SM UB 65

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SM UB 65
Technical specifications
Submarine type: Two-hull ocean-going type
Submarine class: UB III
Displacement: 516 tons (above water)
651 tons (under water)
Length: 55.30 m
Width: 4.40 m (over all)
Max. Diving depth: approx. 75 m
Drive: 2 × diesel motor 550 PS
2 × electric motor 394 PS
Armament 4 bow torpedo tubes
1 stern
torpedo tube 10 torpedoes
1 × 10.5 cm cannon
Crew: 34 officers a. Teams
Speed: 13.9 knots (above water)
8 knots (under water)
Calls: 6 patrols
Successes: 9 sunk ships with 22,461 GRT
Whereabouts: Probably sunk by accident around July 14, 1918 off Padstow, Cornwall , England (37 dead, no survivors).

SM UB 65 was a German submarine during the First World War .

It was on May 20, 1916 near the AG Vulcan Stettin commissioned and in their shipyard in Hamburg built where on June 26, 1917, the launch took place. The submarine was put into service with the Imperial Navy on August 18, 1917 and belonged to the V U-Boat Flotilla from September 30, 1917 to April 18, 1918, and to the II from April 18 until its sinking. Submarine flotilla. Its commanding officer was Lieutenant Martin Schelle. The boat sank nine enemy ships with a total of 22,461 GRT on six patrols . A victim of the submarine was the British submarine trap HMS Arbutus , which was torpedoed off the southwest coast of Wales on December 16, 1917 and sank the following day.

UB 65 is said to have sunk on July 10, 1918 in an attack on the American submarine AL-2 due to the premature explosion of its own torpedo , but sank the Portuguese sailing ship Maria Jose near Lundy on July 14 . The reason for the loss of the submarine is not known; an accident is assumed.

The wreck of UB 65 was discovered in 2003 by wreck diving expert Innes McCarthy at a depth of 60 m seven nautical miles off Padstow , Cornwall , England , and identified by the markings on the propellers. The condition of the well-preserved submarine makes it unlikely that it sank from an explosion in the torpedo chamber. A hatch was found open, which may mean that at least part of the crew tried to escape and survived the sinking.

UB 65 was declared a “Protected Place” under the “ Protection of Military Remains Act ” of 1986. It may therefore be viewed from the outside by divers , but it is forbidden to take objects with you from the wreck, to carry out rescue operations or to penetrate the interior of the submarine.

The alleged "haunted submarine"

The submarine is known as the "haunted submarine". There is a ghost story about UB 65 , the subject of the apparitions of an officer who allegedly died in an accident. However, these stories do not fit the history of the submarine, there was neither - as claimed - a change of command, nor was an officer fatally injured. There is also no evidence of an unusually high number of accidents. The story is probably a fiction that was probably not written in Germany, but in Great Britain.

See also

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