Wreck of U-73 | Second World War 1939-1945, navy, shipwreck, submarine

 Second World War 1939-1945, navy, shipwreck, submarine

Unterseeboot 73 was a Type VIIB U-Boat built at the Bremer Vulkan-Vegesacker Werft in 1939 and commissioned into service with the Kriegsmarine on September 30th, 1940.

First stationed in the U-Boat pens at Lorient & St. Nazaire, U-73 sailed on 5 successful war patrols in the Atlantic, with her maiden and second patrols seeing her claim over 35,000 tons of Allied merchant shipping sunk. The outbreak of war with the United States and the subsequent heavy sea fighting between the British and Italian Navies in the Mediterranean prompted the U-73's reassignment to La Spezia in February 1942, where she would be based the next year and a half.

U-73's greatest success in her new theatre of operations came on August 11th, 1942 when she torpedoed and sank the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle off Mallorca during the fight for Malta, a feat which earned her Captain the Iron Cross. With the increased activity in the Southern Mediterranean in the later months of 1943 as the American and Allied forces began their buildup for the invasion of Italy, the U-73 continued to find good hunting, claiming several more merchant ships off the African coast.

U-73 departed on her 15th war patrol on December 3rd 1943 bound for the coast of Oran and the Allied convoys which frequently crossed the area. Finding her first target on the morning of December 16th, the U-73 torpedoed and heavily damaged the US Liberty Ship SS John S. Copley, but was chased away by convoy escort ships. Later in the same day she returned to the area of the attack to see if she could finish off the stricken ship, but found only three US Destroyers patrolling the area. Making a hasty withdrawal, the U-73 raced away from the scene, but was picked up on the sonar system of the USS Woolsey (DD-437), which gave chase in company with the other two Destroyers.

The U-73's high speed prevented her crew from hearing the approaching Destroyers, and when she finally slowed down to resume her patrol she was suddenly bracketed by several depth charges at 18:39hrs. A second salvo exploded beneath the sub and opened up holes in her bow and engine room, causing such severe flooding that the crew had no option but to surface. U-73 broke through onto the surface of the Mediterranean at 19:27hrs and her crew raced to their battle stations and waited for the fight they knew was coming. The assembled US Destroyers quickly ID'd the surfaced submarine on Radar and opened fire, but the gallant crew on the U-73 returned fire, albeit briefly, wounding three crew on the USS Woolsey before the rain of 5-inch shells sent the U-73 down by the Stern at this location on December 16th, 1943. 16 of her crew were killed in the sinking but 34 were rescued and spent the rest of the war in POW camps.

During her World War Two service, the U-73 is credited with sinking 8 merchant and 4 warships for a total of 66,442 GRT, and damaged a further three ships for 22,928 GRT.

www.uboat.net/boats/u73.htm