German submarine U - 69 ( 1940 ) German submarine " U - 69 " was the first Type VIIC U - boat of the German " Kriegsmarine " during World War II . This meant that in contrast to previous U - boats , she could travel further afield for longer , with a payload of eleven torpedoes , an deck gun for smaller vessels and a flak gun for aircraft . " U - 69 " was very successful , sinking over of Allied shipping in a career lasting two years , making her one of the longest surviving , continuously serving , U - boats . Her most infamous attack was on the civilian ferry , which sank off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1942 , killing 137 men , women and children . She was built at the Germaniawerft in Kiel during 1940 , and was ready for service in November . After her warm up in the Baltic Sea ( designed to give her an opportunity to train and repair minor faults ) , she was deployed into the Atlantic Ocean in February , 1941 and achieved immediate success . Operational career . 1st patrol . " U - 69 " departed Kiel for her first patrol on 10 February 1941 . Her route took her across the North Sea , through the ' gap ' between the Faroe and Shetland Islands and into the Atlantic Ocean . She encountered the southwest of the Faroe Islands on 17 February and sank her . No survivors were picked up , even though the crew were seen to reach the lifeboats . The boat was attacked twice by a Sunderland flying boat on the 22nd - no damage was sustained . " U - 69 " s next victim was the " Empire Blanda " , sunk on the 19th . Four days later ( on the 23rd ) , the SS " Marslew " was similarly destroyed , north northwest of Rockall . 13 men died , there were 23 survivors . The submarine was depth charge d for three hours by the escorts of convoy OB - 288 on 24 February . She escaped without any damage and docked at Lorient on the French Atlantic coast on 1 March . 2nd patrol . The boat ' s second foray was to mid - Atlantic . She sank the " Coultarn " southwest of Iceland on 30 March . She then attacked and damaged the " Thirlby " , which had been " en route " from St . Johns in Canada to Hull . The ship had also probably been hit by a torpedo fired by . This weapon was a dud . ( The ship was further damaged by a bomb from a German aircraft on 10 April ) . " U - 69 " returned to Lorient on 11 April . 3rd patrol . The boat ' s next sortie was to the West African coast . She laid mines off Lagos and Takoradi and made full use of the failure of the allies to enforce convoy systems . One of her victims was the neutral American ship operating 750 miles off the British port of Freetown , Sierra Leone . The sinking of the " Robin Moor " caused President Roosevelt to brand Germany an " international outlaw " and to require Germany and Italy to close all of their consulates in America except for their embassies . After the " Robin Moor " ' s sinking , passengers and crew were allowed thirty minutes to board lifeboats , the submarine torpedoed , shelled and sank the ship . The survivors then drifted without rescue or detection for up to eighteen days . When news of the sinking reached the US , few shipping companies felt truly safe anywhere . As Time Magazine noted in June 1941 , " if such sinkings continue , US ships bound for other places remote from fighting fronts , will be in danger . Henceforth the US would either have to recall its ships from the ocean or enforce its right to the free use of the seas . " In October 1941 , federal prosecutors in the espionage case against a group of 33 defendants known as the " Duquesne Spy Ring " adduced testimony that Leo Waalen had submitted the sailing date of the SS " Robin Moor " for radio transmission to Germany , five days before the ship began her final voyage . Waalen was found guilty and sentenced to 12 years in prison for espionage and a concurrent 2 - year term for violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act . " U - 69 " also sank the " Tewkesbury " about south of the Cape Verde Islands on the same date ( 21 May ) . Her master was awarded the OBE for his actions , but never knew about it ; he was lost when the " Newbury " went to the bottom on 15 September . She then sank the " Sangara " in Accra harbour on 31 May 1941 . The ship went down in of water , her bow was still visible . ( The vessel was salvaged in 1943 and her cargo sold , she was broken up in 1947 ) . The " Robert Hughes " was lost to a mine on 4 June . The submarine sank the " River Lugar " southeast of the Azores and the " Empire Ability " , both on 27 June 1941 . On the return journey , " U - 69 " was engaged in what was an ultimately successful gun - duel with the " Robert L . Holt " southwest of the Canary Islands on 3 July 1941 . She fired 102 HE and 34 incendiary rounds from her deck gun , 220 rounds from her 20mm anti - aircraft weapon and 400 rounds from her MG 34 machine gun at the merchantman . The boat returned to France , to St . Nazaire on 8 July . Unfortunately for the crew of " U - 69 " , it was nearly a year before they were able to paint another mark on their conning tower , as the tightening of convoys in the second half of 1941 combined with some frustratingly short patrols , called off because of mechanical failure , or sickness on the boat . 