Germany had about 20 operational U-boats(Fuhrer der Unterseeboote, FdU) in the High Seas Fleet, commnaded by Korvettenkapitan Hermann Baurer.
"SpieB, look how red the sky is. The whole world seems to be bathed in blood. Mark my words- England will declare war on us."
Three days after these words were said on the deck of SM U-9 by Otto Weddigen to his First Watch Officer, Johannes SpieB; the United Kingdom wth Ireland declared war on Germany (August 4, 1914).
The FdU sent SM U-5 , U-7 , to U-9, U-13 to U-18 to attack the Brittish Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow (August 6, 1914). SM U-5 and SM U-9 had to retreat to to engine troubles, U-13 was lost at sea with no trace and the cruiser HMS Birmingham sunk SM U-15 while moving in for an attack. The rest of the boats failed as well. SM U-18 was sunk after penetrating Scapa Flow (November 23, 1914). Germany over all had a bad start to WW1.
"Our submarine fleet performed about as well as any other nation's, however, not very well."
Blood Shed
SM U-21 sank the british cruiser HMS Pathfinder(3,000 tons) off the Firth of Fourth in the middle day with the first torpedo fired by a submarine in wartime (September 5, 1914). SM U-9 (Kptlt. Otto Weddigen) sank the three cruisers HMS Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy (12,000 tons each) off Holland in 75 minutes (September 22, 1914). This even topped the great first appearance of a submarine in wartime 17 days earlier.
"In the periscope, a horrifying scene unfolded... We present in the conning tower, tried to suppress the terrible impression of drowning men, fighting for their lives in the wreckage, clinging to capcized lifeboats..."
This wrote by Oberleutnant z.S. Johannes SpieB.
The whole crew was awarded the Iron Cross by the German Emperor.
SM U-16 sank the Russian cruiser Pallada (7,900 tons) in the Gulf of Finland, and the SM U-9, again undre Weddigen's command, sank the HMS Hawke (7,000 tons) off Aberdeen (October 11, 1914).
SM U-17 (Kptlt. Feldkirchner) sank the British steamer SS Glitra (866 tons) (October 20, 1914).
Admiral Hugo von Pohl, the German High Seas Fleet Chief of Staff, submitted a memirandum to Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, the German Chancellor, requesting a blockade using U-boats in responce to the British blockade. This could have one the war for Germany.
At the end of 1914, the U-boats had sunk eight secondary warships and ten merchants (20,000 tons), only losing 5 U-boats.
Escalation
SM U-24 (Kptlt. Schneider) sank the old battle ship HMS Formidable (15,000 tons) on the western canal, a welcoming of the new year(January 1, 1915).
Unrestricted U-boat warfare began for the first time (February 18, 1915). A neutral flag was no guarentee for safety, it was regarded as a war reception.
The "all-big-gun" battleship HMS Dreadnought, which never fired a shot in anger, found that another tactic would work; ramming into the SM U-29 (Kptlt. Otto Weddigen). The death of the greatest submariner of all times, was a great victory for the British as they watched the "29" on the bow of the ship show it self one more time.
A British luxury liner sailing from New York to England was sunk by the SM U-20 (Kptlt. Walther Schwieger) (May 7, 1915). This quite possibly could have been the biggest reason why US didn't stay nuetral. The passengers were told that they could have been killed traveling through a war zone. One torpedo was aimed at the RMS Lusitania
(30,000 tons), sinking it with one tremendous blow. 1,198 were killed, 128 of them were american. When quetioned, the Germans argued that the Lusitania was carrying amunition. It was; 1,000,000 rounds of it. This is believed to be the reason that it sunk so fast.
"It looks as if the ship will stay afloat only for a short time. [I gave order] dive to 25 metres and leave the area seawards. I couldn't have fired another torpedo into the mass of humans desperately trying to save themselves."
This was said by Kptlt. Schwieher 15 minutes after he fired the torpedo.
SM U-24 (Kptlt Rudolf Schneider) sank RMS Arabic (15,800 tons) with one torpedo, mistaking it for a troop transports (August 19, 1915). The ship sank in 10 minutes, taking with it 44 casualties, among them 3 Americans.
The U-boats were withdrawn from the British waters due to; too risky because of the possibility of mistaking passenger ships with other ships (September 20, 1915). The U-boats focused on the Mediterranean now, with plenty of targets and no Americans.
855,000 tons of shipping had been lost, 20 U-boats sunk, and 94 ships were lost due to mines at the end of the year 1915.
The British finally figured a way to stop the U-boats: the Q-Ship "U-Boot-Falle" (U-boat trap). This was a steamer with hidden guns and torpedoes. It was vertually unsinkable due to either the wooden caskets, wood or cork. The plan was to have the U-boat attack the Q-ship at close range, and then end it all with tremendous blows. The HMS Prince Charles (Lieutenant Mark Wardlaw RN) sank the SM U-36 , proving that this tactic worked (July 24, 1915).
SM UC-71 (Oblt.z.S. Reinhold Saltzwedel) was engaged in a 8 hour fight with the Q-Ship HMS Dunraven (Captain Gordon Campbell RN VC), before the un-armed SM UC-71 left the Q-Ship on fire sinking fast( August 8, 1917). 120 miles west of Ouessant, was where British demonstrated there courage, but where Germany proved that their U-boats were still un stopable.
Mediterranean
With the sinking of the HMS Pathfinder, Triumph and Majestic (May 25, 1915), the SM U-21 showed its tremendous power. This proved to be the beginning of a terrible submarine warfare in the Mediterranean.
