U-Flotilla Flanders

The U-Flotilla Flanders was a flotilla of submarines belonging to the German Imperial Navy that was stationed in Flanders during the First World War . It operated in the North Sea and around Great Britain and Ireland .

history

1914

In October 1914 there were first considerations to set up a submarine flotilla on the North Sea coast in Belgium , which had just been occupied . The currently occupied cities of Bruges , Zeebrugge , Ostend , Antwerp and Ghent were available as possible locations . The ports should have a modern infrastructure with shipyards, berths, workshops and docks and be safe from sabotage. From December 1914 work began on fortifying the Flemish coast and expanding the ports as ports of refuge for smaller units. The flotilla was subordinate to Admiral Ludwig von Schröder as commanding admiral of the newly formed Marine Corps Flanders .

1915

On March 29, 1915, the U-Flotilla Flanders was set up. Chief of the flotilla was lieutenant captain , from September 1915 corvette captain , Karl Bartenbach , who was designated as commander of the submarines Flanders from October 1917 . The flotilla had around 16 boats in 1915, including UC 1 by July 1917 .

The three ports of operation, also known as the important maritime triangle, were

• Zeebrugge
• Bruges
• East End

The operational area of ​​the flotilla was

• North Sea : Flamborough Head line to Terschelling
• Irish Sea or east coast of Great Britain
• West approach to the English Channel

In this area, UC-class submarines were supposed to lay mines in the shipping lanes.

Seal of the U-Flotilla Flanders I

1916 and 1917

By 1917 the flotilla grew to the size of about 38 boats that were permanently stationed in Flanders. It was therefore decided to split them up into the U-Flotilla Flandern I and the U-Flotilla Flandern II .

Flotilla Chiefs:

• U-Flotilla Flanders I: First Lieutenant Hans Walther
• U-Flotilla Flanders II : First Lieutenant Otto Rohrbeck

Adjutant :

• U-Flotilla Flanders I: First Lieutenant Fritz von Twardowski
• U-Flotilla Flanders II: First Lieutenant Hans Kawelmacher

Boats submarine Flanders I

In October 1917 the flotilla consisted of 16 boats (8 UC boats and 8 UB boats ):

• UC 4 , UC 11 , UC 16 , UC 17 , UC 50 , UC 51 , UC 77 , UC 79
• UB 54, UB 55, UB 56, UB 57, UB 58, UB 59, UB 80, UB 81

Boats submarine Flanders II

In October 1917 the flotilla consisted of 21 boats (10 UC boats and 11 UB boats):

• UC 47 , UC 48 , UC 62 , UC 63 , UC 64 , UC 65 , UC 69 , UC 70 , UC 71 , UC 75
• UB 10, UB 12, UB 16, UB 17, UB 18 , UB 30, UB 31, UB 33 , UB 35, UB 38, UB 40

In 1917 the flotillas had around 27 to 30 boats in service.

1918 and dissolution

A UC boat loading mines in Zeebrugge

The two flotillas were disbanded in October 1918. On October 15, 1918, the withdrawal from Flanders was initiated and the personnel relocated to Germany. The remaining submarines had to be handed over to the Allies.

About 93 boats were in the service of the two flotillas during the three war years, these boats sank about 2554 vehicles with 4.5 million GRT , i.e. 30% of the total tonnage sunk by German submarines during the war. They lost 80 of their own units with 1,782 seamen.

The flotilla was dissolved as a liquidation center in Kiel by the end of 1918 .

Famous pepole

• Werner Lange , Commander of UC 11 and UC 71 later Vice Admiral
• Hans Howaldt , commander of UC 4, UB 40 and UB 107
• Johannes Lohs , commander of UC 75 and UB 57
• Reinhold Saltzwedel , commander of UB 81, porter of the Pour le Mérite and first submarine commander who sank 110 ships
• Otto Steinbrinck , commander of UB 10, UB 18, UB 57 and UC 65, admiral staff officer on the staff of the commander of the submarines in Flanders, he is considered the most successful Flanders commander
• Walter Warzecha , commander of UC 1 and UC 71
• Egon von Werner , commander of UC 1, UC 16 and UB 54, later founder and head of the Reich office for educational film in the Third Reich

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tomas Termote: Underwater War: Flanders Submarine Flotilla 1915–1918 . ES Mittler & Sohn, 2015, ISBN 3-8132-0959-8 .
2. ↑ Johan Ryheul: Naval Corps . Mittler in Maximilian Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, 1997, ISBN 978-3-8132-0541-1 .
3. ↑ Dermot Bradley (ed.), Hans H. Hildebrand, Ernest Henriot: Deutschlands Admirale 1849-1945. The military careers of naval, engineering, medical, weapons and administrative officers with admiral rank. Volume 3: P-Z. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1990. ISBN 3-7648-1700-3 . P. 268.
4. ↑ Mark Karau: The Naval Flank of the Western Front: The Development & Operations of the German Marine Korps Flandern 1914-1918 . Seaforth Publishing, 2015, ISBN 978-1-84832-231-8 , pp. 170 ( google.de [accessed on February 23, 2020]).
5. ↑ Bodo Herzog: Kapitänleutnant Otto Steinbrinck: the story of the most successful submarine commander in the waters around England . H. Rühl, 1963, p. 19 ( google.de [accessed on February 23, 2020]).
6. ↑ Tomas Termote: War under water: Unterseebootflottille Flanders 1915Z 1918 . ES Mittler & Sohn, 2015, ISBN 3-8132-0959-8 .
7. ↑ Corps Day Order No. 94/18 of October 16, 1918 (BArch RM 120/252)
8. ↑ Hermann Jacobsen: defiant and faithful. Our navy fights on the coast of Flanders during the world war. Behr's publishing house, Berlin 1935.
9. ↑ Wreck of a German submarine from World War I discovered off the Belgian coast. Retrieved February 20, 2020 . 

Web links

• http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/ (to the respective boats)