SM U 21
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SM U 21 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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 SM U 21 front right in the submarine port of Kiel |
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| Type: | |
| Shipyard: | |
| Construction contract: |
November 25, 1910 |
| Build number: |
15th |
| Launch: |
February 8, 1913 |
| Commissioning: |
October 22, 1913 |
| Commanders: |
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| Calls: |
11 patrols |
| Sinkings: |
5 warships with 34,440 t, |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk on February 22, 1919 |
SM U 21 was a German submarine of the Imperial Navy . It was commissioned on November 25, 1910 together with the identical sister boats SM U 19 , SM U 20 and SM U 22 from the Imperial Shipyard Danzig and was launched there on February 8, 1913.
U 21 was the first submarine that sank an enemy ship with a torpedo shot; the CSS Hunley of the American Southern Navy sank an enemy ship (the USS Housatonic ) as early as 1864 , but with a spar torpedo (a kind of explosive charge ram).
Use in the First World War
On Sept. 5, 1914 crossed U 21 under its commander Lieutenant Otto Hersing off the east coast of Scotland and met the 8th Destroyer - flotilla led by the light cruiser HMS Pathfinder . With the Pathfinder only running five knots due to scarce coal supplies , she became an easy target. The torpedo hit the Pathfinder at an unarmored point in the fuselage right next to the ammunition chambers. It exploded instantly and sank in minutes. 259 sailors lost their lives and only eleven were saved.
In the spring of 1915 British troops tried to create a sea connection from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea so that war material could be delivered to the allied Russia . For this purpose, the Turkish areas around the Dardanelles and the Bosporus had to be conquered. The British offensive, especially the bombardment of their fortifications by capital ships, put the Turks in a difficult position. They asked the German admiralty staff to send submarines into the Mediterranean for support.
U 21 was the first boat to march into the Mediterranean on April 25, 1915. The path led around Great Britain because of the increased guarding in the English Channel . At the beginning of May the boat at Cape Finisterre replenished its diesel oil supply from the German steamer Marsala , which was interned in neutral Spain. However, it later turned out that this fuel was useless for the engines of U 21 . Hersing decided not to break off the trip towards the Mediterranean. U 21 reached the port of Cattaro on May 13th with the most economical journey with only 1.8 tons of "usable" diesel oil .
On May 20, U21 set sail for its first mission in the Mediterranean. British warships lay off the Gallipoli peninsula and shelled the Turkish positions. On May 25, the British liner HMS Triumph was sunk with a torpedo. Two days later the ship of the line HMS Majestic was sighted near Cape Helles, the southern tip of the peninsula . Although it was surrounded by several small ships and a protective net, this ship could also be sunk with a torpedo. A third success in the Bay of Kephalo on the island of Imbros failed due to a network lock . U 21 entered Constantinople . On June 5, 1915, Lieutenant Hersing was awarded the order of Pour le Mérite .
In September U21 sailed from Constantinople to the Mediterranean for the third time. Then the British blocked the entrance to the Dardanelles with mines and nets. U 21 had to go back to Cattaro and from October 1, 1915 they were subordinate to the U-Flotilla Pola . On February 11, 1916, U 21 was able to sink another warship with the French armored cruiser Amiral Charner . In the period that followed, several merchant ships were sunk. At the end of 1917 the boat returned to Wilhelmshaven from the Mediterranean.
After the war, U 21 had to be extradited to the British. It sank on February 22, 1919 on the ferry trip. U 21 had sunk five warships with 34,440 t and 36 merchant ships with 78,712 GRT. Only SM U 9 had greater successes against warships in World War I.
Sunk warships
- British light cruiser HMS Pathfinder
- British ship of the line HMS Triumph
- British liner HMS Majestic
- French auxiliary cruiser Carthage
- French armored cruiser Amiral Charner
literature
- Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945 . tape 3 : U-boats, auxiliary cruisers, mine ships, net layers, barrier breakers. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz 1985, ISBN 3-7637-4802-4 , p. 28-30 .
- Hersing, Otto: U 21 saves the Dardanelles. Amalthea Verlag, Leipzig 1932.
- Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Pawlak Verlag, Herrsching 1990, ISBN 3-88199-687-7 .
Footnotes
- ↑ The SM stands for His Majesty and refers to the then ruling German Kaiser Wilhelm II. It says in full: His Majesty's U-boat , for surface units His Majesty's ship - SMS for short
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