SM U-28 (Germany)
![]() SM U-28 as seen from SS Batavier V, a ship she captured as a prize in March 1915. | |
Career (German Empire) | ![]() |
---|---|
Name: | U-28 |
Ordered: | 19 February 1912 |
Builder: | Kaiserliche Werft, Danzig |
Launched: | 30 August 1913 |
Commissioned: | 26 June 1914 |
Fate: | Sunk 2 September 1917. 39 dead. |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | German Type U 27 submarine |
Displacement: | 685 tons surfaced 878 tons submerged[1] |
Length: | 64.7 m (212.3 ft)[1] |
Beam: | 6.32 m (20.7 ft)[1] |
Draught: | 3.48 m (11.4 ft)[1] |
Speed: | 16.4 knots (30.4 km/h) surfaced 9.8 knots (18.1 km/h) submerged |
Range: | 9,770 nautical miles (18,090 km) at 8 knots (15 km/h) surfaced 85 nautical miles (157 km) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h) submerged |
Test depth: | 50 m (164.0 ft) |
Armament: |
|
Service record | |
---|---|
Part of: |
Imperial German Navy IV Flotilla 1 Aug 1914 - unknown end Training Flotilla Unknown start - 10 May 1917 IV Flotilla 10 May 1917 - 2 Sep 1917 |
Commanders: |
Kptlt Freiherr Georg-Günther von Forstner[2] 1 Aug 1914 - 14 Jun 1916 Kptlt Otto Rohrbeck[3] 15 Jun 1916 - 4 Aug 1916 Kptlt Freiherr von Loë-Degenhart[4] 5 Aug 1916 - 14 Jan 1917 Kptlt Georg Schmidt[5] 15 Jan 1917 - 2 Sep 1917[6] |
Operations: | 5 patrols |
Victories: |
40 merchant ships sunk (90,126 GRT) 2 merchant ships damaged (11,188 GRT) 2 merchant ships taken as prize (3,226 GRT) |
SM U-28 was a Type U 27 U-boat that served in the First World War. It conducted 5 patrols, sinking 40 ships totalling 90,126 tons.
Career
U-28 was commissioned into the Imperial German Navy on 26 June 1914, with Freiherr Georg-Günther von Forstner (1882-1940) in command.[7] Commander von Forstner was relieved on 15 June 1916 by Otto Rohrbeck, who was in turn relieved on 5 August by Freiherr von Loe-Degenhart. On 15 January 1917, Georg Schmidt took command.
On 30 July 1915, U-28 sunk British steamer Iberian. According to Commander von Forstner's account of the incident, the wreckage remained under the water for about 25 seconds until an explosion sent some of the debris flying up. Along with the debris was a creature described as a "gigantic aquatic animal" resembling a crocodile, which quickly disappeared from sight.[8][9]
Sinking
U-28 's final patrol began on 19 August 1917, when it departed from Emden for the Arctic Sea. On 2 September, at 11:55 am, it encountered the armed English steamer Olive Branch, 85 nautical miles (157 km) north-by-northeast of North Cape, Norway. U-28 scored a torpedo hit, and closed in to finish the steamer with gunfire. The shells detonated the Olive Branch 's cargo of munitions, which it had been carrying from England to Arkhangelsk, Russia, and the subsequent explosion so badly damaged the U-boat that it sank along with the steamer. All 39 of its crew were lost; some were seen swimming, but were not picked up by the Olive Branch 's lifeboats.[10]
An alternative description of the event states that when the ammunition detonated, a truck carried as deck cargo was blown into the air and fell from a great height on the U-boat, sinking it.[11]
Summary of Raiding Career
Date | Name | Nationality | Tonnage (GRT) |
Fate[12] |
---|---|---|---|---|
17 March 1915 | Leeuwarden | ![]() |
990 | Sunk |
18 March 1915 | Zaanstrom | ![]() |
1,657 | Captured as a prize |
18 March 1915 | Batavier V | ![]() |
1,569 | Captured as a prize |
25 March 1915 | Medea | ![]() |
1,235 | Sunk |
