Unterseeboot C-41

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Career (German Empire)

Name:	UC-41
Ordered:	20 November 1915
Builder:	Vulcan, Hamburg
Launched:	13 September 1916
Commissioned:	11 October 1916
Fate:	Sunk 21 August 1917. 27 dead.
Class and type:	UC II

Service record
Part of	Kaiserliche Marine
Commanders	Kurt Bernis Hans Förste
Operations	7
Victories	18 ships sunk for a total of 18.233 tons

Unterseeboot C-41 was a German Type UC II U-boat commissioned and deployed to operate off the coast of the British Isles and attack coastal shipping as part of the First Battle of the Atlantic.

In a nine month career, the UC-41 succeeded in sinking eighteen vessels totaling 18,233 tons. This total is believed to include the tiny naval fishing smacks Nelson and Ethel & Millie during an engagement on 15 August 1917. The Skipper of Nelson, Thomas Crisp was killed and posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, whilst the crew of the Ethel & Millie were taken prisoner and presumably were still aboard when the submarine was sunk.

[edit] Fate

UC-41 was lost on 21 August 1917 after suffering an unexplained internal explosion of one of her mines which forced her to suddenly rise to the surface in the Tay estuary, where she was spotted by British naval trawlers and depth charged, killing all 27 German sailors and possibly seven British prisoners of war as well. Her wreck was recently rediscovered in 2003.