First patrol The U-boat left
Wilhelmshaven (which was to be her base until July 1940), on 19 August 1939. Her route took her across the
North Sea to the 'gap' between
Iceland and the
Faroe Islands. She entered the Atlantic Ocean on about the 24th and headed south, to the west of Ireland. On 7 September she sank
Pukkastan about southwest of
Bishop Rock after getting the ship to stop with two rounds fired across her bows with the
deck gun. The next day she repeated the exercise and sank
Kennebec about southwest of the
Scilly Isles. She also damaged, then captured
Hanonia and her cargo of timber off Norway. The ship had been bound for a British port, but instead she was taken to
Kiel and on to
Hamburg by a prize crew. The boat returned to Wilhelmshaven on 26 September.
Second patrol U-34s second foray was even more fruitful, sinking
Gustav Adolf and
Sea Venture (which had replied to the U-boats' warning shots with fire of her own), both on 20 October 1939.
Bronte on the 27th and
Malabar went to the bottom on the 29th. The boat also captured
Snar in the North Sea on 9 November.
Third patrol The first victim of this sortie was
Caroni River in
Falmouth Bay on 20 January 1940. The next was the neutral, clearly marked and fully lit, Greek merchantman
Eleni Stathatou at on the 28th. The survivors were eventually rescued by Michael Casey, a fisherman from Kerry, who towed them to
Portmagee. 13 died of exposure. The 20 survivors were so weak that they had to be carried ashore.
Fourth and fifth patrols Patrol number four, in March 1940, was through the North Sea and the
Norwegian Sea. It was remarkable only for its lack of 'kills'.
U-34 torpedoed the already scuttled Norwegian minelayer on 13 April 1940 near Søtvika to prevent her salvage.
Sixth patrol The boat used the so-called Faroes/Shetland 'gap' (which she had cleared by 26 June 1940), to enter the Atlantic; she had left Wilhelmshaven on the 22nd. On 5 July she sank the British destroyer west of
Lands End. Less than 24 hours later she had also accounted for
Vapper south of
Cape Clear, (southern Ireland). There followed a steady stream of victories in the same area:
Lucrecia,
Tiiu,
Petamo,
Janna and
Evdoxia. Having run out of torpedoes,
U-34 sank
Naftilos with gunfire. The boat docked at the newly occupied port of
Lorient, on the French Atlantic coast, on 18 July.
Seventh patrol The sinkings continued;
Vinnemoor on 26 July 1940;
Accra on the same day and in the same attack and
Sambre and
Thiara, both on the 27th. Returning to Germany, the boat came across the British submarine . Using her last torpedo, the U-boat managed to sink the British unit. There was only one survivor from
Spearfish, he was captured by the Germans. ==Fate==