U-Boat Name and ID Number U-74 Stachelrochen
Patrol #14
FKpt – Volkhard Schreiber
Patrol Assignment Atlantic - Wolfpack
Successful Patrol Yes
Number of Freighters Sank 2
Number of Tankers Sank 5
Number of Capital Ships Sank 0
Total Tonnage Destroyed 55,900
Ships Damaged British Steam Merchant of 5,000t -
BroomparkShips Destroyed British Steam Passenger Ship of 10,900t –
Rotorua, Norwegian Motor Tanker of 9,000t –
Eli Knudsen, British Motor Tanker of 7,000t –
Scottish Maiden, British Motor Tanker of 7,200t –
British Resource, American Steam Merchant of 6,200t –
Fairport, Norwegian Motor Tanker of 8,100t –
Beduin and Dutch Motor Tanker of 7,500t –
Moordrecht
Refit Time Standard + 1 extra month
Award Requests None
Crew Names: Crew Status: EliteFKpt Volkhard Schreiber
1WO Goetzpeter Staufenbiel
2WO Adam Luedtke
2WO - EXPERTLI (Eng) Reinhold Kraft
Doctor Herrmann Rieger
Doctor - ExperteU-74 (Stachelrochen) enters La Rochelle on 30th July with seven victory pennants flying from her conning tower.We were one of the first to leave base for this patrol on the 2nd July and the crew were happy that we had left early, as this was our first wolfpack opportunity in the Atlantic. As we traversed the Bay of Biscay the alarm went off; signalling a spotted aircraft. The crew were very efficient and so was the crash dive, as there was no damage to the ship, unlike the last patrol. Passing through the Bay of Biscay is certainly more eventful than it ever used to be and more dangerous than I ever remember.
On the morning of the 10th July we arrived at our patrol area and up until this point, there had been little communication as regard to the wolfpack and no contact with enemy ships. A week passed and it was if we were at sea alone, with no communication with anybody, not even FKpt Werner Bornhof of the U-73 Werwolf, who I knew was in the area. I had the radio frequently checked for faults, but the crew member checking for those faults kept a wide berth from me and probably thought that something was up with me.
During the afternoon of the 19th July we made contact with an unescorted British steam passenger ship, which was identified as the
Rotorua. The gun crew was readied and once we got in close, I gave the order to surface and attack. Within minutes the gun crew had unloaded a couple of salvoes of shells, but with little effect other than setting a few fires on deck and some minor damage to the hull. For once, Staufenbiel was ahead of me and had already prepared the G7e to fire. I let him have his opportunity to fire and whilst the torpedo ran straight and true as well as detonate below the waterline, the ship was still at even keel. I joked with him; that was why he was not commanding his own ship, as he couldn’t sink an unescorted damaged ship even from this range. He took it well as I fired a single eel from the bow tube, which was the coup de grace and broke the ship in two.
At around 20:00 on the 22nd July we were contacted in regard to the wolfpack operation and were given instruction to reach (BF 1235) as quickly as possible as there was a huge convoy ripe for the picking. Just before 22:00 we made initial contact with the convoy and I sent a communication to the Werwolf, so that FKpt Bornhof knew where we were and was engaging with the enemy.
We couldn’t get identification of the large freighter, so I had three viable targets. We surfaced at long range and fired all four tubes from the front, before we once again submerged. The two aimed at the tanker hit; as was struck on the port side by the first torpedo and about 12 feet below the waterline by the second. The first blew off the hatch cover and started a fire, whilst the other torpedo opened up a large hole at least 30 feet long by 30 feet wide in the hull. The crew jumped overboard and the
Eli Knudsen sank quickly. The G7a aimed at one of the small freighters hit and failed to detonate, whilst the one aimed at the other small freighter did detonate, but only caused minimal damage to the ship. The escorts were distracted by the multiple attacks on the convoy by the wolfpack and we remained undetected.
With half our torpedoes still left, I instructed the crew to concentrate on keeping up with the convoy and we would have to let the damaged British steam merchant get away. It wasn’t long after that I was presented with two tankers to focus upon; the other targets were less appealing and we were not completely sure when it came to identification, so I ignored them. Once again we surfaced at long range and a brace of steam torpedoes made their way towards the tankers before we submerged. The
Scottish Maiden was hit by one torpedo aft of the pump room and a little later, it broke in two. Both torpedoes hit the other tanker; both under the waterline and the
British Resource very quickly by the stern. I had hoped that I had done enough once again, to keep us clear of the distracted escorts. Unfortunately, one managed to find us. The depth charges came and it wasn’t long before there was flooding and some damage to the hull. I instructed that we exceed test depth and at that point, the escorts lost contact and returned to the stricken ships of the convoy.
Just after midnight we managed to re-engage with the convoy. I ignored the two small freighters on offer, for a larger version and a tanker. At long range and surfaced, with only three front facing torpedoes left; a singe torpedo was fired at the American steam merchant and the remaining two at the tanker. All three torpedoes hit their target and detonated. It was a text book attack which resulted in the
Fairport and
Beduin sinking beneath the waves of the Atlantic, as we slipped away undetected and attempted to remain in contact with the convoy.
During the early hours of 23rd July, we engaged once again with the same convoy and whilst I was presented with two large freighters and a tanker, there was only one torpedo left onboard and that was already loaded in the aft tube ready for firing. I was not about to take risks with my ship and crew and get in close with the electric eel, so I decided upon taking a long shot and hoped to cause some damage and thereby have a small chance of finishing it off if the escorts left it. Once I had plotted the solution, I fired the G7e from the aft tube at the Dutch tanker and gave the order to dive. At periscope depth, I saw the torpedo as it struck the starboard side at the forward end of the hold before it got through. The explosion shattered the bulkhead to the engine room, which must have flooded, causing all lights to fail and then immediately listed about 20° to starboard. The
Moordrecht sank by the stern shortly after. This time we remained undetected and travelled away from the convoy. I hoped that the rest of the wolfpack had the success we had or even better.
We continued with our patrol for the rest of the day, but with only deck gun ammo left, the chance of finding an unescorted ship in the Atlantic, would be comparable to
‘Die Nadel im Heuhaufen suchen.’ We made no further contacts and there was no further engagement with enemy ships or planes. We continued on our way back to the Bay of Biscay.
The rest of the passage to La Rochelle was uneventful and we arrived back at base on the morning of 30th July 1942
After shore leave and re-supply, U-74 will be ready to resume patrol in October.
FKpt Volkhard Schreiber