Patrol 10, June 14 - August 12, 1942
29th Flotilla, La Spezia, Italy
The refit of U-94 included installation of the long overdue S-Gerat echo ranging apparatus. Also, echo ranging decoys were provided, called Bold I. Torpedo loadout the same as previous patrol, 4 Falke G7es, with three of them in the stern, the fourth in tube two, and the rest type II G7e.
U-94 set sail from La Spezia, intent on patrolling near our station from patrol 9, some distance northwest of Malta. The task force that had gotten by in the storm on February 27th showed it as a likely area.
U-94 patrolled this area for three weeks. Weather changed from clear and calm, to storm, and back to calm several times over the course of those 3 weeks. Light merchant traffic, but no warscrews. Several attempts to close Valletta were met with closing storm, which prevented our recon of the port.
After three weeks of not firing a shot, we decided to sail west, to patrol south of Sardinia in our old hunting grounds, and perhaps run down to Gibraltar to find some targets.
After several unproductive days in CJ75 area, set course for Gibraltar. Certainly there would be warships there. Enroute, the weather again closed in, with medium fog and heavy seas. During a routine sound sweep in CH93 multiple warscrews detected southeast of U-94. We made a high speed surface dash to close base course, then pulled the plug for bearings checks. This showed the task force had opened the range and were travelling east. We had missed them. No chance to overtake, so U-94 surfaced and continued toward Gibraltar.
The screens and patrols of Gibraltar strait had not diminished since our most recent visit. Three DD and DE were selected as targets over the next 24 hours. On each occasion a G7es was fired. Each time the fish detonated under the stern after a long run. Two of the ships were dead in the water, but the third was still making 12 knots. Each ship required a second G7e to finish it. With 8 fish left U-94 sailed back toward Sardinia in search of major ships.
After two more weeks of unproductive patrolling there, we sailed east to Malta. While peforming a periscope recon of the port we selected a fast moving Hunt as our target, and after plotting his course for some time, moved in to 500 meters for the attack. As the DD crossed we fired a single G7e, which missed, assume ahead, but no way to know, as the lack of a track does not hint if the proper lead were taken.
35 minutes later, the unalerted DD was back. Same setup and shot. Another miss. 35 minutes later another. This one hit, but assume at such an angle that the torpedo did not detonate, and we heard the detonation several seconds later at depth. Again, the DD comes by. A fourth shot was taken, this one aimed slightly aft, since we had assumed our misses were forward, and this fish found it's mark, sending the Hunt to the bottom. U-94 surfaced and cleared the expected patrols.
With just 4 fish left after the Captain's poor shooting at Malta, U-94 patrolled west through CN23 and CN22, then some additional time in CJ74 and CJ75 with no warship contacts. Low on fuel and torpedos, U-94 returned to La Spezia with just 4 ships sunk for 5500 tons, after 60 days at sea.
The first ten war patrols of Oberleutnant Wilhelm Hofmann, average duration of patrol, 50 days.
