German submarine U-94 (1940)

German submarine U-94 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was laid down on 9 September 1939 at the F. Krupp Germaniawerft in Kiel as 'werk' 599, launched on 12 June 1940 and commissioned on 10 August 1940 under Kapitänleutnant Herbert Kuppisch.

She sank 26 ships of 141,852 GRT in ten patrols and was a member of six wolfpacks but was herself sunk by a US aircraft and a Canadian warship in August 1942.

1st patrol
The boat left Kiel on 20 November 1940, heading for Lorient in France which she reached, via the North Sea on 31 December.

On the way, she sank the Stirlingshire on 2 December, 280 mi northwest of the Bloody Foreland, (a northwesterly point of the Irish mainland). She also sent the Wilhelmina and the Empire Statesman to the bottom on the 2nd and the 11th respectively.

After that, the boat headed for mid-ocean before docking at her French Atlantic base.

2nd and 3rd patrols
U-94 returned to the Atlantic west of Ireland and Scotland for her second patrol. She sank three more ships; the Florian on 20 January 1941, the West Wales on the 29th and the Rushpool on the 30th.

For her third sortie, the boat moved into the waters west of Iceland. She sank the Harbledown on 4 April 1941 and the Lincoln Ellsworth on the 6th. The latter ship was destroyed by a combination of torpedo and fire from the deck gun.

4th and 5th patrols
U-94 was attacked by the escorts of convoy OB-318 on 7 May 1941. Some 98 depth charges over four hours were dropped. The boat persisted with her attack, however, sinking the Eastern Star and the Ixion.

Two more merchantmen met their end on the 20th: the Norman Monarch and the John P. Pedersen.

Patrol number five was carried out west of the Canary Islands; it was relatively uneventful.

6th patrol
Having left St. Nazaire on 2 September 1941, U-94 operated southeast of Cape Farewell (Greenland). She sank the Newbury, the Pegasus and the Empire Eland, all on the 15th. On 1 October, she fired five torpedoes at the San Florentino. Three of them struck home; the ship broke in two after the third impact. The bow section remained afloat and was engaged by the U-boat's deck gun, it was eventually finished off by HMCS Alberini.

The boat returned to Kiel on 15 October.

7th patrol
U-94 departed Kiel on 12 January 1942; she negotiated the 'gap' between the Faroe and Shetland Islands, docking once more at St. Nazaire on the 30th.

8th patrol
The U-boat continued her successes on the western side of the Atlantic. She sank the Empire Hail east of St. Johns, Newfoundland on 24 February 1942. Following the coast-line to the south, her next victim was the Cayrú, about 130 mi from New York on 9 March. She also sank the Hvoslef two miles east of Fenwick Island, off Delaware Bay on the 11th..

9th patrol
U-94 left St. Nazaire on 4 May 1942 for what would be her top-scoring patrol, (it was to be carried out once more south of Greenland). Moving into this area, a steady stream of sinkings resulted; the Cocle on 12 May, the Batna and the Tolken, both on the 13th - a sailing ship, the Maria da Glória on 5 June; the Ramsay and the Empire Cloud on the 10th. Her last kill was the Pontypridd, on the following day.

10th patrol and loss
The boat left St. Nazaire for the last time for the Caribbean on 3 August 1942. Off Haiti on the 28th, she was sunk by depth charges dropped by a US PBY Catalina and ramming by the Canadian corvette HMCS Oakville.

Nineteen men died with the U-boat; there were twenty-six survivors.

Summary of raiding history
* Sailing vessel

In popular culture

 * The Sabaton song "Wolfpack" from the album Primo Victoria mentions U-94 during The Battle of the Atlantic.