SM U-17 (Germany)
For other ships of the same name, see German submarine U-17.
 U-17 (second row, second from the right), Kiel Harbour, February 1914 | |
| Career (Germany) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-17 |
| Ordered: | 10 May 1910 |
| Builder: | Kaiserliche Werft Danzig |
| Cost: | 2,333,000 Goldmark |
| Yard number: | 11 |
| Laid down: | 1 October 1910 |
| Launched: | 16 April 1912 |
| Commissioned: | 3 November 1912 |
| Struck: | 27 January 1919 |
| Fate: | Struck 27 January 1919, scrapped at Imperial Dockyard, Kiel. Pressure hull sold to Stinnes, Hamburg on 3 February 1920. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | German Type U 17 submarine |
| Displacement: | 564 t (622 short tons) surfaced 691 t (762 short tons) submerged |
| Length: | 62.35 m (204 ft 7 in) |
| Beam: | 6 m (19 ft 8 in) |
| Height: | 7.30 m (23 ft 11 in) |
| Draught: | 3.40 m (11 ft 2 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shafts 2 × 2 Körting 8-cylinder two stroke paraffin motors with 1,400 PS (1,400 hp) 2 × AEG electric motors with 1,120 PS (1,100 hp) 550 rpm surfaced 425 rpm submerged |
| Speed: | 14.9 knots (27.6 km/h; 17.1 mph) surfaced 9.5 knots (17.6 km/h; 10.9 mph) submerged |
| Range: | 6,700 nautical miles (7,700 mi; 12,400 km) at 8 kn surfaced 75 nautical miles (86 mi; 139 km) at 5 kn submerged |
| Test depth: | 50 m (164 ft 1 in) |
| Boats and landing craft carried: | 1 dingi |
| Complement: | 4 officers, 25 men |
| Armament: | 4 x 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes (2 each bow and stern) with 6 torpedoes 1 × 5 cm (2.0 in) SK L/40 gun 1 x 3.7 cm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss gun |
| Service record | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
Imperial German Navy II Flotilla 1 Aug 1914 – unknown end Baltic Flotilla unknown start – 10 Jan 1916 Training Flotilla 10 Jan 1916 – 11 Nov 1918 |
| Commanders: |
Oblt Johannes Feldkirchener[1] 1 Aug 1914 – 7 Mar 1915 Kptlt Hans Walther[2] 2 Mar 1915 – 9 Jan 1916 |
| Operations: | 4 patrols |
| Victories: |
12 merchant ships sunk (16,550 GRT) 1 merchant ship captured (3,538 GRT) |
SM U-17 was a German submarine during World War I. U-17 sank the first British merchant vessel in the First World War, and also sank another nine ships and captured one ship, surviving the war without casualty.
War service
Oberleutnant z.S. Feldkirchener
On 1 August 1914, Oberleutnant zur See Johannes Feldkirchener was given command of U-17.[3] On 20 October, U-17 stopped the 866 ton SS Glitra off the Norwegian coast, and having searched her cargo, ordered the crew to the lifeboats before scuttling the vessel. On 26 October, U-17 torpedoed the French ferry SS Amiral Ganteaume† in the Strait of Dover. The vessel made port before sinking, with the loss of 40 lives out of over 2,500 on board.[4]
† - www.uboat.net credits the damage to the French steamer Amiral Ganteaume to U-24.
On 2 March 1915 the command of U-17 passed to Kapitänleutnant Hans Walther. On 12 June 1915, U-17 chased and torpedoed the SS Desabla off the coast of Scotland. The crew escaped on lifeboats while the vessel was scuttled and sunk. Walther's command ended on 9 January 1916 and the next day U-17 joined the Training Flotilla.[3]
Post war
U-17 was decommissioned on 27 January 1919 and sold for scrapping.
Summary of Raiding Career
| Date | Ship Name | Nationality | Tonnage (GRT) | Fate[5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 October 1914 | Glitra |  United Kingdom |
866 | Sunk |
| 26 October 1914 | Amiral Ganteaume |  France |
4,590 | Damaged |
| 12 June 1915 | Cocos |  Denmark |
85 | Sunk |
| 12 June 1915 | Desabla | United Kingdom |
6,047 | Sunk |
| 18 June 1915 | Ailsa | United Kingdom |
876 | Sunk |
| 8 August 1915 | Glenravel | United Kingdom |
1,092 | Sunk |
| 8 August 1915 | Malmland |  Sweden |
3,676 | Sunk |
| 10 August 1915 | Utopia | United Kingdom |
155 | Sunk |
| 14 August 1915 | Gloria | United Kingdom |
130 | Sunk |
| 15 August 1915 | Götaland | Sweden |
3,538 | Captured as prize |
| 15 August 1915 | Marie | Denmark |
158 | Sunk |
| 16 August 1915 | Romulus |  Norway |
819 | Sunk |
| 16 August 1915 | Tello | Norway |
1,218 | Sunk |
| 24 October 1915 | Rumina | Sweden |
1,418 | Captured as prize |
Notes
- ↑ "Johannes Feldkirchener". Uboat.net. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- ↑ "Hans Walther (Pour le Mérite)". Uboat.net. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "U 17". Uboat.net. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
- ↑ "U-Boat warfare at the Atlantic in WW1". German Notes. Archived from the original on 2008-03-10. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
- ↑ "U-17 successes". UBoat.net. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
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. (1917). 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
- Photo of U-17.
- Photos of cruises of German submarine U-54 in 1916-1918. Great photo quality, comments in German.
- A 44 min. film from 1917 about a cruise of the German submarine U-35. A German propaganda film without dead or wounded; many details about submarine warfare in World War I.
- Uboat.net: More detailed information about U-17.
- 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.
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