Database of all ships hit by U-boats in WWII During the war the U-boats sank about 2,779 ships for a total of 14.1 million tons GRT. Anti-submarine vessels initially carried only two depth charges, to be released from a chute at the stern of the ship. The first sortie was not a success. Submarine depot ship MEDWAY (14,650t, 1929), sunk by U-boat torpedo off Alexandria, Egypt, June 30, 1942 (Casualty List) ESCORT VESSELS . In April 1917, 430 Allied and neutral ships totaling 852,000 tons were sunk, and it seemed likely that the German … While submerged the U-boat was virtually blind and immobile; boats of this era had limited underwater speed and endurance, so needed to be in position before an attack took place, while even on the surface their speed (around 15 knots) was less than the cruising speed of most warships and two thirds that of the most modern dreadnoughts.[7]. [56] American participation commenced with an event known as the "Return of the Mayflower", when the first six destroyers arrived at Queenstown, Ireland in May 1917. Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière (three times) who sank the most tonnage of any submarine commander ever,[8] and Linienschiffsleutnant Georg Ritter von Trapp of the Austro-Hungarian Navy (two times), known as the patriarch of the family made famous in The Sound of Music and its subsequent film adaptation. The DNOG patrolled the Dakar-Cape Verde-Gibraltar triangle, which was suspected to be used by U-boats waiting on convoys, until 3 November 1918 when it sailed for Gibraltar to begin operations in the Mediterranean, with the exception of the Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Norte, and Belmonte. This figure is roughly 70% of all allied shipping losses in all theatres of the war and to all hostile action. On 30-Aug-1915 Germany prohibits further action of this type. While they had little effect when attacking (only one U-boat was confirmed as sunk by air attack) the presence of aircraft forced the U-boat to dive, becoming blind and immobile, or risk the air patrol summoning hunting warships to the scene. River Class Destroyer … The heaviest losses were suffered in April 1917 when a record 881,027 tons were sunk by the U-boats. Over 1.4 million tons of shipping was lost during just the first few months of the war. 37 perished. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, World's Navies in World War 1, Campaigns, Battles, Warship losses. Rammed & sunk a U-Boat: Titanics sister ship RMS Olympic took on a U-Boat & won. "[41], Germany had 105 submarines ready for action on 1 February: 46 in the High Seas Fleet; 23 in Flanders; 23 in the Mediterranean; 10 in the Baltic; and 3 at Constantinople. This meant a shortage of workers to complete U-boats for service in home waters, but it seemed justified by the successes in the Mediterranean in November, when 44 ships were sunk, for a total of 155,882 tons. Many contacts and attacks were made in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, though only two U-boats were sunk or disabled by American action. An American auxiliary cruiser heavily damaged a U-boat during the Action of 4 April 1918. Convoying imposed severe delays on shipping, and was believed to be counterproductive, amounting to a loss of carrying capacity greater than the loss inflicted by the U-Boats. [53] Despite their long journey, when asked when they would be ready to go on patrol, the squadron commander replied "We are ready now". Eight of the top dozen U-boat aces served in the Pola flotilla, including the highest scoring commander of all, Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière. However, this led the Brazilian vessels into waters patrolled by U-boats. The German Admiralty also decided that the Type UB II submarine would be ideal for Mediterranean service. Throughout the summer, the German navy assembled a force of four U-boats at Cattaro for operations against commerce in the Mediterranean. She had just delivered a convoy to Rimouski and was returning to Gaspe. The SM U-9. [30] In addition, UB-7 was reportedly sunk by Russian aircraft in October. She picked up only 34 survivors. Ultimately it was proven later (via the discovery of munitions in the wreck) that the Lusitania was indeed carrying munitions; against the agreed upon rules during the conflict.[12]. The U-boat fired on the town ineffectually for about an hour before it was fought off by two Navy planes. Chronological List of U.S. PT-59 (more on her later) is credited with sinking Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) submarine I-3 on December 9, 1942 near Guadalcanal. Late in the war, the German high command decided to take the submarine war to the coast of the US, using the large Type U-151 and Type U-139 U-boats. This guide contains information about researching wrecked or sunken ships at The National Archives. When operating in the west, up to the line of Cape Matapan, the German U-boats flew the Austrian flag, and a sinking without warning policy was adopted, since large merchant ships could be attacked on the suspicion of being transports or auxiliary cruisers. For Kapitänleutnan Otto Weddigen, the fish were in the barrel. Gustav Sieß—responsible for sinking the largest ship on the list, the hospital ship Britannic struck a mine and sunk (the younger sister ship of Titanic and Olympic)—topped the list with five entries, four (including Britannic) sunk in U-73 and a fifth sunk in U-33, all between April 1916 and April 1917. Before sinking the ship, the captain of the U-boat allowed the ship's crew to take refuge in his submarine, then later he handed over the crew to a Russian sailing ship which took them to Vardø. These rules did not allow for the sinking of any passenger ships and protected merchant ship crews stating they must be placed in a safe place before their ships could be sunk. After refuelling at Newport, Rhode Island, Rose raided Allied shipping off the coast of Canada and the United States. Attacking without warning, German U-Boats sank nearly 100,000 GRT per month, an average of 1.9 ships daily. When the year ended 9 of them had been lost. [60], 29 U-boat commanders were decorated with the Pour le Mérite, the highest German decoration for gallantry for officers. The Type U-139 were the largest U-boats of World War I. U-151 departed Kiel on 14 April 1918 commanded by Korvettenkapitän Heinrich von Nostitz und Jänckendorff, her mission to attack American shipping. Officially, a total of 1,554 ships were sunk due to war conditions, including 733 ships of over 1,000 gross tons. [7] Kptlt. [54] However, of the 9 Austro-Hungarian navy submarines lost to enemy action, 5 were sunk by Italian navy units (U-13, U-10, U-16, U-20, and U-23), 1 by Italian and French units (U-30), 1 by Royal Navy units (U-3), while none were sunk by the Japanese navy, which lost one destroyer (Sakaki, torpedoed by U-27). Given the ineffectiveness of early countermeasures, in 1917 Britain and in 1918 America adopted dazzle camouflage to attempt to reduce shipping losses to torpedoes. [64], For The campaign fought during World War II, see, 1916: The High Seas Fleet; Mediterranean, American, Arctic and Black Sea waters, 1917: Resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, United States Navy in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, Allied and Neutral Tonnage sunk by U-boats in World War I, Micheal Clodfelter, Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015, 4th ed., McFarland, 2017, p. 428, Bruno Fischer, Ehrenbuch des Orden vom Militär-Verdienst-Kreuz e.V. During January U-boats sank 35 Allied ships and a British destroyer killing 1219 crew and passengers. Number of U.S. ships sunk or damaged 1946. The Allies insisted that an essential precondition of any armistice was that Germany surrender all her submarines, and on 24 October 1918 all German U-boats were ordered to cease offensive operations and return to their home ports. The first German submarine, 1905. U-31 was actually sunk twice so she appears twice in that number. 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