SM U 69
SM U 69 ( 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: | 206 | |
Launch: | June 24, 1915 | |
Commissioning: | September 4, 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 × 45 cm bow torpedo tube 1 × 45 cm stern torpedo tube 1 × 8.8 cm deck gun 2 × 8.8 cm deck gun (from 1916) 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: | 6th | |
Successes: | 29 sunk merchant ships 1 sunk auxiliary cruiser |
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Whereabouts: | Missed in July 1917. Remaining unclear. |
SM U 69 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 24 June 1915, the boat eventually ran as U 69 at the Germania shipyard in Kiel from the stack and was put into service on September 4 1915th The first and only commander of the submarine was Kapitänleutnant Ernst Wilhelms (from September 4, 1915 to July 1917).
From March 1916, U 69 was assigned to the 4th U-Flotilla of the High Seas Armed Forces, which was stationed in Emden and Borkum .
During the First World War, U 69 carried out six patrols in the eastern North Atlantic . A total of 30 ships from the Entente and neutral states with a total tonnage of approx. 104,471 GRT were sunk. The largest ship that was sunk was the British auxiliary cruiser Avenger (around 13,500 GRT). The Avenger was west on June 14, 1917, the Shetland Islands approximately at the position of 60 ° 22 ' N , 4 ° 35' W sunk. In addition, the British naval trawler Era (168 GRT) was sunk by artillery on July 11, 1916 off Aberdeen .
On June 3, 1917, the Italian sailing ship Luisa was stopped southwest of Ireland . However, the sinking by artillery failed. The ship was later towed to Castletown .
Whereabouts
The whereabouts of U 69 is unclear. The exact time and cause of the loss are not known. On July 9, 1917, the submarine ran from Emden on a patrol into the waters southwest of Ireland. The last radio contact took place on July 11, 1917. At that time, the submarine was off the south coast of Norway . Since then it has been considered lost.
On July 12, 1917, the British destroyer HMS Patriot attacked a submarine with depth charges . It is unclear whether this was U 69 . British radio messages suggest, however, that U 69 reached its area of operations and was in use there until at least July 23, 1917. Some sources attribute the sinking of the Greek cargo ship Mikelis to U 69 on July 24, 1917, but this is also controversial.
There are no British or US reports that unequivocally prove a sinking. U 69 may have hit a floating mine or was lost due to an accident or human error .
Ship contacts
Ships sunk or damaged by U 69 :
date | Surname | tonnage | nation |
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April 15, 1916 | Fairport | 3,838 | United Kingdom |
April 15, 1916 | Dwindling | 844 | Russia |
April 16, 1916 | Glendoon | 1.918 | Norway |
April 16, 1916 | Harrovian | 4,309 | United Kingdom |
April 16, 1916 | Papelera | 1,591 | Norway |
April 17, 1916 | Ernest Reyer | 2,708 | France |
April 18, 1916 | Ravenhill | 1,826 | United Kingdom |
April 20, 1916 | Cairngowan | 4.017 | United Kingdom |
July 11, 1916 | Era | 168 | United Kingdom |
October 20, 1916 | Cabotia | 4,309 | United Kingdom |
October 24, 1916 | Sola | 3,057 | Norway |
October 26, 1916 | North Wales | 4,072 | United Kingdom |
October 26, 1916 | Rappahannock | 3,871 | United Kingdom |
November 2, 1916 | Spero | 1,132 | United Kingdom |
November 3, 1916 | Bertha | 591 | Sweden |
April 20, 1917 | Annapolis | 4,567 | United Kingdom |
April 25, 1917 | Hesperides | 3,393 | United Kingdom |
April 26, 1917 | Rio Lages | 3,591 | United Kingdom |
April 26, 1917 | Vauxhall | 3,629 | United Kingdom |
May 1, 1917 | Rockingham | 4,555 | United States |
May 2, 1917 | Troilus | 7,625 | United Kingdom |
May 29, 1917 | Argo | 123 | Sweden |
May 29, 1917 | Ines | 261 | Sweden |
May 29, 1917 | Consul R. Nielsen | 1,395 | Denmark |
May 31, 1917 | Esneh | 3,247 | United Kingdom |
June 3, 1917 | Luisa 1 | 1,648 | Italy |
June 6, 1917 | Parthenia | 5,160 | United Kingdom |
June 8, 1917 | Enidwen | 3,594 | United Kingdom |
June 8, 1917 | Zaragoza | 3,541 | United Kingdom |
June 13, 1917 | Kelvin Bank | 4,072 | United Kingdom |
June 14, 1917 | Avenger | 13,441 | United Kingdom |
July 24, 1917 | Mikelis 2 | 2,430 | Greece |
Sunk: Damaged: Total: |
102,875 1,648 104,523 |
literature
- Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966. Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1993, ISBN 3-86070-036-7 .
- Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes, Graefelfing 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .
Web links
- uboat.net WWI U-boats U 69 (English)
- u-boot-net.de: SM U 69
- u-boot-datenbank.de: U 69 Imperial Navy
- Memorial plaque for U 69 at the submarine memorial in Möltenort
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966. Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1993, p. 139.
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966. Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1993, p. 68.
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966. Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1993, p. 119.
- ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - Avenger
- ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - HMT Era
- ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - Luisa
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966. Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1993, p. 90.
- ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - Mikelis
- ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes, Graefelfing 1998, p. 31.
- ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit by U 69