SM U 117
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SM U 117 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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 SM U 117 off Cape Charles |
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| Type: | |
| Shipyard: | |
| Build number: |
91 |
| Keel laying: |
1917 |
| Launch: |
December 10, 1917 |
| Commissioning: |
March 28, 1918 |
| Commanders: |
Otto Dröscher |
| Calls: |
1 patrol |
| Sinkings: |
At least 11 direct sinkings. |
| Whereabouts: | Surrendered on November 21, 1918. Sunk as a target ship on June 21, 1921 |
SM U 117 was a long-distance submarine - minelayer of class P II of the German Imperial Navy .
The keel was laid in 1917 at Werft AG Vulkan Hamburg , the launch was on December 10, 1917. The boat was put into service on March 28, 1918 under the commandant Kapitänleutnant Otto Dröscher. On June 1, 1918, U 117 was relocated to Kiel for equipping and integration into the U-cruiser formation .
Technical specifications
- Displacement 1,164 t (surfaced), 1,512 t (submerged)
- Length 81.5 m
- Width 7.45 m
- Draft 4.20 m
- Speed 14.7 kn (surfaced), 7 kn (submerged)
- Crew 40 men
- Armament 1 × 15.0 cm and 1 × 8.8 cm gun; 2 × mine-laying tubes, 42 mines, 4 × 50 cm torpedo tubes
Calls
The first use began on July 1, 1918 to lay a minefield off the east coast of the USA . Due to bad weather on the Atlantic, however, no attacks could be carried out, although two individually sailing steamers, two convoys and a small cruiser were sighted.
U 117 reached the US coast on August 8, 1918. The better weather now increased his possibilities and the following ships could be sunk:
- August 10, 1918: 9 fishing boats with deck guns
- August 12, 1918: summer town with a torpedo (ship was in ballast)
- August 13, 1918: Tanker Frederick R. Kellogg with a torpedo (cargo: 7,500 barrels of crude oil, 7 dead, 45 survivors)
- August 14, 1918: US schooner with deck gun
- August 15, 1918: US schooner Madrugada with deck gun
- August 16, 1918: British steamer Mirlo with a torpedo
- August 17, 1918: Norwegian sailor Nordhav with explosives (cargo: linseed oil from Buenos Aires)
- August 26, 1918: US trawler rush with explosive devices
- August 27, 1918: Norwegian freighter Bergsdalen with a torpedo (ship was in ballast)
- August 30, 1918: British fishing trawler Elise Porter with explosives
- August 30, 1918: British fishing trawler Potentate with explosives
From August 13, a mine lock was laid in front of Barnegat Light. Later, on October 4th, 1918, the San Saba was sunk by this lock .
On the afternoon of August 14th, the boat was discovered by a naval aviator. The subsequently initiated pursuit by the submarine fighter SC-71 and the attack with depth charges remained unsuccessful.
On August 15, 1918, another mine lock was laid out on the lightship Fenwick Island . Two ships fell victim to this lock:
- September 29, 1918: The battleship USS Minnesota ran into a mine and was severely damaged by the explosion, so that it had to be docked for 6 months.
- November 9, 1918: The USS Saetia (cargo ship No. 2317) was sunk by a mine hit.
On August 16, 1918, the last mine lock was laid off Cape Hatteras , North Carolina . Due to the long deployment, the fuel became scarce and the U 117 had to run back to Germany. On the way back, more ships could be sunk. There was also a gun battle with an unknown, heavily armed steamer. The last unsuccessful attack on September 5, 1918 was on the British freighter War Ranee . Due to the running out of fuel, a meeting on the high seas with U 140 was arranged on September 8, and around 20,000 liters of fuel could be taken over on the Faroe Islands on September 12 and 13 . Even this amount did not quite reach as far as Kiel and the last piece had to be towed by a torpedo boat .
Whereabouts
The boat stayed in port for the rest of the war. On October 23, 1918, U 117 was transferred to the 1st U-Flotilla, but did not expire before the armistice on November 11, 1918. On November 21st, U 117 surrendered to the Allies in the port of Harwich , England. The United States Navy at that time showed great interest in German submarines for their victory exhibition and so was U 117 passed with five other boats to the United States. In March 1919 an American crew took over the boat under the command of Lt. Cdr. Aquilla G. Dibrell.
Sinking
On June 21, 1921, three US Navy Curtiss F.5L flying boats U 117 bombed and sank while at anchor in shallow water 50 miles east of the Cape Charles lightship . Twelve 163 pound bombs with 117 pounds of TNT each were used.
Enigmatic
A newspaper article in the New York Times about the sinking of the summer city writes about radio remote control or the curve control of a torpedo as early as World War I and continues to write about a poison gas attack on a US Coast Guard station . Apparently it is a newspaper duck , since the American naval historian Halpern does not mention such circumstances when using the boat.
literature
- Adolf Beckmann: Submarines in front of New York. The war journeys of U 117 , Stuttgart (Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung) 1931. French edition Les sous-marins allemands devant New-York , translation by Capitaine de frégate R. Jouan, Paris (Payot) 1935.
- Paul G. Halpern : A naval history of World War I , Annapolis, MD (Naval Institute Press) 1994. ISBN 0-87021-266-4
Remarks
- ↑ SM stands for His Majesty
- ↑ The Frederick R. Kellogg sank in only 30 m water depth. It was lifted and is said to have driven for many years.
- ^ USS Minnesota in the English language Wikipedia
- ^ Cape Henry in the English language Wikipedia
Web links
- Report on the sinking of the Frederick R. Kellogg (PDF) in the New York Times
- Report on bombing attempts on U 117 in the Naval Department Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ Report on the sinking of the summer city (PDF) in the New York Times
- ↑ Halpern, p. 433
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