SM U 118
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SM U 118 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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 SM U 118 on Hastings Beach |
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| Type: | |
| Shipyard: | |
| Construction contract: |
1 |
| Build number: |
92 |
| Keel laying: |
February 9, 1917 |
| Launch: |
March 23, 1918 |
| Commissioning: |
June 29, 1918 |
| Commanders: |
Herbert Strohwasser |
| Calls: |
1 patrol |
| Sinkings: |
2 direct sinks |
| Whereabouts: | Surrendered on February 23, 1919 Driven to the beach at Hastings on April 15, 1919 and scrapped on site |
SM U 118 was a class UE II mine-laying submarine of the Imperial German Navy . The class is often referred to as the Large Mining Submarine.
history
Due to only one mission, there is not much to report about the SM U 118 in German services. Only the dramatic end of the boat in England is well documented.
After the war , on the way to being scrapped in France, the tow rope of the SM U 118 broke in a storm . It was driven onto Hastings Beach , right in front of the Queens Hotel.
Breaking the tow rope happened quite often in the post-war period. An overview shows up to 16 lost submarines in 1921 on the way to being scrapped. It can be assumed that some of it was insurance fraud, especially since the price of steel was low in the post-war period and therefore little money could be made from scrapping. Some submarines were therefore simply sunk.
Three tugs tried to pull U 118 off the beach, which did not succeed. A French destroyer tried to shoot it in parts with its guns, which also failed.
Of the thousands of tourists who later visited the site of the accident, some also climbed into the interior of the submarine without permission. Two coast guard members were killed by toxic chlorine gases from the damaged batteries.
Another source names only one Coast Guard sailor as the victim. U 118 is also said to have been en route from Cherbourg to Scapa Flow for internment, and according to another source, U 118 surrendered in Spain.
Later, presumably after the batteries had been removed , the city administration demanded entry fees from the tourists. The money went to a war returnees project.
After more and more children were playing on the wreck and making noise every night by throwing stones at the submarine hull, the decision was made in the fall of 1919 to scrap it. Many parts of the U 118 were dismantled and distributed all over the city as souvenirs. The city itself took the deck gun as an exhibit, but it was washed away in a storm. When it was found two years later, it was not rebuilt.
Just two years later, another German submarine washed up in the Bulverhythe district. According to the book "Lost Patrols" this is SM UB 131 .
Picture gallery
On the day of the stranding. Antenna and flag still present
Overrun by tourists
The submarine on the beach
View from lake
View from aft
The submarine is being scrapped
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ When suddenly an 81-meter submarine lay on the beach in 20 minutes on March 13, 2016
- ↑ http://www.hanauer-militaerarchiv.de/html/otalubersicht.html ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from June 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.hastingschoice.co.uk/HASTINGS-HISTORY/hastings-miscellaneous/miscellaneous-history.htm
- ↑ http://cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/P01356.001 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
literature
- Innes McCartney : Lost Patrols. Submarine wrecks of the English Channel. Periscope, Penzance 2003, ISBN 1-904381-04-9 .
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