4th and 5th patrols . Patrol number four was relatively short , lasting barely a week and hardly leaving the Bay of Biscay . " U - 69 " s fifth patrol took her northwest of St . Nazaire towards Greenland ; although longer , it was also unsuccessful . 6th and 7th patrols . The boat ' s sixth patrol was uneventful . During her seventh outing , she was depth charged for several hours by escorts of a convoy on 21 March , west of Ireland . She escaped without any damage . 8th patrol . " U - 69 " added to her tally when she sank the tiny four - masted sailing vessel " James E . Newson " off the United States ' seaboard with her guns . This seemed to reverse the boat ' s run of bad luck , as she sank a further three ships that month , making use of the " Second Happy Time " to add to her score . On one of them , the " Lise " , the first mate , the Norwegian Hangar Lyngås , survived a total of four torpedoings . In June 1942 , the boat ' s captain , Ulrich Gräf , reported sinking a large ship somewhere off the coast of Surinam , as " U - 69 ' s " patrol entered the Caribbean Sea ; but allied researchers after the war have failed to identity this vessel , and it is likely to be an error on the part of the captain . 9th patrol . In October in the Cabot Strait , " U - 69 " sank her most controversial victim , when she torpedoed the unlit Newfoundland ferry SS " Caribou " , killing 137 people . Time was running out for the boat however , the boat was destroyed in February 1943 . 10th patrol and loss . On 17 February 1943 , while operating with wolf - pack " Haudegen " , " U - 69 " was involved in an attack on convoy ONS 165 in the middle of the North Atlantic . Identified on HF / DF radar , she was forced to the surface by depth charges and then rammed by the destroyer . None of her 46 crew survived the sinking . The Sinking of the " Caribou " . Easily the most controversial action by " U - 69 " was the destruction of the civilian ferry in the Cabot Strait at 3 : 21 a . m . Atlantic Summer Time , on 14 October 1942 . The submarine had been in the area for a few days , and sank the SS " Carolus " the day before , with the loss of eleven lives . Early that morning , the " Caribou " was spotted , primarily because her coal - fired steam boilers emitted a long solid black smoke trail , and was silhouetted against the phosphorescent sky . While sitting in wait on the surface , Gräf launched one torpedo . The stricken vessel ' s boilers exploded soon after being hit , and the ship sank in approximately five - minutes , trapping most of the crew and passengers in the ship . The " Caribou " departed North Sydney , Nova Scotia , on 13 October 1942 , heading for its home port Port aux Basques in Newfoundland . It made this trip three times a week as part of the organized SPAB convoy series ( SPAB for Sydney - Port aux Basques ) . The one - ship coastal convoy was escorted by the HMCS " Grandmère " , a . Controversy surrounded ' s actions immediately after the sinking in the local Cape Breton Island media . Instead of searching for the survivors right away , it engaged the U - boat in combat , almost ramming her , and firing off six depth charges . " Grandmère " pursued " U - 69 " for close to two hours , then turned back to look for survivors . During this time , some would - be survivors died from exposure in the cold Atlantic . As noted in a dispatch a few weeks later by the Flag Officer of the Newfoundland Force , Commodore H . E . Reid , the " Grandmère " was following normal operational doctrine by going after the submarine , and not stopping to pick up survivors . If it had stopped , it would likely have been sunk as well by " U - 69 " . In all 57 military personnel , 31 merchant seamen and 49 civilians — including many women and children — were killed in the sinking , totalling 137 persons lost ( most were trapped in the ship , and drowned ) . The sinking was also one of the few times that military censorship was immediately lifted , in an attempt to prevent rumours and speculation . The sinking made news across North America that week and was used effectively as a rallying cry for Victory Bond campaigns . The sinking was possibly the most significant in Canadian waters , not because of the " Caribou " ' s tactical importance ; but rather , the U - boat war ' s barbarity was on display to Canadians and Newfoundlanders on their home front . Emblem . " U - 69 " was unusual in having two ships ' emblems . The first , adopted on commissioning , was chosen by her first commander , Metzler . This consisted of the word " Horrido " ( Tally - Ho ) and the three two - flag signal groups for the letters L M A , a reference to Gotz von Berlichingen ’ s famous scatological retort . The second came about when the 7th flotilla adopted Prien ’ s bull emblem as its flotilla insignia . " U - 69 " s new first officer , who had not seen the insignia before , found a picture of a cow on a French cheese box , and had that painted on the conning tower , complete with the motto on the box " " la vache qui rit " " ( the cow that laughed ) . When Metzler saw it , he decided to keep it , as it raised a laugh with all who saw it , and the crew adopted the slogan as a war - cry ; " U - 69 " became known as the laughing cow thereafter .