SM U-92

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For other ships of the same name, see German submarine U-92.
Career (German Empire)
Name: U-92
Ordered: 23 June 1915
Builder: Kaiserliche Werft Danzig
Yard number: Werk 36
Laid down: 20 August 1916
Launched: 12 May 1917
Commissioned: 22 October 1917
Fate: Lost in minefield 9 September 1918
General characteristics
Class & type: German Type U 87 submarine
Displacement: 808 tons surfaced
946 tons submerged
1160 tons (total)
Length: 70.60 m (overall)
55.55 m (pressure hull)
Beam: 6.30 m (overall)
4.15 m (pressure hull)
Draught: 4.02 m
Propulsion: 2400 hp surfaced
1200 hp submerged
Speed: 16.8 knots surfaced
9.1 knots submerged
Range: 11,220 miles surfaced 56 miles submerged
Complement: 39 men
Armament: 16 torpedoes (4/2 in bow/stern tubes)
105mm deck gun with 220 rounds
88mm deck gun

SM U-92 was one of 329 submarines serving in the Imperial German Navy in World War I. She was engaged in the commerce warfare in the First Battle of the Atlantic.

Construction of U-92 was ordered in August 1915, and her keel was laid in August 1916 at the Kaiserliche Werft yard in Danzig.[1] She was launched in October 1917, and sunk by mine 9 September 1918.[1]

Operations

After acceptance trials at Danzig (where she was first detected by Room 40, which followed and recorded all her subsequent movements),[1] commanded by Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant) Bieler.[2] She joined the Kiel School 2 November 1917,[1] leaving for the North Sea about the end of December 1917, being attached to the 3rd Flotilla at Wilhelmshaven.[1] All her combat operations took place in 1918.[1]

U-92 departed for her first war patrol 1 January, via Heligoland Bight and around Scotland into the northern Bay of Biscay,[1] recording no sinkings,[1] and returning to Wilhelmshaven[3] 30 January.[1]

Her second patrol began 24 February, and she was assigned to a station southwest of Ireland,[4] transiting the Kiel Canal and the Baltic Sea, due to heavy mining in the North Sea.[2] Again, she scored no victories, but was in the vicinity of Skaw, at the time the commerce raider Wolf stranded a prize, Igotz Mendi, for two days.[1] She also torpedoed the 7034-ton steamer British Princess, killing one British seaman, and inflicting damage, none severe enough to keep her victim from reaching port. U-92 returned to Kiel on 23 March.[1]

After refit, U-92 departed on her third patrol 24 April. She was again assigned to the southwest Ireland station, by way of Heligoland, the Kiel Canal, the Baltic, Denmark, Scotland, and Fair Isle. On this long patrol, from which she returned to Wilhelmshaven on about 28 May (Room 40 was uncertain of the date),[1] she was attacked three times by enemy A/S forces (and once more by patrol seaplane), and again scored no successes.[1] On his return, after his third consecutive dry patrol and in keeping with usual practise for unproductive skippers, Kptlt. Bieler was relieved.[5]

U-92 returned to Ireland station for her fourth patrol, sortieing 29 June,[1] now in the hands of Kaplt. Günther Ehrlich.[6] She came under attack on only the second day of her patrol, south of Dogger Bank, by two torpedoes from submarine E42, Both missed.[3] U-92 attacked a convoy eight days later, on 9 July.[7] She sank two armed steamers, the 2814 ton Ben Lomond 30 nmi (56 km) southeast of Daunts Rock and the 3550 ton Mars 74 nmi (137 km) west by north of Bishop Rock.[8] and suffered damage in a collision.[1] On 10 July, she fired on the 339 ton armed schooner Charles Theriault with her deck gun, inflicting damage; Theriault was towed to port.[1] The next day she torpedoed and sank the 5590-ton United States Navy cargo ship USS Westover (ID-2867) at 46°36′N 12°21′W / 46.600°N 12.350°W / 46.600; -12.350 with the loss of 11 members of Westover's crew,[9][10][11] and on 13 July, the 3058-ton Spanish steamer S.S. Ramon de Larrinaga with two torpedoes.[1] By the end of her patrol, on 22 July, she had sunk 22,000 tons[12] of shipping.[1]

For her fifth patrol, she left via Kattegat on 4 September. She was mined 9 September in Area B of the North Sea Mine Barrage, and lost with all hands;[13] her last position was suspected to be 59°0′N 1°30′W / 59.000°N 1.500°W / 59.000; -1.500Coordinates: 59°0′N 1°30′W / 59.000°N 1.500°W / 59.000; -1.500."[1]

At the end of 2007, her wreck was located there by 2007 by the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency ship Anglian Sovereign.[1]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 Koerver, Hans Joachim. Room 40: German Naval Warfare 1914-1918. Vol II., The Fleet in Being (Steinbach, Germany: LIS Reinisch, 2009).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Handelskrieg, V, pp.36-7.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Handelskrieg, V, p.310-1.
  4. ↑ Koerver.
  5. ↑ Koerver, Room 40, Vol 1, Fleet in Action.
  6. ↑ Handelskrieg, V, pp.310-1.
  7. ↑ Handelkrieg, V, p.310-1, dates it 8 July.
  8. ↑ National Archives, Kew, UK: ADM 137/4814 and 4817; Handelskrieg, V, 310-1.
  9. ↑ Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Westover
  10. ↑ Online Library of Selected Images: Westover (American Freighter, 1918). Served as USS Westover (ID # 2867) in 1918
  11. ↑ NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Westover (ID 2867)
  12. ↑ Koerver, Room 40 says: "claimed 22,000 tons". Claimed, because it was U-92 who sent these numbers by W/T to the German Admiralty. It was the captain's estimation (for whatever reason) of the real numbers, telegraphed 14 July to his seniors before he could reach his base on 22 July. This W/T was deciphered by Room 40. The real number is the summation of the sunk ships mentioned here: 15,000 tons. It was the general trend from the German side to overestimate the numbers of ships sunk: at the end of the war the Allieds published a detailed list with each sunk ship, resulting in 12 Mio tons, while Germany claimed 18 Mio tons of ships sunk, based only on the raw numbers estimated by the C.O.s of their submarines.
  13. ↑ Handelskrieg, Vol 5

References

  • Spindler, Arno (1932,1933,1934,1941/1964,1966). Der Handelskrieg mit U-Booten. 5 Vols. Berlin: Mittler & Sohn. Vols. 4+5, dealing with 1917+18, are very hard to find: Guildhall Library, London, has them all, also Vol. 1-3 in an English translation: The submarine war against commerce. 
  • Beesly, Patrick (1982). Room 40: British Naval Intelligence 1914-1918. London: H Hamilton. ISBN 978-0-241-10864-2. 
  • Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-85728-498-0. 
  • Roessler, Eberhard (1997). Die Unterseeboote der Kaiserlichen Marine. Bonn: Bernard & Graefe. ISBN 978-3-7637-5963-7. 
  • Schroeder, Joachim (2002). Die U-Boote des Kaisers. Bonn: Bernard & Graefe. ISBN 978-3-7637-6235-4. 
  • Koerver, Hans Joachim (2008). Room 40: German Naval Warfare 1914-1918. Vol I., The Fleet in Action. Steinbach: LIS Reinisch. ISBN 978-3-902433-76-3. 
  • Koerver, Hans Joachim (2009). Room 40: German Naval Warfare 1914-1918. Vol II., The Fleet in Being. Steinbach: LIS Reinisch. ISBN 978-3-902433-77-0. 

External links

  • List of German U-boats
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