Patrol 12, April 11 - July 27, 1943
1st Flotilla, Brest, France
Refit for U-94 included installation of FuMO30 radar, giving 360 degrees coverage. Whereas the FuMO29 gave virtually no defensive benefit, the FuMO30 certainly does, and is capable of detecting both surface ships and aircraft. New pattern-running torpedos are now available at Brest. Ladder run steamers and loop run electrics. We left the steamers at base, and took one of the loopers more out of curiosity than anything else and stuck it in tube five. We would not rely on it's circular pattern, but treat it as any other TIII. If it missed and happened to hit later all the better.
The ladder runners were judged to be of no benefit against fast moving warships, and since they were TI's they were better left to the skippers hunting convoys.
Much to my dismay, none of our Killer Torpedos, Falke, were available for us at the time we set sail.
U-94 set sail from Brest on April 11, 1943. Our intentions were to once again hunt the hunters in BE grid. Escort carriers would be our primary target, with any other warship on the list as well. Routine patrol would be extensively submerged, surfacing only to recharge and renew the air. We planned to run roughly 3 hours submerged, then recharge, which would limit our time on the surface to short periods, and would also prevent the battery capacity from dropping below 80% at any time to allow extended submergence in an evasion.
Flak gunners were posted and U-94 left Brest and entered Biscay Bay. After a run of a few hours U-94 began the submerged patrol. The buzzards are thick, and we hoped to avoid them by staying below as much as possible.
We began by patrolling the eastern edge of BE grid from BE39 to BE99. Over the course of the first few weeks we made many contacts, but were never able to reach a reasonable firing position. We no longer considered surfacing for end-arounds and surface dashes. Doing so would surely bring the buzzards down on us or the targets would get us on radar. Making every approach and interception submerged extensively limited our ability to reach a satisfactory position with our slow moving fish. Two Hunter-Killer groups sailed past our scope out of range. Also seen many times were groups of three or four DD/DE/frigates patrolling BE grid in column formation.
April passed, and them May. We had patrolled from the SW corner of BF grid, halfway out through BE grid, and the eastern half of CG grid without firing a shot. Hundreds of airplane contacts, mostly with enough warning by the Cross and the FuMO. Bombs and DCs had been dropped, but none came close enough to damage our boat.
In early June we finally reached a position to take a shot at a fast moving V&W, we had 25 knots dialed in. Took a two-shot G7e TIII salvo from 1500 meters and missed, assume forward and she was making 24 knots.
On June 28th we again reached a good position, this time on one of the aforementioned patrols sailing in column. This was one Tribal leading, a River in the center and a Black Swan last in line. The Black Swan looked menacing with two DC racks and six or eight DC guns. We took the shot from 700 meters at the frigate as that would let the others move further away on their course and buy some time for the evasion. Another two-shot, this time one fish hit, but didn't see where as we were already on the way down. The Black Swan exploded and sank, and we slipped off. The other two ships circled and searched, but had no clue where we were. Reloaded the stern tube and came back to PD for another attack. Only the River was in range, but before we could get the shot she gave up the search and took off at 20+ knots.
A few more weeks of inability to reach a good position and then on July 4th we were able to reach a favorable position on a Tribal making 24 knots. Another two-shot, with one hit, and she went down.
Three more weeks of no shooting followed, and we set sail for home, having fired six torpedos in three shots, hitting with two and sending two more ships to the bottom of the sea. U-94 returned to Brest on July 27, 1943, after
one hundred and eight days at sea.
