SM U 34

SM U 34 ( previous / next - all submarines )
Technical specifications
Submarine type:	Two-hull deep-sea boat U 31 - U 41
Displacement:	685 tons (above water) 878 tons (under water)
Length:	64.70 m
Width:	6.32 m
Draft:	3.56 m
Max. Diving depth:	50 m
Drive:	Diesel engines 2 × 925 PS E-machines 2 × 600 PS
Armament:	2 bow tubes / 2 stern tubes / 6 torpedoes 1 × 105 mm (artillery)
Crew:	4 officers 31 men
Speed:	16.4 knots (above water) 9.7 knots (under water)
Calls:	17 patrols
Successes:	121 sunk merchant ships with a total of 262,886 GRT
Whereabouts:	missing since October 18, 1918; probably sunk near Gibraltar on November 9, 1918 (38 dead)

SM U 34 was a submarine of the German Imperial Navy , which was one of the most successful submarines of the First World War with 121 sunk merchant ships with a total tonnage of 262,886 GRT during the First World War.

Building history

The submarine U 34 launched at the Germania shipyard in Kiel on May 9, 1914 , was part of the penultimate peace order of the Imperial Navy of March 29, 1912, which included the U 31 to U 36 submarines . The keel of the boat with hull number 194 was laid on November 7, 1912.

U 34 deployments during the war

After its commissioning on October 5, 1914, U 34 was placed under the 2nd submarine flotilla stationed on Heligoland . On March 18, 1915, the boat first attacked the steamer Blue Jacket in the English Channel , but it escaped, and then sank the freighter Glenartney (1911, 5201 GRT). By June 7, 1915, the boat was sunk nine times on two patrols under the commandant Rücker.

On August 23, 1915, it was relocated together with U 35 in the Mediterranean to the Austro-Hungarian naval base Cattaro to the U-Flotilla Pola . On January 1, 1916, the boat sank east of Malta with the combination ship Glengyle (1914, 9395 GRT) coming from the Far East, its largest ship. Most of the casualties were caused by the sinking of the French troop transport Medjerda (1918 BRT) by U 34 on May 11, 1917 with 344 fatalities.

With the sinking of 121 merchant ships with a total tonnage of 262,886 GRT , the U 34 is one of the most successful German submarines of the First World War .

On October 18, 1918, U 34 left for its last mission. Since then there has been no contact with the boat. It may have been sunk in the Strait of Gibraltar by the British submarine trap HMS Privet on November 9, 1918, or it was lost beforehand in an accident.

Commanders

• Claus Rücker - October 5, 1914 to December 11, 1916
• Johannes Klasing - December 12, 1916 to January 17, 1918
• Wilhelm Canaris - January 18 to March 13, 1918
• Johannes Klasing - March 14th to November 9th, 1918

List of ships sunk by U 34 (selection)

The following list contains ships with a tonnage of more than 1000 gross register tonnes that were sunk by U 34:

