German submarine U-701

<th colspan="2" >Service recordTemplate:Template other

Survivors are rescued from U-701.
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German submarine U-701 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for the Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that served in the North Atlantic during World War II. It was launched on 16 April 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Horst Degen, with a crew of 43.

In three operational patrols U-701 sank five ships, of Template:GRT and damaged four others for Template:GRT. She also sank four auxiliary warships and damaged a destroyer.

She was sunk in an air attack on 7 July 1942 and rests at a depth of at .

Fate

U-701 was sunk on 7 July 1942 off Cape Hatteras. While running on the surface U-701 was attacked by a Hudson of 396 Sqdn USAAF. She was hit by two bombs and sunk. 17 of her crew were able to escape, but were adrift for two days before being found and rescued by the US Coast Guard. By that time just 7 men had survived.

Final resting place

File:Surveying Sunken Wrecks from the Battle of the Atlantic.jpg

Diving on the wreck of the U-701 in 2008.

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Divers investigate the wreck of U-701.

At below the surface, U-701 is still intact, retaining its deck gun. Majority of the debris lies within radius of the wreck. This wreck has become an artificial reef that is heavily populated with Seriola dumerili.

The wreck of the U-701 was originally discovered by Uwe Lovas in the coastal waters off Cape Hatteras in 1989. The location of the wreck and the site remained a closely guarded secret and therefore undisturbed for 15 years. The U-701 represents a virtually intact, pristine wreck site and a unique opportunity to explore and experience an unspoiled U-boat within recreational diving depths on the East Coast of the United States.

Recently, the vessel's location has been rediscovered and the coordinates have become accessible to the general public, who have already begun diving the site. An overwhelming majority of the local recreational and wreck diving community is deeply concerned about the potential for disturbance, damage and loss resulting from unauthorized salvage. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

A dive to the wreck in 2011 was documented in the National Geographic TV documentary, Hitler's Secret Attack on America (2013).

Wolfpacks

U-701 took part in three wolfpacks, namely:

• Zieten (6 – 22 January 1942)
• Westwall (2 – 12 March 1942)
• York (12 – 26 March 1942)

Summary of raiding history

File:Faroe stamp 195 trawler nyggjaberg.jpg

Faroe postage stamp showing the trawler Nýggjaberg, which was sunk by U-701 on 28 March 1942

Date	Ship Name	Nationality	Tonnage	Fate
6 January 1942	Baron Erskine	United Kingdom	3,657	Sunk
6 March 1942	Rononia	United Kingdom	213	Sunk
7 March 1942	Nyggjaberg	Faeroes	349	Sunk
9 March 1942	HMS Notts County	Template:Navy/core	541	Sunk
11 March 1942	HMS Stella Capella	Template:Navy/core	507	Sunk
15 June 1942	HMS Kingston Ceylonite	Template:Navy/core	448	Sunk (mine)
15 June 1942		Template:Navy/core	1,190	Damaged (mine)
15 June 1942	Robert C. Tuttle	United States	11,615	Damaged (mine)
15 June 1942	Esso Augusta	United States	11,237	Damaged (mine)
17 June 1942	Santore	United States	7,117	Sunk (mine)
19 June 1942		Template:Navy/core	170	Sunk
26 June 1942	Tamesis	Norway	7,256	Damaged
27 June 1942	British Freedom	United Kingdom	6,985	Damaged
28 June 1942		United States	14,054	Sunk
		Sunk: Damaged: Total:	27,056 38,283 65,339

See also

• Lists of shipwrecks

External links

• Template:Sister-inline
• Article by Paul M. Hudy
• Article about preserving the U-701 on the Project Aware website
• A blog about the U-701