German submarine U-94 (1940)

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 Stirlingshire on 2 December, 280 nautical miles (520 km; 320 mi) northwest of the Bloody Foreland, (a northwesterly point of the Irish mainland).[2]

She also sent Wilhelmina and 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.

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

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

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 Eastern Star and Ixion.

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

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

Having left St. Nazaire on 2 September 1941, U-94 operated southeast of Cape Farewell (Greenland). She sank Newbury, Pegasus and Empire Eland, all on the 15th. On 1 October, she fired five torpedoes at 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 Alberni.

The boat returned to Kiel on 15 October.

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.

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 Cayrú, about 130 nautical miles (240 km; 150 mi) from New York on 9 March. She also sank Hvoslef two miles east of Fenwick Island, off Delaware Bay on the 11th.[3]

1927 DS HVOSLEF (UKJ101192702) Torpedoed og sunk 11/03 by the German submarine U 94 (Oberleutnant zur SeeOtto Ites) in position 38.27N- 74.54W (2 nm East of Fenwick Island, DE, USA) whilst on a voyage from Sagua, Cuba to Boston, MA, USA with sugar. 6 men lost. The remaining 14 men landed 14 hours later in a wrecked lifeboat near Fenwick Island. https://skipshistorie.net/Fruktskip/Tekster/UKJ10119270200000%20HVOSLEF.htm

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, Batna and Tolken, both on the 13th - a sailing ship, Maria da Glória on 5 June; Ramsay and Empire Clough on the 10th. Her last kill was Pontypridd, on the following day.

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 from VP-92 and ramming by the Canadian corvette HMCS Oakville.

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

U-94 took part in six wolfpacks, namely.

• West (8–29 May 1941)
• Süd (22 July – 5 August 1941)
• Seewolf (5–15 September 1941)
• Brandenburg (15–29 September 1941)
• Robbe (17–24 January 1942)
• Hecht (8 May – 16 June 1942)