The Chief Mechanician said that a substitute had been used for insulating purposes in the water circulator, resulting in overheating of one of the Diesels. This he considered had been due to sabotage. Necessary repairs were carried out at Vigo after their arrival there on 14th December, 1941.

IV - FIRST WAR CRUISE OF "U 434"

Prisoners agreed that "U 434" left Kiel on 26th October, 1941, and headed for the North Sea by way of the Kattegat, where she sighted a drifting mine, and the Skagerrak. Although "U 434" was carrying the customary scuttling charges, two days elapsed before Heyda could be persuaded to fix them in position. On rounding the Skaw, "U 434" ran into the teeth of a gale bringing the first snow of the winter, so she put into Arendal, Norway, for shelter. Here she remained three days before creeping along the coast to Kristiansand, where she arrived in the evening of 29th October. A prisoner stated that some members of the crew slept this night on shore, but the "U 434" was under way again in the early morning of 2nd November.

According to one prisoner's statement "U 434" was attached to the 7th U-Boat Flotilla at this time and was one of a special group which bore the name "Steuben". Her orders were to co-operate with "U 574" and other U-Boats in a grand scale attack on a convoy assembling either off Halifax, Nova Scotia, or St. John's, Newfoundland. (N.I.D. Note. - Prisoners from "U 574" asserted that they had had instructions to attack this convoy off Halifax).

Leaving Kristiansand "U 434" proceeded up the Norwegian coast and, according to a diary written by a prisoner, did not lose sight of land until 3rd November, when she altered course westward. Apart from the fact that a number of drifting mines were sighted on 4th November, nothing of importance appears to have occurred on this cruise for the next 15 days. On 9th November, the author of the diary, a young torpedo rating, showed his speedy disillusionment regarding U-Boat life, as he had imagined it, by recording carefully in code "Continuous cleaning ship. It is enough to make you sick." On 12th and 13th November, he entered "Weather fair", and on 14th November: "Calm sea. Birthday of Commander" (Kapitänleutnant Heyda).

On 18th November "U 434" appears to have sighted a ship in the distance and given chase without being able to approach within sufficient range to make an attack. According to prisoners from "U 574", plans for the joint attack on the assembling convoy were cancelled on 24th November, whereupon their U-Boat put about. As the cruises of "U 574" and "U 434" had now become closely interlocked, it may be assumed that "U 434" also put about on or about this date. On 26th November, the rating diarist wrote: "Difference of temperature of water between Labrador N. and Gulf Stream 10 degrees."

On 29th November, when "U 434" had reached a position off the Azores, prisoners stated that she sighted a north-bound convoy and attempted to keep in touch with it while awaiting "U 574" to join in an attack; but this delay was fatal and the convoy escaped. (N.I.D Note. - There was no north-bound convoy in this position. Convoy O.S.12 was close to the Azores and "Thornlie Bank" was torpedoed in this convoy at 0115/29th November.) On 30th November, prisoners stated that they sighted an Italian submarine but did not communicate with her. All the crew knew of this meeting, having heard the look-out's cry: "Friendly submarine in sight".

On 2nd December "U 434" met and exchanged signals with "U 574" in circumstances described in the report on the interrogation of survivors from the latter U-Boat. On the following day the author of the diary wrote: "Course homewards", no doubt believing, as did prisoners from "U 574", that his boat was heading for a port in occupied France, whence he would be allowed to travel home on Christmas leave. In point of fact, "U 434" was actually heading for Vigo, which port she was destined to leave almost immediately to continue her cruise; although, at this time, she had already been more than five weeks at sea, under most arduous conditions.