1/1/1942 With the outbreak of war against the United States, command advised that a substantial portion of our operational effort would now be directed against the Eastern Seaboard. The Americans, it was judged, were unprepared for submarine warfare. As such, a hard and early strike might achieve significant
1/10/1941 We used our recent results to request assignment to a wolfpack in the Atlantic. The request was approved. We sailed from St. Nazaire. The Bay of Biscay and the outbound transit were quiet. In the first Atlantic sector we found a convoy in daylight. Robert L. Holt
1/7/1941 We sailed from St. Nazaire assigned to the British Isles. The Bay of Biscay outbound and the transit were quiet, as were the first two sectors on station. In the third sector, at night, we found a large freighter: the River Afton, 5,500 tons. I closed
1/5/1941 We sailed from St. Nazaire assigned once more to the Atlantic. The Bay of Biscay outbound and the transit were quiet. So were all four Atlantic patrol sectors. Four empty boxes in succession. Not a single sighting and not a single report from B-Dienst. It was
1/2/1941 We departed Kiel in our new boat, U-77, assigned once more to the Atlantic. Both transit legs were quiet. In the first Atlantic sector we found a convoy in daylight. Yselhaven (4,800 tons), Havtor (1,500 tons), Eastlea (4,300 tons) and the large freighter
1/12/1940 Since we were to pass the northern end of the British Isles, command selected us for a clandestine task: the insertion of an agent into Ireland. God only knows what work the fellow intends once ashore. He kept largely to himself. We left Lorient for the final
1/9/1940 BdU has informed us that progress is being made on the G7E torpedoes and that we can expect greater reliability from them in future. Command is, for once, appreciative of our efforts given the chronic lack of reliability we have all endured. With that more favourable sentiment
1/7/1940 We sailed from Wilhelmshaven bound for the Atlantic, our first true deep-water assignment since the shift in the war’s geography. In the first transit we were jumped by a Catalina. Odd to see a flying boat that close to German waters. We got under in
1/5/1940 We left Wilhelmshaven once more bound for the British Isles. The men are acutely aware that we are going through the motions at this point, risking limb and neck only to be disappointed by faulty torpedoes. We have still heard nothing reassuring from the Torpedo Directorate that
1/2/1940 We sailed from Wilhelmshaven at the beginning of February with a new second watch officer, LtzS Leonard Fischer of Crew 34. Once more our orders took us to the British Isles. The two transit legs passed without contact. On the night of the 8th, in the first
1/11/1939 We left Wilhelmshaven at the beginning of November, once more bound for the British Isles. The first two transit sectors passed without incident. On the night of the 9th, in the first operational sector, we found a small freighter under escort, the Lapland, only 1,300 tons.
1/9/1939 We left Wilhelmshaven on the morning of 6 September. The Ubootwaffe's orders were clear, the main effort would be against merchant shipping in the Western Approaches around the British Isles, with minelaying as a secondary task. A few boats were to be sent further south