SM U 66
SM U 66 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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Construction data | ||
Submarine type: | Two-hull deep-sea boat war order D / UD |
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Series: | U 66 - U 70 | |
Builder: | Germania shipyard, Kiel | |
Build number: | 203 | |
Launch: | April 22, 1915 | |
Commissioning: | July 23, 1915 | |
Technical specifications | ||
Displacement: | 791 tons (above water) 933 tons (under water) |
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Length: | 69.50 m | |
Width: | 6.30 m | |
Draft: | 3.79 m | |
Pressure body ø: | 4.15 m | |
Max. Diving depth: | 50 m | |
Dive time: | 40-100 s | |
Drive: | Diesel engines 2300 PS E-machines 1240 PS |
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Speed: | 16.8 knots (above water) 10.3 knots (under water) |
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Armament: | 4 bow and 1 stern torpedo tubes, 12 torpedoes 1 × 8.8 cm deck gun 1 × 10.5 cm deck gun (from 1916/17) |
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Mission data | ||
Commanders: |
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Crew (target strength): | 4 officers 32 men |
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Calls: | 7th | |
Successes: | 24 sunk merchant ships 1 damaged warship |
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Whereabouts: | Lost since September 3, 1917. |
SM U 66 was a diesel-electric UD class submarine of the German Imperial Navy that was used in the First World War .
Calls
The submarine was ordered by the Austrian Navy before the start of the war , but was taken over by Germany on November 28, 1914. On April 22, 1915, the boat eventually ran as U 66 at the Germania shipyard in Kiel from the stack and was put into service on 23 July 1915th The commanders of the submarine were Kapitänleutnant Thorwald Freiherr von Bothmer (23 July 1915 - 16 June 1917) and Kapitänleutnant Gerhard Muhle (17 June 1917 - September 1917).
From October 1915 to January 1916 U 66 was assigned to the units of the Baltic Sea Forces and then to September 1917 to the IV. U-Flotilla of the High Seas Forces.
U 66 carried out seven patrols during the First World War , in the North Sea and in the eastern North Atlantic . A total of 24 merchant ships from the Entente and neutral states with a total tonnage of 69,016 GRT were sunk. The two largest ships that were sunk were the British tanker Powhatan (approx. 6,100 GRT) and the British cargo ship Bay State (approx. 6,500 GRT). The Powhatan was sunk near the Hebrides on April 6, 1917 . 36 people were killed in the sinking. The Bay State was sunk on June 10, 1917 on its voyage from Boston to Liverpool about 250 miles northwest of Fastnet off Ireland . On March 27, 1917, U 66 sank the five-master Neath - the formerly German RC Rickmers - about 30 miles southeast of Fastnet.
On August 19, 1916, U 66 damaged the British light cruiser Falmouth in the North Sea , which was sunk by U 63 just one day later .
Whereabouts
U 66 was the morning of September 2 1917 Emden out to trade war in the North Channel to lead. The submarine passed through the British and German minefields in the German Bight without incident . Radio contact was last made on September 3 at 5:08 p.m. U 66 was not far from the Dogger Bank that day . Since then, the submarine has been considered lost. It may have hit a mine , or it may have been lost due to an accident or human error .
Ship contacts
Ships sunk, damaged or confiscated by U 66:
date | Ship name | tonnage | nationality |
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April 5, 1916 | Cent | 3,890 |
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April 6, 1916 | Binicaise | 151 |
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April 7, 1916 | Sainte Marie | 397 |
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April 7, 1916 | Rijndijk * | 3,557 |
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April 8, 1916 | Santanderino | 3,346 |
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April 9, 1916 | Eastern City | 4,341 |
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April 9, 1916 | Glenalmond | 2,888 |
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April 9, 1916 | Sjolyst | 997 |
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April 10, 1916 | Margam Abbey | 4,471 |
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April 10, 1916 | Unione | 2,367 |
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August 11, 1916 | Inverdruie | 613 |
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August 19, 1916 | HMS Falmouth * | 5,250 |
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December 11, 1916 | Bjor | 1,090 |
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December 11, 1916 | Palander | 311 |
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March 1, 1917 | Gurre | 1,733 |
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March 1, 1917 | Livingstone ** | 1.005 |
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March 22, 1917 | Stuart Prince | 3,597 |
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March 27, 1917 | Neath | 5,548 |
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April 6, 1917 | Powhatan | 6.117 |
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June 5, 1917 | Cupid | 3,472 |
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June 5, 1917 | Manchester Miller | 4.234 |
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June 7, 1917 | Cranmore * | 3.157 |
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June 7, 1917 | Ikalis | 4,329 |
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June 10, 1917 | Bay State | 6,583 |
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June 14, 1917 | Perfect | 1,088 |
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July 9, 1917 | Iparraguirre | 1,161 |
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July 21, 1917 | African Prince | 4,916 |
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July 21, 1917 | Harold | 1,322 |
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Sunk: Damaged: Total: |
69,967 11,964 81,931 |
* damaged but not sunk
** confiscated
as a prize
Footnotes
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 137ff.
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 68.
- ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - Powhatan
- ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - Bay State
- ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - Neath
- ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - HMS Falmouth
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 90.
- ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars . Graefelfing before Munich: Urbes, 1998, p. 33.
- ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit by U 66
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 .