27 March 1915 | Aguila | ![]() |
2,114 | Sunk |
27 March 1915 | South Point | ![]() |
3,837 | Sunk |
27 March 1915 | Vosges | ![]() |
1,295 | Sunk |
28 March 1915 | Falaba | ![]() |
4,806 | Sunk |
29 March 1915 | Flaminian | ![]() |
3,500 | Sunk |
29 March 1915 | Theseus | ![]() |
6,723 | Damaged |
30 March 1915 | Crown of Castile | ![]() |
4,505 | Sunk |
30 July 1915 | Iberian | ![]() |
5,223 | Sunk |
31 July 1915 | Nugget | ![]() |
405 | Sunk |
31 July 1915 | Turquoise | ![]() |
486 | Sunk |
1 August 1915 | Benvorlich | ![]() |
3,381 | Sunk |
1 August 1915 | Clintonia | ![]() |
3,830 | Sunk |
1 August 1915 | Koophandel | ![]() |
1,736 | Sunk |
1 August 1915 | Ranza | ![]() |
2,320 | Sunk |
2 August 1915 | Portia | ![]() |
494 | Sunk |
3 August 1915 | Costello | ![]() |
1,591 | Sunk |
4 August 1915 | Midland Queen | ![]() |
1,993 | Sunk |
26 March 1916 | Norne | ![]() |
1,224 | Sunk |
28 March 1916 | Rio Tiete | ![]() |
3,042 | Sunk |
30 March 1916 | Trewyn | ![]() |
3,084 | Sunk |
30 March 1916 | Saint Hubert | ![]() |
232 | Sunk |
31 March 1916 | Vigo | ![]() |
1,137 | Sunk |
1 April 1916 | Bengairn | ![]() |
2,127 | Sunk |
29 May 1917 | Fridtjof Nansen | ![]() |
2,190 | Sunk |
29 May 1917 | Karna | ![]() |
210 | Sunk |
29 May 1917 | Kodan | ![]() |
217 | Sunk |
3 June 1917 | Merioneth | ![]() |
3,004 | Sunk |
4 June 1917 | Algol | ![]() |
2,088 | Sunk |
5 June 1917 | Alaska | ![]() |
90 | Sunk |
5 June 1917 | Duen | ![]() |
30 | Sunk |
5 June 1917 | Sydkap | ![]() |
40 | Sunk |
8 June 1917 | Manchester Engineer | ![]() |
4,465 | Damaged |
8 June 1917 | Sverre II | ![]() |
44 | Sunk |
10 June 1917 | Marie Elsie | ![]() |
2,615 | Sunk |
10 June 1917 | Perla | ![]() |
5,355 | Sunk |
28 August 1917 | Hidalgo | ![]() |
4,271 | Sunk |
28 August 1917 | Whitecourt | ![]() |
3,680 | Sunk |
28 August 1917 | Marselieza | ![]() |
3,568 | Sunk |
1 September 1917 | Dront | ![]() |
3,488 | Sunk |
2 September 1917 | Olive Branch | ![]() |
4,649 | Sunk |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 U 27 type, Uboat.net.
- ↑ "Freiherr Georg-Günther von Forstner (Friedrich-August Cross (Oldenburg))". Uboat.net. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
- ↑ "Otto Rohrbeck". Uboat.net. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
- ↑ "Freiherr von Loë-Degenhart". Uboat.net. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
- ↑ "Georg Schmidt". Uboat.net. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
- ↑ U-28, Uboat.net.
- ↑ http://uboat.net/wwi/men/commanders/76.html
- ↑ “Is There A Sea Serpent?”,Popular Mechanics,September,1934,pp.398-401 and 118A
- ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=xt8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA124&lpg=RA1-PA124&dq=Baron+Von+Forstner+u-28+creature&source=bl&ots=juZ6ZqMKV7&sig=6gaCCqx9QeCiRjuO40V7TEo7rb0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LLr8VPi9EYq1ggT6tIGwAg&ved=0CFUQ6AEwCw#v=onepage&q=Baron%20Von%20Forstner%20u-28%20creature&f=false
- ↑ Spindler, Arno (1932). Der Krieg zur See: Der Handelskrieg mit U-Booten. Mittler.
- ↑ Gwatkin-Williams, R. S. (1922). Under the Black Ensign. Hutchinson & Co.
- ↑ "SM U-28 successes". UBoat.net. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
External links
- The Journal of Submarine Commander von Forstner at Project Gutenberg
-
The Journal of Submarine Commander von Forstner public domain audiobook at LibriVox
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