SM UC-7
| Career (German Empire) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | UC-7 |
| Ordered: | by November 1914[1] |
| Builder: | AG Vulcan, Hamburg[2] |
| Yard number: | 51[1] |
| Launched: | 6 July 1915[1] |
| Commissioned: | 9 July 1915[1] |
| Fate: | disappeared after 5 July 1917[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | German Type UC I submarine |
| Displacement: |
168 t (185 short tons), surfaced[2] 183 t (202 short tons), submerged |
| Length: | 111 ft 6 in (33.99 m)[3] |
| Beam: | 10 ft 4 in (3.15 m)[3] |
| Draft: | 10 ft (3 m)[3] |
| Propulsion: |
1 × propeller shaft 1 × Daimler 6-cylinder, 4-stroke diesel engine, 90 bhp (67 kW)[3] 1 × electric motor, 175 shp (130 kW)[3] |
| Speed: |
6.20 knots (11.48 km/h), surfaced[2] 5.22 knots (9.67 km/h), submerged |
| Endurance: |
780 nautical miles at 5 knots, surfaced[3] (1,440 km at 9.3 km/h) 50 nautical miles at 4 knots, submerged[3] (93 km at 7.4 km/h) |
| Test depth: | 50 m (160 ft)[3] |
| Complement: | 14[3] |
| Armament: |
6 × 100 cm (39 in) mine tubes[3] 12 × UC 120 mines 1 × 8 mm (0.31 in) machine gun[2] |
SM UC-7 was a German Type UC I minelayer submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I. The U-boat had been ordered by November 1914 and was launched on 6 July 1915. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 9 July 1915 as SM UC-7.[Note 1] Mines laid by UC-7 in her 34 patrols were credited with sinking 32 ships.
Fate
UC-7 sailed from Zeebrugge on 3 March 1916 to lay mines off the English coast and failed to return. UB-12 sighted a submarine believed to be UC-7 on 5 July, west of the Bligh Bank, 46 km (29 mi) from Ostend. The submarine in question was reported to be on a course that would run it into a minefield, and Verschollen notes that the time and place would be correct if UC-7 were returning to base. The bodies of two crew members were later washed ashore on the coast of Flanders on 19 July. It was claimed that UC-7 was sunk by HMS Salmon on 7 July off Southwold, but this was doubted since the reported position was too far off UC-7's operating area.[4]
Notes
- ↑ "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
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: UC-7". U-Boat War in World War I. Uboat.net. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Tarrant, p. 173.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Gardiner, p. 181.
- ↑ Messimer, Dwight R. (2002). Verschollen : World War I U-boat losses. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p. 244. ISBN 978-1-55750-475-3. OCLC 231973419.
Bibliography
- Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8. OCLC 12119866.
- Tarrant, V. E. (1989). The U-Boat Offensive: 1914–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-764-7. OCLC 20338385.
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