SM U-V (Kptlt. Georg Ritter von Trapp) hit a French cruiser Leon Gambetta (12,500 tons) with two torpedoes (April 27, 1915). It was the first time a submarine submerged night attack, it demonstrated Austrians vital help to Germany and their own personal power. The cruiser sank withing 20 minutes, taaking with it; 648 men of it's 821 man crew to the bottom.
The small Austrian submarine force proved to be elite with its outstanding record: 79 torpedo attacks with a hit rate of 90%. SM U-XIV along with the rest of the Austria-Hungary's Navy had to be handed over to the Yugoslavs and the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Navey ceased to exist at the end of the war.
SM U-35 was taken over by Kptlt. Lothar von Arnauld de la Periere, who was soon to be the greatest U-boat skipper of all time, at the end of 1915. He fired four torpedoes in his career (one miss) and sank his victims (194 ships totalling 454,00 tons) with his 10.5 cm deck gun. His record still stands.
Crisis
The submarine freighter Deutshland (unarmed), sneaked by Merchant Navy Captain Paul Konig and safely reached Baltimore in July with a precious cargo. It returned to Germany with the same ease, and with a cargi ten times worth its building cost. It repeated it self again in Autumn 1916. After the declaration of unrestricted U-boat warfare in 1917, merchant ships were no longer needed, so the Deutschland was comissioned as SM U-155 into the Imperial Navy.
The German Admiral Staff finally convinced Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg to declare unresricted U-boat warfare (February 1917). The sinkings went up to 520,000 tons.
SM U-55 (Kptlt. Wilhelm Werner) and SM U-44 (Kptlt. Paul Wagenfuhr) wer invloved in the killing of survivors of the SS Torrington and SS Belgian (April and July 1917). SM U-86 (Oblt.z.S. Helmut Patzig) sank the hospital ship LLandovery Castle (June 27, 1918). He ordered his U-boat to ram the life boats and shot the survivors. Out of the 258 crew of the LLandovery Castle, only 24 lived. They were only condemned for four years though after being tried at a German court.
The U-boat increased steadily in its success in March (560,000 tons) and in April 1917, when USA finally declared a war on Germany, reached its peak with 860,000 tons.
A newly invented weapn; the undersea cruiser, was capable of long water patrols of several months and beside the heavy artillery- torpedoes, 15 cm and 8.8 cm guns.
The cruisers roamed the Atlantic setting mines fir the last nine months of the war. The SM U-151 laid mines at American ports and sank 23 ships (61,000 tons). The six operational cruisers sank in all 174 ships for a total of 361,000 tons.
Finale
Fresh American troops and the british hunger blockade made the war for Germany in 1918 not go so well.
The unrestricted campaign was called off after they Germans had to abanden their bases in Belgium and the Adiatic, attept to make a mass production of U-boats, and already asked for a armistice, by Admiral Reinhard Scheer, the new Commanding Admiral of the High Seas Fleet (October 21, 1918).
"To all U-boats: Commence return from patrol a once. Because if ongoing negotiations any hostile actions against merchant vessels prohibited. Returing U-boats are allowed to attack warships only in daylight. End of message. Asmiral"
On its return from the Mediterranean, SM UB-52 (kptlt. Kukat) fired the fianl torpedo of the war of the British battleship HMS Britannia, which sank off Cape Trafalger.
The Imperial German Navy started the war with 28 U-boats with an additional 344 commishioned. In November 1918 no less than 226 boats were under construction.
The ease and skill which the German engineers developed the most sophisticated warships of that time without computer assistance can only be admired.
More than 12,000,000 tons of shipping (5,000 ships) had been sunk by U-boats with the loss of 15,000 lives. 60% of that tonnage was sunk by 22 commanders, the most seuccessful ones were:
Lothar von Arnalauld de la Periere...........454,000 tons......................................................... Walther Forstmann...................................380,000 tons......................................................... Max Valentiner.........................................300,000 tons......................................................... Otto Steinbrink.........................................290,000 tons.......................................................... Hans Rose...............................................214,000 tons......................................................... Reinhold Saltzwedel................................170,000 tons......................................................... Waldemar Kophamel...............................149,000 tons.........................................................
These men were followed by 40 others with sinkings over 100,000 tons.
Here is a couple technical data of Imperial German U-boats
Type.......Displace..Diving.....Propulsion....max.......range......armament.......crew men Depth [hp] Speed [nm/kn]. m3 [m] [kn]
SM U-9 2x300 hp (equal to 493 sf 50 PM + 2x225 14,2 sf 3,250/9 2 BT, 2ST 4-25 U-10 to 611 sm hp PM*** 8,1 sm 75/5 sm 6 torpedoes U-12)2x580 hp EM
SM UC 2BT, 1ST -80 (equal 474 sf 50 2x300 hp DM 11.5 sf 8,400/7 sf 7 torpedoes to SM UC 560 sm 50 2x385 hp EM 6.6 sm 40/4,5 sm 1x 10,5 cm 3-29 -81 to UC UK 18 UC-200 -86 Type UC mines III
A few technical data of U-boat torpedoes used by the Imperial Navy
Torpedo Diameter Length Propulsion Range/Speed Warhead In use Type [cm] [m] [hp] [m/kn] [kg] U-boats since
C06 AV 45 5.65 Alocohol generated 3,600/27 122 1914 steam
G7 50 7.02 Petrol generated steam 9,800/27 195 1918 with sweetwater injection
