SM U 44

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SM U 44
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German EmpireGerman Empire (Reichskriegsflagge)
Construction data
Submarine type: Two-hull ocean-going boat
Series: U 43 - U 50
Builder: Imperial Shipyard, Danzig
Launch: October 15, 1914
Commissioning: May 7, 1915
Technical specifications
Displacement: 725 tons (above water)
940 tons (under water)
Length: 65.00 m
Width: 6.20 m
Draft: 3.74 m
Pressure body ø: 4.18 m
Max. Diving depth: 50 m
Dive time: 55-105 s
Drive: Diesel engines 2000 PS
E-machines 1200 PS
Speed: 15.2 knots (above water)
9.7 knots (under water)
Armament: 2 bow and 2 stern tubes, 6 torpedoes
1/2 × 8.8 cm deck gun / s

1 × 10.5 cm deck gun (from 1916/17)
P-mines (from 1916)

Mission data
Commanders: Paul Wagenführ
Crew: 4 officers
32 men
Calls: 6th
Successes: 21 sunk merchant ships
Whereabouts: Sunk by the British destroyer Oracle on August 12, 1917 off Norway .

SM U 44 was a diesel-electric submarine of the German Imperial Navy that was used in the First World War .

Calls

U 44 was launched on October 15, 1914 at the Imperial Shipyard in Gdansk from the stack and was put into service on May 7, 1915th The first and only commander of the submarine was Paul Wagenführ .

U 44 carried out six enemy voyages in the eastern North Atlantic during the First World War . A total of 21 merchant ships from the Entente and neutral states with a total tonnage of 72,332 GRT were sunk.

Whereabouts

On August 12, 1917, U 44 was on its way back from an unsuccessful mission west of the St. Kilda Islands near Scotland. The U 44 encountered submarine traps several times , and on August 5, 1917, it submerged so quickly that seawater damaged the batteries. Kapitänleutnant Wagenführ sent a return call to the Nauen station near Berlin. Due to radio interference, the broadcast was long enough for the British to take notice and decipher the message. This alerted a squadron of cruisers patrolling Norway . The squadron destroyer Oracle spotted a conspicuous ship at dawn. It was U 44 with a camouflaged sail. Wagenführ let go before the Oracle could shoot. However, U 44 surfaced and descended at short intervals, apparently due to the damage to the boat. Therefore, the Oracle U 44 could ram and throw depth charges. Oil stains on the water surface and floating parts of the cork insulation confirm the sinking. As an approximate sinking location following coordinates (about 30 are off the south coast of Norway nautical miles of the island southwest Utsira :) 58 ° 51 '  N , 4 ° 20'  O . All crew members were killed.

Others

In contrast to many other deep-sea submarines of the Imperial German Navy, U 44 - and its sister ship U 43 - did not have a keel .

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 68.
  2. ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 89.
  3. ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars . Graefelfing before Munich: Urbes, 1998, p. 31f.
  4. ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 48.

literature

  • Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, ISBN 3-86070-036-7 .
  • Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars . Graefelfing before Munich: Urbes, 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .

Web links