SM U 66

SM U 66 ( previous / next - all submarines )
Construction data
Submarine type:	Two-hull deep-sea boat war order D / UD
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)
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
Speed:	16.8 knots (above water) 10.3 knots (under water)
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)
Mission data
Commanders:	Thorwald Frhr. from Bothmer Gerhard Muhle
Crew (target strength):	4 officers 32 men
Calls:	7th
Successes:	24 sunk merchant ships 1 damaged warship
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
April 5, 1916	Cent	3,890	United Kingdom
April 6, 1916	Binicaise	151	France
April 7, 1916	Sainte Marie	397	France
April 7, 1916	Rijndijk *	3,557	Netherlands
April 8, 1916	Santanderino	3,346	Spain
April 9, 1916	Eastern City	4,341	United Kingdom
April 9, 1916	Glenalmond	2,888	United Kingdom
April 9, 1916	Sjolyst	997	Norway
April 10, 1916	Margam Abbey	4,471	United Kingdom
April 10, 1916	Unione	2,367	Italy
August 11, 1916	Inverdruie	613	Norway
August 19, 1916	HMS Falmouth *	5,250	United Kingdom
December 11, 1916	Bjor	1,090	Norway
December 11, 1916	Palander	311	Sweden
March 1, 1917	Gurre	1,733	Norway
March 1, 1917	Livingstone **	1.005	Norway
March 22, 1917	Stuart Prince	3,597	United Kingdom
March 27, 1917	Neath	5,548	United Kingdom
April 6, 1917	Powhatan	6.117	United Kingdom
June 5, 1917	Cupid	3,472	Italy
June 5, 1917	Manchester Miller	4.234	United Kingdom
June 7, 1917	Cranmore *	3.157	United Kingdom
June 7, 1917	Ikalis	4,329	United Kingdom
June 10, 1917	Bay State	6,583	United Kingdom
June 14, 1917	Perfect	1,088	Norway
July 9, 1917	Iparraguirre	1,161	Spain
July 21, 1917	African Prince	4,916	United Kingdom
July 21, 1917	Harold	1,322	United Kingdom
	Sunk: Damaged: Total:	69,967 11,964 81,931

* damaged but not sunk
** confiscated as a prize

Footnotes

1. ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 137ff.
2. ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 68.
3. ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - Powhatan
4. ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - Bay State
5. ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - Neath
6. ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - HMS Falmouth
7. ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 90.
8. ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars . Graefelfing before Munich: Urbes, 1998, p. 33.
9. ↑ 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 .

Web links

• uboat.net WWI U-boats U 66 (engl.)
• Memorial plaque for U 66 at the submarine memorial in Möltenort