 These patrols had shown the vulnerability of older U-boats to newer allied countermeasures and protection, forcing the submarines to divert themselves into backwaters of the Battle of the Atlantic in order to gain any victories.The "U-703" continued operating in the spring of 1944, but she was obviously less efficient and was given duties deploying weather balloons in the Arctic Sea to test weather conditions for reports to other shipping.This was in part a result of terrible damage she received off Narvik during her first patrol of the season, when allied aircraft strafed her, killing three crew and wounding three more.