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U 714

Another veteran of the bitter North Atlantic campaign, U 714 entered the Bristol Channel on her seventh patrol.
U 714
Type VII C
Laid down 29 Dec 1941 H. C. Stülcken, Hamburg
Commissioned 10 Feb 1943 Oblt. Hans-Joachim Schwebcke
Commander 02.43 - 03.45 Kptlt. Hans-Joachim Schwebcke

Career

February 1943 - July 1943 5 U-Flottille (Kiel) training
August 1943 - November 1944 7 U-Flottille (St. Nazaire)
November 1944 - March 1945 33 U-Flottille (Flensburg)

Patrol 1 23 September 1943. Left Kiel and arrived at Trondheim on 29 September.

Patrol 2  13 October 1943. Left for operations in the North Atlantic. U 714 joined Körner group, formed east of Newfoundland from the 31st to search for convoys HX 263 and ONS 21. Both convoys went round the Körner patrol line. After a harrowing patrol but with no notable success other than surviving intense ASW patrols by the Allied navies, U 714 put in to Lorient on 2 December 1943.

Patrol 3  11 January 1944. Left Lorient and returned on 15 January 1944.

Patrol 4  20 January 1944. Left for the North Atlantic. U 714 joined Igel 1 group west of Ireland. From February 4th to the 10th the boats operated singly south east of Iceland, after which they began a slow withdrawal westwards.  U 714 put in to St Nazaire on 25 February 1944.

Patrol 5 6 June 1944. U 714 was one of nineteen non-schnorkel boats which sailed into the Bay of Biscay as Landwirt group. They were to form a line at the 200 metres depth line between Brest and Bordeaux, keeping out of port in case an Allied invasion force arrived and trapped them there. The boats later moved in to the 100 metres depth line, where they could lay on the bottom. The waiting boats were under constant attack from the air when they surfaced at night. When no invasion had come by the 12th, the boats were recalled to port and placed on six hours notice. U 714 put in to La Pallice on 15 June 1944.

Patrol 6  21 August 1944. Left La Pallice and returned on 25 August 1944.

Patrol 7  27 August 1944. Left for operations. Now schnorkel-equipped, U 714 headed for British coastal waters and from early September she was patrolling in the mouth of the Bristol Channel. After two weeks without success, she left the operational area. U 714 put in to Farsund, Norway on 20 October 1944.

Patrol 8  23 October 1944. Left Farsund and arrived at Flensburg on 28 October 1944.

Patrol 9 17 February 1945. Left Kiel and arrived at Horten on 2 February 1945.

Patrol 10trol 10 3 March 1945. Left for operations in British coastal waters. U 714 patrolled off the east coast of Scotland. On the 10th she torpedoed and sank the Norwegian auxiliary fleet minesweeper Nordhav II off Dundee. On the 14th U 714 sank the SS Magne (Sw 1226t) off the coast, just north of Berwick. Very soon afterwards the boat was detected and sunk in a depth-charge attack off St Abb’s Head in position 55°57’N, 01°57’west by the frigate HMSAS Natal and the British destroyer HMS Wivern There were no survivors, 51 dead.

 

 

The View for Sunday 4 December 2000

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