SM U-111

SM U-111 at sea, 1919
Career (German Empire)
Name:	U-111
Ordered:	5 May 1916
Builder:	Germaniawerft, Kiel
Yard number:	Werk 280
Launched:	5 September 1917
Commissioned:	30 December 1917
Fate:	Surrendered to the USA 20 November 1918
General characteristics
Class and type:	German Type U 93 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 nautical miles (20,780 km) surfaced 56 nautical miles (104 km) submerged
Complement:	39 men
Armament:	16 torpedoes (4/2 in bow/stern tubes) 105mm deck gun with 220 rounds 88mm deck gun

SM U-111 was one of the 329 submarines serving in the Imperial German Navy in World War I. She took part in the First Battle of the Atlantic.^[2] She was the only submarine which had a clergyman on board (Wilhelm Meinhold, Marinepfarrer).

Completed at Kiel early in January 1918, she went to the Kiel School for shakedown and training until March, when she joined 4. Flotille.^[3] She was monitored continuously by British Naval Intelligence (Room 30), on which her movement reports are based. All her operations took place in 1918.

Service history

She departed 26 March on her first war patrol, operating in the Irish Sea and western entrance to the English Channel, sinking two steamers and returning to Kiel and 23 April.^[4] Her second patrol began 27 May, sailing from Heligoland Bight via Muckle Flugga to the western English Channel. She sank at least one confirmed steamer, and returned the same way, arriving 24 June.^[5] Her third patrol, between 25 August and 29 September, was via Fastnet and Scillies into the Irish Sea, where she was hampered by British A/S patrols and obtained no sinkings.^[6]

U-111 surrendered at Harwich 20 November, after the Armistice.^[7]

Summary of Raiding Career

Date	Name	Nationality	Tonnage (GRT)	Fate[8]
7 April 1918	Boscastle	United Kingdom	2,346	Sunk
28 May 1918	Dronning Margrethe	Denmark	393	Sunk
22 June 1918	Rana	Norway	272	Sunk

Notes

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.  Check date values in: |date= (help)
• 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

• Photos of cruises of German submarine U-54 in 1916-1918.
• A 44 min. German film from 1917 about a cruise of the German submarine U-35.
• Uboat.net: More detailed information about U-111.
• Room 40: original documents, photos and maps about World War I German submarine warfare and British Room 40 Intelligence from The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, UK.