German submarine U-701

German submarine U-701 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for the Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that served in the North Atlantic during World War II. It was launched on 16 April 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Horst Degen, with a crew of 43.

In three operational patrols U-701 sank five ships, of and damaged four others for . She also sank four auxiliary warships and damaged a destroyer.

She was sunk in an air attack on 7 July 1942 and rests at a depth of at .

Fate U-701 was sunk on 7 July 1942 off Cape Hatteras. While running on the surface U-701 was attacked by a Hudson of 396 Sqdn USAAF. She was hit by two bombs and sunk. 17 of her crew were able to escape, but were adrift for two days before being found and rescued by the US Coast Guard. By that time just 7 men had survived.

Final resting place

At below the surface, U-701 is still intact, retaining its deck gun. Majority of the debris lies within radius of the wreck. This wreck has become an artificial reef that is heavily populated with Seriola dumerili.

The wreck of the U-701 was originally discovered by Uwe Lovas in the coastal waters off Cape Hatteras in 1989. The location of the wreck and the site remained a secret and therefore undisturbed for 15 years. The U-701 is an intact wreck site within recreational diving depths on the East Coast of the United States.

Recently, the vessel's location has been rediscovered and the coordinates have become accessible to the general public, who have already begun diving the site. An overwhelming majority of the local recreational and wreck diving community is deeply concerned about the potential for disturbance, damage and loss resulting from unauthorized salvage.Catherine Kozak, "Scuba Diving Thieves Plunder Rare Unspoiled WW II Submarine Wreck U-701," Virginian-Pilot, 8 September 2004Jerry Allegood, "The U-boat," Raleigh News and Observer, 5 December 2004. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

A dive to the wreck in 2011NOAA National Marine Sanctuary, 2011 Battle of the Atlantic Expedition was documented in the National Geographic TV documentary, Hitler's Secret Attack on America (2013).

Wolfpacks U-701 took part in three wolfpacks, namely: Zieten (6 – 22 January 1942) Westwall (2 – 12 March 1942) York (12 – 26 March 1942)

Summary of raiding history

DateShip nameNationalityTonnageMerchant ship tonnages are in gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.Fate6 January 1942Baron Erskine3,657Sunk6 March 1942Rononia213Sunk7 March 1942Nyggjaberg349Sunk9 March 1942HMS Notts County541Sunk11 March 1942HMS Stella Capella507Sunk15 June 1942HMS Kingston Ceylonite448Sunk (mine)15 June 19421,190Damaged (mine)15 June 1942Robert C. Tuttle11,615Damaged (mine)15 June 1942Esso Augusta11,237Damaged (mine)17 June 1942Santore7,117Sunk (mine)19 June 1942170Sunk26 June 1942Tamesis7,256Damaged27 June 1942British Freedom6,985Damaged28 June 194214,054SunkSunk:Damaged:Total:27,05638,28365,339

German submarine U-701

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