U-Boat Name and ID Number U-74 Stachelrochen
Patrol #19
FKpt – Volkhard Schreiber
Patrol Assignment Atlantic Wolfpack (Final Patrol)
Successful Patrol Yes
Number of Freighters Sank 3
Number of Tankers Sank 1
Number of Capital Ships Sank 0
Total Tonnage Destroyed 24,600
Ships Damaged William HooperShips Destroyed Greek Steam Merchant of 4,600t –
Leonidas M., British Steam Merchant of 5,600t –
Thornliebank, British Motor Tanker of 8,500t –
British Security and British Motor Merchant of 5,900t –
Port Montreal.
Refit Time Standard
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 Bergen on 28th August with four victory pennants flying from her conning tower.This was to be our final voyage and the personnel of the 15th flotilla saw the wolfpack leave individually and cheered as we each made our way into the Bay of Biscay. It was July 1943 and the crew were happy that we had left early, as this was our very last patrol together. We traversed the Bay of Biscay without incident. Two days later, a long range Bf-110 had identified a Greek Steam Merchant and transmitted the co-ordinates that afternoon. Once we had made contact with the
Leonidas M. the gun crew made short work of sending her to the bottom after firing a full salvo.
On the morning of the 9th July we arrived at our patrol area and this summer morning met us with a totally calm sea and the sun slowly rising.
During the afternoon of the 11th July, contact was made with the first convoy of the patrol. We tracked from a distance and waited till evening. Three targets had been identified, but only one was worth the risk, so at long range, tubes #1 to #4 were fired at the
William Hooper and unfortunately only one hit and detonated, which slowed the American Steam Merchant, but not enough to sink her. The three FaT l eels that missed, failed to acquire any other targets as a result of following their patterns. The BOLD decoy was fired as we dived beneath the waves and avoided detection easily at that range. It made sense to stay with the tanker and fortunately the escorts left it dead in the water and allowed me to fire the electric eel from the aft tube and she sank by the stern after being hit by the coup de grâce at 22:48 hours
18th July saw a week pass since the last contact, but the wolfpack was ready to attack a new ripe convoy. At 21:08 hours we attacked a British Steam Merchant and ignored all smaller targets from long range with four FaT l torpedoes. Amazingly all four hit, but only three detonated, breaking the back of the
Thornliebank in a matter of seconds and then sank beneath the waves within minutes. The wolfpack and BOLD decoy were more than enough of a distraction for the escorts, which allowed us to slip out and approach the convoy once again, but this time from a different position. A British Motor Tanker was picked out and it was not long before our last four steam eels were running straight at it. Two of the G7a FaT l torpedoes missed the target and failed to hit anything else in the convoy. The two eels that hit the hull detonated and caused the
British Security to sink by the stern. After avoiding detection, I fired the final torpedo at the
Torinia, but at long range the chance of hitting it with a G7e FaT ll was small and it missed. The advantage of attacking from long range has one benefit though; it makes you much harder to attack, especially when the escorts have other targets on their radar with the wolfpack in full swing.
During the morning of the 26th July, arrangements were made with the re-supply XB and later that evening we eventually re-fuelled the old girl and received two each of the electric and steam torpedoes, which were loaded straight into the bow tubes. Sadly it was during this transfer of resources, that we heard that the
Das Gespenst had been sunk with all hands lost and once again I had lost another friend in the shape of FKpt Horst Beckmann. The super seven was now down to two; Just FKpt Wolfgang Ackerman and myself left.
During the evening of the 9th August contact was made with a convoy. We tracked the convoy to get into an advantageous position and made our attack. At long range, the two G7a torpedoes were fired. One of the new G7a FaT l torpedoes missed the British Motor Merchant and failed to hit anything else. The other eel hit the
Port Montreal portside amidships and it sank quickly by the stern. Avoided detection easily and engaged with the convoy once again. With only two electric torpedoes left, I got to long range and fired at a large freighter, hoping to see the new FaT II do its job if I missed. One torpedo hit the British Steam Merchant, but failed to detonate and after striking the hull, sank down to the seabed. The other electric eel missed and after following its pattern failed to hitting else either. With the wolfpack in full effect, the escort found it difficult to get a bearing and we remained undetected.
With only deck gun ammo onboard, we continued with our patrol for another few days, but there were no unescorted ships to attack.
We made no further contacts and there was no further engagement with enemy ships or planes. We continued on our way to our new base at Bergen, when out of the blue a long range fighter had spotted us, but as usual Staufenbiel organised the crash dive efficiently and we remained intact.
The rest of the passage to Bergen was uneventful and we arrived back at base on the morning of 29th August 1943
This was to be the last patrol of the U-74 Stachelrochen, before being transferred to the training base.
FKpt Volkhard Schreiber