Wreck of U-271

 Second World War 1939-1945, shipwreck, submarine

Unterseeboot 271 was a Type VIIC U-Boat laid down at the Bremer Vulkan-Vegesacker Shipyard in 1941 and commissioned into service with the Kriegsmarine in September 1942. Initially serving out of Lorient, the U-271 shifted her homeport to Brest after her first war patrol.

After completing her second war patrol in November 1943, the U-271 entered a drydock for conversion to a U-Flak Boat, and was to be fitted with heavy anti-aircraft batteries. Roughly one quarter of the way through her conversion, all work was ordered stopped and the U-Boat emerged from the drydock after receiving a normal refit and prepared for her next deployment. Sailing from Brest on January 8th on her third patrol, the U-271 was forced back to port by leaking fittings not properly sealed during her refit, but was able to return to sea on January 12th and set course for the waters West of Ireland.

Fifteen days into her patrol U-271 had formed into Wolfpack Hinein with eight other U-Boats and patrolled the heavily trafficked waters off Ireland and the entrance to the Irish Sea. Due to either bad luck or Germany's compromised communication codes, no allied ships were sighted for over two days by any boats in the Wolfpack. Surfacing to recharge her batteries n January 28th, the U-271 was transmitting weather and deployment data to her Command when her lookouts spotted aircraft on the horizon closing in on their position.

The crew of U-271 quickly secured her topside fittings and scrambled below as the sub made a crash dive to avoid the depth charges that were sure to follow. The crew of the American B-24 had been tracking the U-271 on their radar screens and quickly closed to attack the ship after she dove under the surface, leaving a telltale patch of bubbles in her wake. A spread of depth charges were dropped into the sea around the diving submarine and one or more detonated alongside her hull, causing fatal damage. As the crew in the B-24 circled and continued to drop depth charges, a large oil and debris slick floated to the surface, indicating the loss of U-271 and her 51 crew on January 28th, 1944.

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