SM U-72

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For other ships of the same name, see German submarine U-72.
Career (German Empire)
Name: U-72
Ordered: 6 January 1915
Builder: AG Vulkan, Hamburg
Launched: 31 October 1915
Commissioned: 26 January 1916
Fate: 1 November 1918 - Scuttled during the evacuation of Cattaro in position 42°30′N 18°41′E / 42.500°N 18.683°E / 42.500; 18.683[1]
General characteristics
Class & 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: 10.6 knots (19.6 km/h; 12.2 mph) surfaced
7.9 kn (14.6 km/h; 9.1 mph) submerged[2]
Range: 7,880 nmi (14,590 km; 9,070 mi) at 7 knsurfaced 83 nmi (154 km; 96 mi) at 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: Ernst Krafft
28 Jan 1916 - 17 Jul 1917

Johannes Feldkirchner
18 Jul 1917 - 5 Nov 1917

Erich Schulze
6 Nov 1917 - 31 Dec 1917

Hermann Bohm
1 Jan 1918 - 31 Oct 1918
Operations:

4 patrols
11 Apr 1916 - 17 Sep 1916 I Flotilla 17 Sep 1916 - 1 Nov 1918 Pola/Mittelmeer II Flotilla

21 ships sunk for a total of 38,596 tons.

5 ships damaged for a total of 21,513 tons.[1]

SM U-72 was one of 329 submarines serving in the Imperial German Navy in World War I. U-72 was engaged in the commerce war in First Battle of the Atlantic.

Operations

U-72 left the stocks at Hamburg (AG Vulcan) in March 1916, joined the Kiel School, and first entered North Sea on 11 April 1916. Attached 1st Half Flotilla, under the command of Kaptlt. Krafft.

  • 15–21 April 1916. Cruise in North Sea. Returned with defects.
  • 23–2 May 1916. ? Cruise in North Sea.
  • 21 June to 4 July 1916. Northabout. Laid mines off Cape Wrath.
  • 20 August - ? 15 September 1916. Northabout to Mediterranean. Laid mines off Lisbon, Oran and Cape Blanc. On arriving at Cattaro joined the Pola-Cattaro Flotilla.
  • Of U-72's operations in the Mediterranean, little is known after her arrival in September 1916.
  • On a cruise from the middle of February 1917 until 6 March 1917, she sank 4 steamers and stopped British hospital ship, Dunluce Castle. She damaged SS Megantic and was later unsuccessfully attacked by armed trawlers.
  • U-72 was reported as not having cruised, with the above exception, after January 1917, and was regarded as a lame duck. Indeed of her class, U-71 to U-80 (all minelayers), U-80 was the only boat not continually in dockyard hands. At the end of October 1918, U-72 was blown up at evacuation of Cattaro.

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Uboat.net U-72
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Encyclopedia of U-boats (2004), London:Greenhill Books, ISBN 1-85367-623-3, p.32
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Type UE 1 UE ocean minelayers class
  4. ↑ Fitzsimons, Bernard. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare (London: Phoebus, 1978), Vol. 23, p.2536.
  • List of German U-boats
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