SM U 78
| SM U 78 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Construction data | ||
| Submarine type: | Single-hull deep-sea boat war order E / UE |
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| Series: | U 75 - U 80 | |
| Builder: | Vulkan shipyard, Hamburg | |
| Build number: | 60 | |
| Launch: | February 27, 1916 | |
| Commissioning: | April 20, 1916 | |
| Technical specifications | ||
| Displacement: | 755 tons (above water) 832 tons (under water) |
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| Length: | 56.80 m | |
| Width: | 5.90 m | |
| Draft: | 4.86 m | |
| Pressure body ø: | 5.00 m | |
| Max. Diving depth: | 50 m | |
| Dive time: | 40-50 s | |
| Drive: | Diesel engines 900 PS E-machines 800 PS |
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| Speed: | 9.9 knots (above water) 7.8 knots (under water) |
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| Armament: | 1 × bow torpedo tube (port) 1 × stern torpedo tube (starboard) (4 torpedoes in the upper deck) 1 × 10.5 cm deck gun 2 × stern mine tube (38 sea mines) |
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| Mission data | ||
| Commander: |
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| Crew (target strength): | 4 officers 28 men |
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| Calls: | 13 | |
| Successes: | 16 sunk merchant ships 1 sunk warship |
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| Whereabouts: | Sunk on October 28, 1918 in the North Sea by the British submarine G 2 . | |
SM U-78 was a diesel-electric mines - submarine of the class UE of the German Imperial Navy . It was used in the First World War .
Special feature of the armament and motorization
The main task of U 78 was laying the sea mines, up to 38 of which could be transported inside the boat. They were laid via two outlet pipes in the stern of the boat. It was therefore not primarily a submarine for torpedo attacks. Compared to other deep-sea submarines, it was relatively weakly motorized. Even the surface speed remained in the single digits. The torpedo armament was only used for self-defense.
Calls
U 78 ran on 27 February 1916, which Vulkan shipyard in Hamburg from the stack and was put into service on 20 April 1916th The submarine was assigned to the 1st submarine flotilla in July 1916 . The commissioning commander was Kapitänleutnant Otto Dröscher (April 20, 1916 to January 15, 1918), who scored all the sinkings. The submarine was then commanded in rapid succession by Wilhelm Meyer , Karl Thouret , Karl Vesper and, most recently, Johann Vollbrecht .
U 78 carried out 13 operations in the North Sea and around the British Isles during the First World War . 16 merchant ships of belligerent powers and neutral states with a total tonnage of 26,678 GRT and one warship with 810 GRT were sunk.
The largest ship sunk by U 78 was the British freighter Kelvinia of the Glasgow Steam Shipping Company . The approximately 5000 GRT ship ran on September 2, 1916 on a mine laid by U 78 in the Bristol Channel . All crew members survived the accident. The Kursk , a 7,800 GRT Russian passenger ship of the Russian American Line , ran into a mine of U 78 in British waters on December 13, 1916 , but was only damaged. On April 7, 1917, the British minesweeper Jason sank off the west coast of Scotland , also through a U 78 mine . 25 seafarers were killed.
The Scandinavian cargo ships Vidar (approx. 2,200 GRT) and Atle Jarl (approx. 1,250 GRT) were confiscated as prizes on July 16 and October 21, 1916, respectively .
Whereabouts
Together with three other submarines, U 78 ran out of Heligoland on October 25, 1918 on a patrol . After escorting through minefields together, the convoy was disbanded in the early morning of October 27, 1918 west of Denmark and the four submarines continued separately.
That same night the listening device on the British submarine G 2 received conspicuous signals. The German submarine was discovered and a torpedo was shot down, through which the U 78 sank. The sinking occurred about the following position in the middle of the North Sea 56 ° 2 ' N , 5 ° 8' O . A short time later, the commander of G 2 broke off the search for survivors without any results. Since he suspected another German submarine in the vicinity, he let submerge and left the place of wreckage. None of the 40 German submarine drivers were rescued.
Originally it was assumed that the attack by G 2 on U 78 did not take place until October 28, 1918. However, British records show that the loss happened the day before. This coincides with German sources on the previous ship movements.
The wreck was discovered in April 2015 by Danish diver Gert Normann Andersen. The history of the boat is to be presented in a new museum in Thyborøn , Denmark . The wreck is viewed as a burial site and respected as such.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 136.
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 123.
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 68.
- ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - Kelvinia (Engl.)
- ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - Kursk (Engl.)
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 120.
- ↑ uboat.net: Ships hit during WWI - Jason (engl.)
- ↑ uboat: WWI U-boat Successes - Ships hit by U 78 (eng.)
- ↑ 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: Urbes, 1998, p. 59.
- ↑ Berlingske Tidende (Danish), May 16, 2015
- ↑ http://orf.at/stories/2278912/ German submarine wreck from the First World War found, ORF.at, May 16, 2015. Calls on the newspaper Lemvig Folkeblad of May 16, 2015.
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: Urbes, 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .
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