First patrol The boat's first patrol began with her departure from Kiel on 17 February 1941. Her route took her across the
North Sea and through the
gap between
Iceland and the
Faroe Islands. She sank three ships on the 24th;
Mansepool,
Jonathon Holt, both southwest of the Faroe Islands and
British Gunner northwest of
Cape Wrath (northern Scotland). Among those lost in the sinking of the
Jonathon Holt was the travel writer
Robert Byron. The had ordered the crew of
British Gunner to abandon their vessel even though the master had said the ship could be towed to safety. The U-boat then damaged
G.C. Brøvig. The Norwegian tanker was a victim of
U-97s third attack on Convoy OB 289. The
torpedo strike caused her to lose her bow, but the bulkhead held and the engines remained usable. With assistance from HMS
Petunia, she arrived at
Stornoway (in the
Outer Hebrides), on 27 February. She was subsequently repaired and returned to service. The patrol was somewhat marred when a crew-member was lost overboard on 3 March. The submarine docked at
Lorient in occupied France on 7 March.
Second patrol U-97 sank three more ships between
Cape Farewell (Greenland) and southern Ireland in March and April 1941. They were:
Chama and
Hørda (on 23 and 24 March respectively) and
Conus on 4 April. There were no survivors from
Hørda or
Conus.
Third and fourth patrols The boat sank , an
Elders & Fyffes banana boat that had been requisitioned as an Ocean Boarding Vessel and
Sangro, west southwest of
Cape Clear (southern Ireland) on 6 May 1941. On 8 May she struck again, sinking
Ramillies southeast of Cape Farewell. Sortie number four was relatively uneventful, starting from St. Nazaire on 2 July 1941 and terminating in the same port on 8 August.
Fifth patrol Departing St. Nazaire on 20 September 1941,
U-97 went south, slipped past the heavily guarded British base at
Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean. She sank
Pass of Balmaha west of
Alexandria on 17 October. The merchant ship had been part of the fourth convoy of Operation
Cultivate, the relief of
Tobruk. She also sank
Samos on the same day. An accident which left the IIWO (second watch officer) badly injured on 24 October forced the boat to cut her patrol short. She arrived at
Salamis in Greece on the 27th.
Sixth and seventh patrols Human frailties also came to the fore during the boat's sixth patrol when, having crossed the
Aegean Sea towards Turkey, she was obliged by a sick crew-member, on 7 January 1942, to return to Salamis on the ninth. The submarine's seventh patrol started and finished in Salamis.
Eighth and ninth patrols Having moved to
La Spezia in northwest Italy in February,
U-97 was attacked by a
Sunderland flying boat of
No. 230 Squadron RAF off the North African coast. The aircraft dropped five bombs on the boat, but caused no damage. Patrol number nine continued the shuttle-sequence between Salamis and La Spezia.
Tenth patrol The situation improved for the crew when they sank
Zealand and
Memos southwest of Haifa on 28 June 1942. The
Marilyese Moller went to the bottom on 1 July about west of
Rafah in Palestine. The armed trawler HMS
Burra reacted with three depth charges, but was unsuccessful.
11th and 12th patrols These patrols began in Salamis and La Spezia; the latter finished in Pola (now
Pula) in Croatia in May 1943.
13th patrol and loss U-97s final patrol started with her departure from Pola on 5 June 1943. She sank
Palima south southwest of
Beirut on the 12th. She was also successful against
Athelmonarch northwest of
Jaffa on the 15th. The U-boat was sunk by a
Lockheed Hudson of 459 Squadron,
Royal Australian Air Force on 16 June 1943 west of Haifa. Twenty-seven men died, there were twenty-one survivors.
Wolfpacks U-97 took part in two
wolfpacks, namely. •
West (8 – 27 May 1941) • Goeben (20 – 29 September 1941) ==Summary of raiding history==