| Career (German Empire) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-73 |
| Ordered: | 6 January 1915 |
| Builder: | Kaiserliche Werft Danzig (Werk 29) |
| Launched: | 16 June 1915 |
| Commissioned: | 9 October 1915 |
| Fate: | Scuttled during the evacuation of Cattaro 30 October 1918 i8n position [1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | German Type UE I submarine |
| Displacement: | 755 tonnes (743 long tons) (surfaced) 832 tonnes (819 long tons) (submerged) [2] |
| Length: | 56.8 m (186 ft 4 in) (overall)[2] 46.66 m (153 ft 1 in) pressure hull[3] |
| Beam: | 5.9 m (19 ft 4 in) (overall)[2]5 m (16 ft 5 in) pressure hull[3] |
| Height: | 8.25 m (27 ft 1 in)[3] |
| Draught: | 4.86 m (15 ft 11 in)[2] |
| Propulsion: | 900 hp (670 kW) (surfaced) 660 kW (890 hp) (submerged)[2] |
| Speed: | 9.6 knots (17.8 km/h; 11.0 mph) (surfaced) 7.9 kn (14.6 km/h; 9.1 mph) (submerged)[2] |
| Range: | 5,480 nmi (10,150 km; 6,310 mi) @ 7 kn(surfaced) 83 nmi (154 km; 96 mi) @ 4 kn (submerged) |
| Complement: | 32 men[2] |
| Armament: | One 50 cm (20 in) torpedo tubes forward and one 50 cm torpedo tubes aft with two torpedoes[4] plus one 8.8 cm (3.5 in) deck gun two minelaying tubes for 38 mines[2] |
| Service record | |
| Part of: | Imperial German Navy |
| Commanders: | Gustav Sieß [1] 9 Oct 1915 - 21 May 1917 Ernst von Voigt [2] 22 May 1917 - 15 Jan 1918 Karl Meusel [3] 16 Jan 1918 - 15 Jun 1918 Carl Bünte [4] 16 Jun 1918 - 14 Jul 1918 Fritz Saupe [5] 15 Jul 1918 - 30 Oct 1918 |
| Operations: | 2 patrols 30 Apr 1916 - 30 Oct 1918 Pola/Mittelmeer II Flotilla 18 ships sunk for a total of 87,449 tons. 3 ships damaged for a total of 8,067 gross register tons (GRT) 3 warships sunk for a total of 28,750 GRT[5] |
SM U-73 was one of 329 submarines serving in the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) in World War I. She engaged in the commerce war as part of the First Battle of the Atlantic.
U-73 has the distinction of being responsible for sinking the largest ship sunk in World War I, the 48,758 ton hospital ship Britannic, shortly after she laid the mine which Brittanic struck.[6]
After completion at Danzig in November 1915, U-73 was commissioned by Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant) Gustav Sieß.[7] She joined the Kiel School, where she remained until February 1916, conducting trials and crew training. She then left for the North Sea and was attached to the 1st Half Flotilla, still under Her activities were monitored throughout the war by Room 40, & most of her recorded movements are based on that information.[8] Her first operational cruise began 1 April 1916, when she left Heligoland Bight, bound for the Mediterranean by way of the North Sea. En route, she attacked one steamer in the Atlantic and laid mines off Lisbon and Malta. On arriving Cattaro on about 1 May (the date is uncertain), she joined the Pola-Cattaro Flotilla.
The minelaying cruises of U-73 in the Mediterranean cannot be reconstructed. On 7 October 1916 she is reported to have left Pola, and the French put down to her the mine sunk off Cape Male on 12 October, as well as a minefield in the Gulf of Salonika, and mines in the Gulf of Athens on which two Greek ships were blown up. It seems certain U-73, still commanded by Sieß,[7] laid the mine by which the hospital ship HMHS Britannic was sunk, one hour after it was laid. It is possible the hospital ship Braemaer Castle was also sunk by one of her mines. U-73 suffered from constant machinery trouble in common with her class. At the end of October 1918, now in the hands of Kpnlt. Fritz Saupe,[7] she was scuttled at Cattaro.
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