The submarine was laid down on 17 November 1939 in Kiel, launched on 27 January 1941, and commissioned on 15 March under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Heinrich Driver.

U-371 was sunk at 04:09 local time on 4 May 1944 in the Mediterranean north of Jijel , in position 37°49′N 05°39′E / 37.817°N 5.650°E / 37.817; 5.650 by a force of American, French and British destroyers.

The submarine was powered by two Germaniawerft F46 four-stroke, six-cylinder supercharged diesel engines producing a total of 2,800 to 3,200 metric horsepower (2,060 to 2,350 kW; 2,760 to 3,160 shp) for use while surfaced, two AEG GU 460/8–27 double-acting electric motors producing a total of 750 metric horsepower (550 kW; 740 shp) for use while submerged.

She sank two merchant ships; the British 6,373 GRT Silverpalm on 12 June and the Norwegian 4,765 GRT Vigrid on 24 June, position 54.30N- 41.30W whilst on a voyage from New Orleans, LA, USA via Bermuda to Belfast, Northern Ireland and Manchester, England with 6,000 t general cargo including 1.000 t spelter, 600 t copper and 752 t iron and steel.

[9][10] Now part of the 29th U-boat Flotilla, U-371 left Salamis again on 21 April 1942 under the temporary command of Kapitänleutnant Heinz-Joachim Neumann, and headed south to the coast of Egypt.

[11] Command of U-371 was now assumed by Kapitänleutnant Waldemar Mehl,[2] who took the U-boat from Salamis to Pola, Venezia Giulia, in early July,[3] not sailing on a combat patrol until 5 September when he took the U-boat along the length of the Adriatic Sea, and through the eastern Mediterranean to the coast of British Palestine and French Syria, arriving back at Salamis on 18 September,[12] and returning to Pola in mid-October.

[3] The Algerian coast now became U-371's hunting ground, and she left La Spezia on 14 February 1943 to return there to sink the unescorted 2,089 GRT British merchant ship Fintra on 23 February, and to damage the 7,176 GRT American liberty ship Daniel Carroll from Convoy TE-16, before returning to La Spezia on 3 March.

[17] U-371's next patrol lasted from 22 July until 11 August 1943, during which she sank the 6,004 GRT British merchant ship Contractor, part of Convoy GTX-5.

[21] Her 17th patrol began on 22 January 1944, and took her to the western coast of Italy after the launching of "Operation Shingle", the Allied landings at Anzio.

[25] Under Fenski's command, U-371 left Toulon for the final time at about 19:00 on 23 April 1944, and headed back to the coast of Algeria, patrolling from 10 to 15 miles offshore.

On the night of 2 May the U-boat planned to surface in order to top up her batteries by running on her diesel engines, as she expected to contact the convoy within a few hours.

[2] When U-371 first attempted to surface after crippling the Menges, depth charges forced her back down, while putting out all the lights, damaging the hydroplanes, and rupturing the trim tanks.

[26] Blowing her ballast tanks only attracted the attention of the attackers, which began dropping depth charges again, and the U-boat was still stuck.

All torpedo tubes were loaded and readied for firing, and all guns were manned when U-371, with her batteries practically exhausted, surfaced and ran for safety.

As a last show of defiance the U-boat fired a T-5 acoustic torpedo from her stern tube, and managed to hit the Sénégalais, causing some damage.