SM UC-97
 UC-97 at Toronto, 1919 | |
| Career (German Empire) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | UC-97 |
| Ordered: | 12 January 1916[1] |
| Builder: | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg[2] |
| Yard number: | 331[1] |
| Launched: | 17 March 1918[1] |
| Commissioned: | 3 September 1918[1] |
| Fate: | surrendered, November 1918; sunk as target in Lake Michigan, June 1921[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | German Type UC III submarine |
| Displacement: |
491 t (541 short tons), surfaced[2] 571 t (629 short tons), submerged |
| Length: | 185 ft 5 in (56.52 m)[2] |
| Beam: | 18 ft 2 in (5.54 m)[2] |
| Draft: | 12 ft 6 in (4 m)[3] |
| Propulsion: |
2 × propeller shafts 2 × MAN 6-cylinder, 4-stroke diesel engines, 600 bhp (450 kW)[3] 2 × electric motors, 770 shp (570 kW)[3] |
| Speed: |
11.5 knots (21.3 km/h), surfaced[2] 6.6 knots (12.2 km/h), submerged |
| Endurance: |
9,850 nautical miles at 7 knots, surfaced[3] (18,240 km at 13 km/h) 40 nautical miles at 4.5 knots, submerged[3] (74 km at 8.3 km/h) |
| Test depth: | 75 m (246 ft)[3] |
| Complement: | 32[3] |
| Armament: |
6 × 100 cm (39.4 in) mine tubes[3] 14 × UC 200 mines 3 × 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes (2 bow external; one stern) 7 × torpedoes 1 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) KL/45 deck gun[3] |
| Notes: | 15-second diving time[2] |
SM UC-97 was a German Type UC III minelaying submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 12 January 1916 and was launched on 17 March 1918. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 3 September 1918 as SM UC-97.[Note 1]
As with the rest of the completed UC III boats, UC-97 conducted no war patrols and sank no ships. She was surrendered on 22 November 1918 to the United States. She was exhibited to raise money for Victory Bonds in the United States and the Great Lakes and was sunk as a target by Wilmette on Lake Michigan 20 nautical miles (37 km) off the coast of Highland Park, Illinois on 7 June 1921.[1] The wreck of UC-97 has not been definitively located. Although, it was reported in a 2013 Toronto Star article that the U-boat was found in 1992 by the Chicago-based company A&T Recovery.[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 1.5 Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: UC-97". U-Boat War in World War I. Uboat.net. Retrieved 23 February 2009.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Tarrant, p. 174.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Gardiner, p. 182.
- ↑ Ellison, Mark (26 June 2013). "Warf a reminder of Toronto's transformed shoreline". Toronto Star (Toronto). Archived from the original on 2013-06-26. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
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.
External links
- German World War I U-boat UC-97 from A&T Recovery, locaters of UC-97's wreck in Lake Michigan
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