German submarine U-705 was a Type VIIC U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

 of the German

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 Kriegsmarine

Kriegsmarine

The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

Commissioned on 30 December 1941, she served with the 5th U-Boat Flotilla until 31 July as a training boat, and as a front boat of 66th Flotilla under the command of Kapitänleutnant Karl-Horst Horn, until her sinking on 3 September 1942.

Patrol History

Departing on her first and only patrol on 1 August 1942, U-705 left Kiel

Kiel

Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

 to encircle the British isles and turn back after crossing more than half of the Atlantic. On 15 August while driving some 550 miles south-east of Iceland, she caught sight of a number of vessels; Convoy SC 95, and the merchant ship Balladier.

Diving after first being seen, she would stay submerged for nearly four hours before firing a torpedo at the starboard side of the Balladier. Listing to the starboard side, the armed guards were unable to return fire on U-705, with the ship sinking after seven minutes.

On 24 August, the Norwegian corvette

Flower class corvette

The Flower-class corvette was a class of 267 corvettes used during World War II, specifically with the Allied navies as anti-submarine convoy escorts during the Battle of the Atlantic...

HNoMS Potentilla and the HMS Viscount of the convoy ONS-122 located U-705. Dropping five depth charges from the Viscount, along with a further ten from the Potentilla, the two were unable to cause damage to the boat. A further fifty-seven charges would be dropped at her and , finally damaging her stern torpedo tube.

On 3 September, a British Whitley aircraft dropped depth charges at U-705, causing her to sink with all hands lost in the Bay of Biscay.