END OF THREE U-BOATS

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23588, 16 March 1942, Page 3

END OF THREE U-BOATS

ATTACK ON ATLANTIC CONVOY ACTION LAST DECEMBER (8.0. W.); RUGBY, March 13. In January the Admiralty announced that two Focke-Wulf long-range bombers and at least three U-boats had been destroyed in an exceptionally determined and sustained attack on'an Allied convoy. The Admiralty now states that the U-boats, from which prisoners were taken, were Ul3l, U434, and U574. Ul3l was of 740 tons and was built at the Deschigmag yard at Bremen and commissioned for service about the middle of 1941. She had carried out only one operational war cruise before that during which she was sunk. This first war cruise had been in the North Atlantic and the U-boat succeeded in sinking only one ship. Prisoners said that during the second cruise they were repeatedly forced to dive by air patrols. After a patrol in northern Atlantic waters. Ul3l sailed south. During the night of December 16-17 she located a convoy. Next morning the U-boat was seen on the surface by one of the air escort of the convoy. Warships proceeded at high speed to attack. Depth charges were dropped, and some exploded very close to the hull of the U-boat. She took on a big list and her motors were damaged. Water was coming in and she was forced so deep that the doors jammed and the steel plates buckled and cracked. The wonder was that Ul3l ever reached the surface, but she just managed to do so, though she was unable to dive again. As she came to the surface the convoy escorts closed on her at high speed and opened fire. The crew opened the vents and abandoned ship and the U-boat sank early that afternoon. Ul3l had a complement of 48 officers and men, all of whom were saved and are prisoners. Most of them were very young, and they included only three men who could be described as old hands at U-boat warfare. The second U-boat from which prisoners were taken during this attack on the convoy was U434, a 500ton boat built at the Schichau yard in Danzig and commissioned about the midsummer of 1941. Like Ul3l, U434 had carried out a patrol in North Atlantic waters before being ordered south. This patrol lasted nearly three weeks, but U434 failed to make any attacks. On the morning of December 17, U434 came up with the convoy and early that afternoon she witnessed the sinking at a distance of Ul3l. Water Enters Control Room The following .morning U434 was. sighted by destroyers which closed at\ high speed and attacked with depth charges. One of the first depth charges caused water to stream into the control room and succeeding depth charges rapidly increased the damage. The steering gear and hydroplanes became useless, instruments and the gauges were shattered, and all the lights put out. The U-boat was sinking rapidly when the commander gave the order to blow the tanks in an attempt to reach the surface. U434 did reach the surface, but two of her crew of 44 were drowned. The remainder were picked up and are prisoners. The third U-boat from which prisoners were taken during this attack on the convoy was U574, a 500-ton boat built at the Blohm and Voss yard at Hamburg, which was also commissioned about the middle of 1941. She, too, had been operating in the North Atlantic before being ordered south, but she had met with no success. U674 came up with the convoy on the morning of December 17, and shortly after noon witnessed the destruction of a Focke-Wulf by naval aircraft from H.M.S. Audacity. It appears that U574 lost touch with the convoy during the destruction of Ul3l and did not again come up with it until the evening of December 18. In the early hours-of the following morning U574 attacked. One torpedo hit and sank'the former American de- . stroyer, H.M.S. Standley, which had taken paft*irf"the destruction of U434 _ on the pfevlous day. H.M.S, Stork at once attacked with , depth charges. These put both the U-boat’s main motors out of action and caused short circuits and fires which shattered the compressed air bottles. Even one of the main pressure hull frames was i fractured. Water was entering the U-boat, and it was certain that she was sinking, yet the commanding officer was reluctant to bring her, to the surface and abandon ship. It' is reported that a heated altercation broke out between the officers before the commander was forced to give the order to blow the tanks. U574 reached the surface and the crew abandoned ship just as H.M.S. Stork rammed the U-boat so that she sank. Of a total complement of six officers and 37 men, two officers add 27 ratings lost their lives- :•' - ■ .. Each of these three U-boats had been in commission for nearly six months, but the aggregate successes achieved by the three’ consisted of the sinking of H.M.S. Standley and one merchant ship. ’