German submarine U-71 was a type VII C

German Type VII submarine

Type VII U-boats were the most common type of German World War II U-boat. The Type VII was based on earlier German submarine designs going back to the World War I Type UB III, designed through the Dutch dummy company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag which was set up by Germany after...

 submarine of the German 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 It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine.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 the Second World War.

Ordered on 25 January 1939, her keel was laid down on 21 December that year. She was launched on 31 October 1940 and commissioned on 14 December the same year. She entered 7th U-boat Flotilla as a training submarine (commissioning until 31 May 1941), then as a front boat (1 June 1941 - 31 May 1943). During that time she had to return to port damaged after colliding with U-631 in the North Atlantic on 17 April 1943.

She then moved to 24th U-boat Flotilla as a training submarine (1 June 1943 - 30 June 1944) then to 22nd U-boat Flotilla as a school boat from 1 July 1944 until 1 February 1945. She sank 5 ships and was scuttled on 2 May 1945 at Wilhelmshaven

Wilhelmshaven

Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea.-History:...

, six days before the German surrender.