date	Ship name	GRT	nationality	Sea area, cargo, victim
03/18/1915	Glenartney	5201	United Kingdom	English Channel, rice, groceries, 1 dead
03/21/1915	Cairntorr	3588	United Kingdom	south of Beachy Head, Coals
March 22, 1915	Concord	2861	United Kingdom	English Channel, corn load,
4.06.1915	Incum	4747	United Kingdom	southwest Lizard, general cargo
June 7, 1915	Superb	1515	Norway	Full ship, west Fastnet, grain
September 4, 1915	Natal transport	4107	United Kingdom	near Crete, general cargo
09/10/1915	Bosnia	2561	Italy	southwest of Crete, general cargo
11/14/1915	Treneglos	3886	United Kingdom	west-southwest Crete, sugar, 3 dead
November 15, 1915	Orange Prince	3583	United Kingdom	south-southwest Crete, general cargo, 3 dead
11/19/1915	Hallamshire	4420	United Kingdom	southwest Cape Matapan, Coals
11/24/1915	Ville de La Ciotat	6431	France	south of Cape Matapan, mail steamer East Asia-India-Fra., 81 dead
11/24/1915	Yeddo	4563	United Kingdom	south of Cape Matapan, general cargo
11/29/1915	Kenkoku Maru	3217	Japan	southwest of Crete
11/30/1915	Abelia	3650	United Kingdom	Motor ship / built in 1914, Mediterranean, ores and?
01/01/1916	Glengyle	9395	United Kingdom	Combined ship / built in 1914, 240 nm east of Malta, 10 dead
4.01.1916	Coquet	4396	United Kingdom	200 nm east of Malta, 17 dead, 10 prisoners, salt cargo
04/03/1916	Ellaston	3796	United Kingdom	Coals
04/03/1916	Sneaton	3470	United Kingdom	Bj. 1915, coal load
04/05/1916	Chantala	4951	United Kingdom	Built in 1913, east of Algiers, general cargo
April 6, 1916	Yonne	4039	United Kingdom	west of Algiers, coal, brick,
April 8, 1916	Zafra	3578	United Kingdom	north of Oran, coal cargo
04/11/1916	Angus	3619	United Kingdom	northeast Valencia, fabrics
04/12/1916	Orlock Head	1945	United Kingdom	Built in 1913, 65 nm southeast of Barcelona, ​​general cargo
04/12/1916	Vega	2957	France	80 nm east of Barcelona, ​​coffee, cocoa, tobacco
05/15/1916	Mira	3050	France	east of Sicily, coals
May 18, 1916	Adamantios Korais	2947	Greece	south-southeast of Toulon
05/20/1916	Erminia	1544	Italy	Bark, 20 nm south of Palma,
05/20/1916	Languedoc	1612	France	in the Gulf of Lyon
05/21/1916	Tjomo	1453	Norway	northeast Mallorca, coals
05/22/1916	Australia	1586	Italy	Full ship, near the Balearic Islands, coal
05/22/1916	Genista	1856	Italy	Full ship, southeast of the Balearic Islands, coal
05/22/1916	Istros	1891	Greece	spanish east coast, coals
05/22/1916	Orealla	1876	Italy	Full ship, south of Barcelona,
05/23/1916	Cornigliano	2862	Italy	Balearic Islands, built by Blohm & Voss in 1889
05/30/1916	Julia Park	2900	United Kingdom	Algerian coast, coals
08/21/1916	Socoa	2772	France	Algerian coast,
08/27/1916	Torridon	1526	Italy	Full ship, southeast of Ibiza, coal
08/29/1916	Fede	1273	Italy	Bark, east coast of Spain, coals
08/31/1916	Nostra Signora Assunta	1256	Italy	Bark, between the Balearic Islands and Spanish coast, in ballast
09/01/1916	Baron Yarborough	1784	United Kingdom	off Balearic Islands, coals
September 4, 1916	Pasquale Lauro	1188	Italy	Bark, Golf v. Lyon, in ballast
September 4, 1916	Siverstream	1224	Italy	Bark, Golf v. Lyon, in ballast
September 8, 1916	Elizabeth Iv	7395	Norway	west Sardinia, sugar
10/28/1916	Germaine	2573	Greece	spanish east coast, corn
November 4, 1916	Mogador	1364	France	north of the Balearic Islands, various
November 8, 1916	Luigi Pastro	3228	France	Street v. Sicily, ex Mudros DLL
November 8, 1916	Sheldrake	2697	United Kingdom	Street v. Sicily, in ballast, 2 prisoners
03/23/1917	Bellatrix	2568	Norway	in front of Civitavecchia, in ballast, built in 1907 by Howaldt
03/23/1917	Noli	1569	Italy	before Civitavecchia, in ballast
May 9, 1917	Harpagus	5866	United Kingdom	south of Marseille, general cargo, 3 dead, 2 prisoners
05/11/1917	Lefkosia	1086	Greece	south of the Rhone estuary, chemicals
05/11/1917	Medjerda	1918	France	Spanish east coast, troop transport, 344 dead
05/12/1917	Zanoni	3851	United Kingdom	Spanish east coast, coals, 1 dead
05/15/1917	Tung Shan	3999	United Kingdom	southeast of Valencia, coals, 1 dead, 3 prisoners
05/19/1917	Mardinian	3322	United Kingdom	south of Alicante, general cargo
05/20/1917	Caspian	3606	United Kingdom	south of Alicante, fertilizer, 25 dead
06/30/1917	Mont Viso	4820	France	west of Algiers,
July 3, 1917	Marthe Roux	1962	France	Bark, east of Oran, tropical wood
4.07.1917	Fratelli Bianchi	3542	Italy	before oran, coal
07/07/1917	Wilberforce	3074	United Kingdom	east of Oran, iron ore
December 2, 1917	Berwick Law	4680	United Kingdom	Algerian coast, in ballast, 1 dead
December 2, 1917	Minas	2506	Greece	Algerian coast, iron ore
December 6, 1917	Ilvington Court	4217	United Kingdom	west of Algiers, coal, seeds, 8 dead
01/28/1918	Djibouti	4305	France	east of Algiers, fabrics
01/30/1918	Maizar	7293	United Kingdom	Built in 1917, north of Oran, coal
February 6, 1918	Ville de Verdun	4576	France	Bj. 1917, east coast of Spain, 10 dead
04/12/1918	Autolycus	5806	United Kingdom	Bj. 1917, general cargo
04/12/1918	Moyune	4935	United Kingdom	Load of corn
04/19/1918	Elka	2128	Greece
04/19/1918	Lord Charlemont	3209	United Kingdom	east of Gibraltar, in ballast, 8 dead
04/22/1918	Dronning Maud	2663	United Kingdom	northeast of Algiers, 1 dead
09/09/1918	Was Arabis	5183	United Kingdom	Bj. 1918, northeast of Algiers, wheat

Web links

• Type description of U 34 (English)
• Memorial plaque for U 34 at the submarine memorial in Möltenort

supporting documents

1. ↑ Guðmundur Helgason: Ships hit during WWI: Ships hit by U 34 . In: U-Boat War in World War I . Uboat.net. Retrieved January 17, 2014.