May 3, 1940-The keel of the U701 is laid in HC Stülken shipyards of Hamburg.
July 16, 1941-The U701 is commissioned.
July 17, 1941-The U701 begins service as a training vessel, continuing on until December 1, 1941.
December 1, 1941-The U701 is reassigned to become an active vessel, serving in several successful patrols.
December 31, 1941-The U701 loses one officer, who was washed overboard from the decks of the submarine, being the last German casualty of the year.
January 1942-The U701 sinks one small freighter, the Baron Eskine.
March 1942-The U701 sinks two British trawlers off the coast of Iceland, the Notts Country and the Stella Capella, as well as two unknown vessels.
April 1942-The U701 enters the docks for repairs and maintenance work, which would delay the submarine from carrying sabateurs to the United States to be infiltrated by landings on beach fronts. This duty would be carried out by a second submarine which would be able to arrive near the United States before June 13th.
June 1942-The U701 arrives and enters a scheduled duty station, patrolling along the Atlantic Seaboard for targets.
June 15, 1942-The U701 scores numerous victories with ship-laid minefields. At the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, a large convoy begins entering single file. A loud explosion ripped through the fifth tanker in the line, the Robert C. Tuttle. The captain ordered the tanker abandoned, figuring it to sink rapidly. Destroyers Bainbridge and Dione rushed to attack the U-boat, not realizing that a mine was the cause of the explosion instead of a submarine torpedo. During this time, the tanker Esso Augusta also struck a mine which destroyed the ships rudders and hull damage beyond the tail shaft, causing heavy damage. During the destroyer Bainbridge's assault, the ship dropped a pattern of eight depth charges. However, the depth charges set off one of the mines, which succeeded in damaging the ship. With this done, alerts were sent out to the other convoys. Another inbound convoy, with the tugboat Warbler and the British trawler Kingston Ceylonite. The alerts did not reach these ships, and the Kingston Ceylonite blindly worked its way into the minefield. Late that evening, the ship struck a mine, which completely destroyed the hull, sending pieces of metal and wood raining down on the tugboat Warbler and its vessel in tow, the Delisle.
June 17, 1942-After the damage caused on the 15th of the month, minesweeping operations were ordered for the minefields, designated Area "A", Area "B", and Area "C". However, due to an error in communication, Area "B" remained uncleared. The freighter Santore on its way out of the Chesapeake Bay, struck one of these undiscovered mines, rolled over, and rapidly began to sink. This error in communications led to a military reprimand for the Fifth Naval District, ordering a complete reconstruction of the system before operations could be continued.
June 19, 1942-The U701 had only had success in its minelaying operation though, as the few convoys that were spotted were extremely well guarded or had been too far out of range to attack. However, after several sightings of the same Navy patrol boat YP389, the U701 surfaced and begin firing on the patrol boat with various guns. Even after the abandonment of the YP389, the submarine continued its gunfire until the ship sank in the shallow waters near Cape Hatteras.
June 25, 1942-The U701 launched a single torpedo, severely damaging the Norweigan freighter Tamesis with a successful hit in the starboard side. The captain of the freighter figured the ship to be lost and ordered it abandoned, while the German submarine captain left the area, also figuring on a successful kill. The next day, the freighter was still afloat, and the ship was ordered to run aground on Hatteras beach, where the ship was spotted by a United States coast guard vessel and sent back for repairs.
June 27, 1942-The U701 locates a small convoy comprised of the tanker British Freedom, the auxiliary yacht St. Augustine, and two US navy destroyers. A successful hit is scored on the tanker, forcing the U-boat to dive, avoiding the depth charge runs of the three escorting vessels. The ship returns to periscope depth, but the St. Augustine places itself in the line of fire and makes a run towards the ship, forcing the U-boat to dive again as more depth charges are dropped. The submarine stays down until the propeller sounds stop. From there, the submarine rises again, only to find that the convoy has since moved on, and the British Freedom did not sink.
June 28, 1942-The U701 sights the tanker William Rockefeller and orders a torpedo run made, scoring successful hits. While efforts to save the massive tanker were energetic, the ship burned and then sank after twelve hours.
July 7, 1942-After one week without successes, the U701 surfaces in daylight to cool the submarines interior as well as scout for targets. However, an A-29 Hudson medium bomber of the 396th Medium Bombardment Group spots the submarine while flying through cloud cover. It makes one run, dropping three charges as the submarine submerges. The first charge detonates aft of the ship, but the next two are direct hits, bouncing off the hull and exploding. The ship is rapidly sinking and Kapitaenleutnant Degen, the U-boats commander, opens the hatch, the escaping air pulling sailors with him. Several members in the forward torpedo hatch do the same, but the two groups drift apart in the warm currents. Only seven men would survive of the crew of 43 original members, having been picked up on July 9th. Degen would meet the pilot of the Hudson bomber as he recovered from dehydration and delirium in a military hospital.
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