroken off the southeastern Spanish coast. Both attacks were unsuccessful.
U-74 was detected and sunk by depth charges and 'Hedgehog' from the British destroyers HMS Wishart and HMS Wrestler east southeast of Cartagena in Spain on 2 May 1942.
47 men died; there were no survivors.
Wolfpacks
U-74 took part in three wolfpacks, namely:
- West (13 – 22 May 1941)
- Brandenburg (15 – 20 September 1941)
- Raubritter (1 – 6 November 1941)
Previously recorded fate
U-74 was sunk by the British destroyers HMS Wishart and HMS Wrestler and a
Summary of raiding history
Date | Ship | Nationality | Tonnage[Note 1] | Fate[11] |
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11 March 1941 | Frodi | Iceland | 123 | Damaged |
3 April 1941 | HMS Worcestershire | Royal Navy | 11,402 | Damaged |
3 April 1941 | Leonidas Z. Cambanis | Greece | 4,274 | Sunk |
5 August 1941 | Kumasian | United Kingdom | 4,922 | Sunk |
19 September 1941 | HMCS Lévis | Royal Canadian Navy | 925 | Sunk |
20 September 1941 | Empire Burton | United Kingdom | 6,966 | Sunk |
7 November 1941 | Nottingham | United Kingdom | 8,532 | Sunk |
See also
- Convoy SC 26
- Mediterranean U-boat Campaign (World War II)
References
Notes
- gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.
Citations
- ^ Kemp 1999, pp. 81–2.
- ^ a b Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIB boat U-74". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
- ^ a b c d Gröner 1991, pp. 43–44.
- ISBN 978-0-7553-1089-0.
- ^ Rohwer, p.62
- ^ Hirschfeld, p. 43
- ^ Hirscfeld, p.82
- ^ a b c d Helgason, Guðmundur. "U-74 and the Bismarck tragedy". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
- ISBN 0-7230-0809-4.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Empire Burton (Catapult armed merchant)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-74". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net.
Bibliography
- Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II : a biographical dictionary. Translated by Brooks, Geoffrey. London, Annapolis, Md: Greenhill Books, Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-186-6.
- Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999). Deutsche U-Boot-Verluste von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 [German U-boat losses from September 1939 to May 1945]. Der U-Boot-Krieg (in German). Vol. IV. Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn: Mittler. ISBN 3-8132-0514-2.
- Gröner, Erich; Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin (1991). U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels. German Warships 1815–1945. Vol. 2. Translated by Thomas, Keith; Magowan, Rachel. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-593-4.
- Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships, 1815–1945. Conway Maritime Press.
- Hirschfeld, Wolfgang (1985). Feindfahrten. Logbuch eines U-Bootfunkers (in German). Munchen: Heyne. ISBN 3-453-02051-0.
- Kemp, Paul (1999). U-Boats Destroyed - German Submarine Losses in the World Wars. London: Arms & Armour. ISBN 1-85409-515-3.
External links
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type VIIB boat U-74". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
- Hofmann, Markus. "U 74". Deutsche U-Boote 1935–1945 - u-boot-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 8 December 2014.
- "U-boat Archive - U-boat KTB - U-74 2nd War Patrol". Retrieved 13 April 2017.