SM UC-39

Career (German Empire)
Class and type: German Type UC II submarine
Name: UC-39
Ordered: 20 November 1915[1]
Builder: Blohm & Voss, Hamburg[2]
Yard number: 280[1]
Launched: 25 June 1916[1]
Commissioned: 31 October 1916[1]
Fate: sunk by gunfire from HMS Thrasher, 8 February 1917[1]
General characteristics
Class and type: Type UC II submarine
Displacement: 427 t (471 short tons), surfaced[2]
509 t (561 short tons), submerged
Length: 165 ft 2 in (50.34 m)[2]
Beam: 17 ft 4 in (5.28 m)[2]
Draft: 12 ft 2 in (4 m)[3]
Propulsion: 2 × propeller shafts
2 × 6-cylinder, 4-stroke diesel engines, 500 bhp (370 kW)[3]
2 × electric motors, 460 shp (340 kW)[3]
Speed: 11.9 knots (22.0 km/h), surfaced[2]
6.8 knots (12.6 km/h), submerged
Endurance: 10,180 nautical miles @ 7 knots, surfaced[3]
(18,850 km @ 13 km/h)
54 nautical miles @ 4 knots, submerged[3]
(100 km @ 7.4 km/h)
Test depth: 50 m (160 ft)[3]
Complement: 26[3]
Armament: 6 × 100 cm (39.4 in) mine tubes[3]
18 × UC 200 mines
3 × 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes (2 bow/external; one stern)
7 × torpedoes
1 × 8.8 cm (3.46 in) KL/30 deck gun[2]
Notes: 35-second diving time[2]

SM UC-39 was a German Type UC II minelaying submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 20 November 1915 and was launched on 25 June 1916. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 31 October 1916 as SM UC-39.[Note 1] In 1 patrols UC-39 was credited with sinking 3 ships, either by torpedo or by mines laid. UC-39 was forced to the surface by a depth charge attack and then sunk by gunfire from the British destroyer Thrasher off Flamborough Head on 8 February 1917.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ "SM" stands for "Seiner Majestät" (English: His Majesty's) and combined with the U for Unterseeboot would be translated as His Majesty's Submarine.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: UC-39". U-Boat War in World War I. Uboat.net. http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=UC+39. Retrieved 23 February 2009. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Tarrant, p. 173.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Gardiner, p. 182.

Bibliography