SM U-49
For other ships of the same name, see German submarine U-49.
| Career (German Empire) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-49 |
| Ordered: | 4 August 1914 |
| Builder: | Kaiserliche Werft Danzig |
| Launched: | 26 November 1915 |
| Commissioned: | 31 May 1916 |
| Fate: | Rammed in Biscay and sunk by gunfire from SS British Transport on 11 September 1917. 43 dead. |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Type U-43 submarine |
| Displacement: | 725 tons surfaced 940 tons submerged 1,059 tons (total) |
| Length: | 65 m (213 ft) (oa 52.51 m (172.3 ft) (pressure hull) |
| Beam: | 6.2 m (20 ft) (oa) 4.18 m (13.7 ft) (pressure hull) |
| Height: | 8.7 m (29 ft) |
| Draught: | 3.74 m (12.3 ft) |
| Installed power: | 2400 hp surfaced 1200 hp submerged |
| Speed: | 17.1 kn (31.7 km/h; 19.7 mph) 9.1 kn (16.9 km/h; 10.5 mph) |
| Range: | •9,400 nmi (17,400 km; 10,800 mi) at 8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) surfaced •55 nmi (102 km; 63 mi) at 5 kn (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) submerged |
| Test depth: | 50 m (160 ft) |
| Complement: | 36 |
| Armament: | •4 x 50 cm (19.7 in)[1] torpedo tubes (two bow, two stern; 6 torpedoes) •1 x 8.8 cm (3.5 in) deck gun with 276 rounds |
| Service record | |
|---|---|
| Part of |
III Flotilla 7 Aug 1916 - 11 Sep 1917 |
| Commanders |
Kptlt Richard Hartmann 31 May 1916 - 11 Sep 1917 |
| Operations | 6 patrols |
| Victories |
38 merchant ships sunk (86,319 GRT) 2 merchant ships damaged (2,609 GRT) 1 merchant ship taken as prize (566 GRT) |
SM U-49 was the seventh U-boat of the SM U-43 class. She was ordered on August 4, 1914 and was put into the III Flotilla 7 August 1916. Over the course of her career she had sunk 38 ships for a total of over 86,000 tons, of those, none were naval ships. Her only commander was Kapitänleutnant Richard Hartmann who led the boat throughout its entire life until the day she was sunk on 11 September 1917.
Her wreck lies in Cork Harbour, Ireland.[2]
Summary of Raiding Career
| Date | Name | Nationality | Tonnage (GRT) |
Fate[3] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 September 1916 | Benguela |  Sweden |
688 | Sunk |
| 28 September 1916 | Emanuel |  Norway |
246 | Sunk |
| 29 September 1916 | Haarfagre | Norway |
566 | Captured as a prize |
| 29 September 1916 | Nornen | Norway |
215 | Sunk |
| 1 November 1916 | Seatonia |  United Kingdom |
3,533 | Sunk |
| 2 November 1916 | Caswell | United Kingdom |
245 | Sunk |
| 2 November 1916 | Harfat Castle | United Kingdom |
274 | Sunk |
| 2 November 1916 | Kyoto | United Kingdom |
282 | Sunk |
| 8 November 1916 | Columbian |  United States |
8,580 | Sunk |
| 9 November 1916 | Balto | Norway |
3,538 | Sunk |
| 9 November 1916 | Fordalen | Norway |
2,835 | Sunk |
| 10 November 1916 | Camma | Norway |
794 | Sunk |
| 11 November 1916 | Barbara | .svg.png){kind=small} Greece |
2,831 | Sunk |
| 11 November 1916 | Ragnar |  Denmark |
2,123 | Sunk |
| 12 November 1916 | Lady Carrington | United Kingdom |
3,269 | Sunk |
| 12 November 1916 | Leda |  Netherlands |
1,140 | Damaged |
| 12 November 1916 | Therese | Denmark |
1,333 | Sunk |
| 15 November 1916 | La Briantais |  France |
255 | Sunk |
| 15 November 1916 | Lorca | United Kingdom |
4,129 | Sunk |
| 19 February 1917 | Sigrid |  Russian Empire |
2,194 | Sunk |
| 27 February 1917 | Galgorm Castle | United Kingdom |
1,596 | Sunk |
| 27 February 1917 | Luigino B. | _crowned.svg.png){kind=small} Kingdom of Italy |
1,971 | Sunk |
| 27 February 1917 | Tritonia | United Kingdom |
4,445 | Sunk |
| 3 March 1917 | Newstead | United Kingdom |
2,836 | Sunk |
| 3 March 1917 | Sagamore | United Kingdom |
5,197 | Sunk |
| 5 May 1917 | Snig | Norway |
2,115 | Sunk |
| 8 May 1917 | Petunia | United Kingdom |
1,749 | Sunk |
| 11 May 1917 | Barrister | United Kingdom |
3,679 | Sunk |
| 14 May 1917 | Carnmoney | United Kingdom |
1,299 | Sunk |
| 17 May 1917 | George Pyman | United Kingdom |
3,859 | Sunk |
| 1 July 1917 | Stalheim | Norway |
1,469 | Damaged |
| 3 July 1917 | Cimbria | Denmark |
234 | Sunk |
| 3 July 1917 | Mary Boyes | Denmark |
101 | Sunk |
| 3 July 1917 | Proefneming I | Netherlands |
112 | Sunk |
| 3 July 1917 | Thor | Netherlands |
105 | Sunk |
| 8 July 1917 | Obuasi | United Kingdom |
4,416 | Sunk |
| 10 July 1917 | King David | United Kingdom |
3,680 | Sunk |
| 12 July 1917 | Muirfield | United Kingdom |
3,086 | Sunk |
| 15 July 1917 | Dudhope | United Kingdom |
2,086 | Sunk |
| 16 July 1917 | Lamia L. | Kingdom of Italy |
2,220 | Sunk |
| 11 September 1917 | Vienna | United Kingdom |
4,170 | Sunk |
Notes
- ↑ Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. "U-Boats (1905-18)", in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare, "(Phoebus Publishing, 1978), Volume 23, p.2534.
- ↑ Irish Wrecks Online http://www.irishwrecksonline.net/Lists/CorkListC.htm
- ↑ "SM U-49 successes". UBoat.net. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
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