U-707 Patrol 4 : 29/03/1941

29th March 1941

8:37pm 29th March 1941 - Visual sighting of a freighter to our NE at long range. After running to get ahead of the ship then closing, the ship was identified as a British Empire-Type Freighter which seemed to be lightly armed, travelling at 8 knots on a south westerly course.

2 G7a's were launched, at 1035pm one hit directly under the funnel, the other under the aft deck. The merchant immediately slowed and began listing to port. After a few minutes the ship was listing to about 80 degrees.

At 10:54pm the merchant finally went under.

29th March 1941 @ 10:36pm

Empire-Type Freighter sinking awaiting confirmation from BDU...

U-707 Patrol 4 : 28/03/1941

28th March 1941

6:00am 28th March 1941 - Weather report : Clear skies, wind 15mps @ 260 degrees, sea rough, visibility moderate.

U-707 Status :

Position : grid AM52

Fuel : 55%

Torpedo's : 2 forward G7a & 2 G7e, 2 aft G7a & 1 G7e

Ships sunk : 3

Tonnage : 23,195 (unconfirmed)

U-707 Patrol 4 : 27/03/1941

27th March 1941

11:55pm 27th March 1941 - Today has not been a good day.
At 5:10pm we received a single ship contact report. The contact was 80km SE of our boat so intercept was set up as normal procedure.
At 7:15pm during our interception of the contact report, Watch sighted a single ship travelling dark on a Westerly course SSE of our boat. I decided we should go for the visual contact first, then carry on to the original contact report.

A single G7a was fired at the visual contact, identified as a small merchant. To my anger, the torpedo was a dud. We chased parallel and another G7a was fired as soon as a suitable opportunity arose. The second torpedo missed just a couple of metres from the stern.

Slamming my fist into a nearby table, I decided such a small target wasn't worth a third torpedo. I had no choice but to let it go on its way unharmed. So with optimism we continued our original interception, only to find there was no sign of the contact, sonar or visual. The contact had changed course at some point.

Perhaps tomorrow will bring us better luck.

U-707 Patrol 4 : 26/03/1941

26th March 1941

6:15pm 26th March 1941 - Visual sighting of a large merchant vessel due north travelling eastward. We ran eastward to gain some distance before heading North and submerging once we reached 2km from the estimated course of the merchant.

The vessel was identified as a Canadian Large Merchant, and 2 G7a's were launched from 600m at 7:55pm. One impacted near the stern, the other just aft of the ships centre. The vessel immediately suffered a loss of speed and began listing to its starboard side.
By 8:05pm the merchant's screw has stopped turning and large amounts of thick smoke poured from beneath the mid-deck.

By 8:10 the vessel had sunk beneath the surface.

26th March 1941 @ 8:05

Large Merchant sinking awaiting confirmation from BDU...

U-707 Patrol 4 : 25/03/1941

25th March 1941

5:07pm 25th March 1941 - Sonar contact, merchant at 270 degrees, long range, moving closer at medium speed. After listening for half an hour we roughly determined its course and speed, then set up an intercept.

After laying in wait, the merchant finally came into a close enough range to identify, we determined it to be an unarmed British Tramp Steamer, doing 7 knots. The sea was too rough to use the deck gun so we set up for a torpedo attack.

A single G7a was launched and impacted just aft of the bow at 6:35pm. We then ran parallel to its course to keep contact while the merchant limped onward. At 6:45 we did a visual check via the periscope and saw the merchant had almost slowed to a stop, its bow sinking under the waves.

It finally went down at 6:47pm.

25th March 1941 @ 6:45pm

Tramp Steamer sinking awaiting confirmation from BDU...

U-707 Patrol 4 : 23/03/1941

23rd March 1941

8:00am 23rd March 1941 - Radio message received, U-551 has failed to respond after reporting warships in her area. Another sad loss, so many young lives snuffed out.

11:46pm 23rd March 1941 - We are nearing the west coast of Ireland and about 650km away from our assigned patrol zone. It should take another 27 hours to arrive.
Weather is overcast with winds reaching 7mps, visibility is still fairly good however.