SM U-72
For other ships of the same name, see German submarine U-72.
| Career (German Empire) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-72 |
| Ordered: | 6 January 1915 |
| Builder: | AG Vulkan, Hamburg |
| Launched: | 31 October 1915 |
| Commissioned: | 26 January 1916 |
| Fate: | 1 November 1918 - Scuttled during the evacuation of Cattaro in position 42°30′N 18°41′E / 42.500°N 18.683°E[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | German Type UE I submarine |
| Displacement: | 755 tonnes (743 long tons) surfaced 832 tonnes (819 long tons) submerged [2] |
| Length: | 56.8 m (186 ft 4 in) (overall)[2] 46.66 m (153 ft 1 in) pressure hull[3] |
| Beam: | 5.9 m (19 ft 4 in) (overall)[2]5 m (16 ft 5 in) pressure hull[3] |
| Height: | 8.25 m (27 ft 1 in)[3] |
| Draught: | 4.86 m (15 ft 11 in)[2] |
| Propulsion: | 900 hp (670 kW) surfaced 660 kW (890 hp) submerged[2] |
| Speed: | 10.6 knots (19.6 km/h; 12.2 mph) surfaced 7.9 kn (14.6 km/h; 9.1 mph) submerged[2] |
| Range: | 7,880 nmi (14,590 km; 9,070 mi) at 7 knsurfaced 83 nmi (154 km; 96 mi) at 4 kn submerged |
| Complement: | 32 men[2] |
| Armament: | One 50 cm (20 in) torpedo tubes forward and one 50 cm torpedo tubes aft with two torpedoes[4] plus one 8.8 cm (3.5 in) deck gun two minelaying tubes for 38 mines[2] |
| Service record | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
Imperial German Navy I Flotilla 11 Apr 1916 - 17 Sep 1916 Pola/Mittelmeer II Flotilla 17 Sep 1916 - 1 Nov 1918 |
| Commanders: |
Kptlt Ernst Krafft[5] 28 Jan 1916 - 17 Jul 1917 Kptlt Johannes Feldkirchner[6] 18 Jul 1917 - 5 Nov 1917 Oblt Erich Schulze[7] 6 Nov 1917 - 31 Dec 1917 Oblt Hermann Bohm[8] 1 Jan 1918 - 31 Oct 1918 |
| Operations: | 4 patrols |
| Victories: |
21 ships sunk (38,596 GRT) 5 ships damaged (21,513 GRT)[1] |
SM U-72 was one of 329 submarines serving in the Imperial German Navy in World War I. U-72 was engaged in the commerce war in First Battle of the Atlantic.
Operations
U-72 left the stocks at Hamburg (AG Vulcan) in March 1916, joined the Kiel School, and first entered North Sea on 11 April 1916. Attached 1st Half Flotilla, under the command of Kaptlt. Krafft.
- 15–21 April 1916. Cruise in North Sea. Returned with defects.
- 23–2 May 1916. ? Cruise in North Sea.
- 21 June to 4 July 1916. Northabout. Laid mines off Cape Wrath.
- 20 August - ? 15 September 1916. Northabout to Mediterranean. Laid mines off Lisbon, Oran and Cape Blanc. On arriving at Cattaro joined the Pola-Cattaro Flotilla.
- Of U-72 's operations in the Mediterranean, little is known after her arrival in September 1916.
- On a cruise from the middle of February 1917 until 6 March 1917, she sank 4 steamers and stopped British hospital ship, Dunluce Castle. She damaged SS Megantic and was later unsuccessfully attacked by armed trawlers.
- U-72 was reported as not having cruised, with the above exception, after January 1917, and was regarded as a lame duck. Indeed of her class, U-71 to U-80 (all minelayers), U-80 was the only boat not continually in dockyard hands. At the end of October 1918, U-72 was blown up at evacuation of Cattaro.
Summary of Raiding Career
| Date | Name | Nationality | Tonnage (GRT) |
Fate[9] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 1916 | Achaia |  United Kingdom |
2,733 | Sunk |
| 7 September 1916 | Hiso |  Norway |
1,562 | Sunk |
| 7 September 1916 | Doreen |  Royal Navy |
9 | Sunk |
| 7 September 1916 | Allegro | Royal Navy |
7 | Sunk |
| 7 September 1916 | Griffin | Royal Navy |
10 | Sunk |
| 7 September 1916 | Puffin | Royal Navy |
10 | Damaged |
| 19 November 1916 | Maria Di Pompei | _crowned.svg.png){kind=small} Kingdom of Italy |
286 | Sunk |
| 23 November 1916 | Margherita F. | Kingdom of Italy |
44 | Sunk |
| 26 November 1916 | Christoforos | .svg.png){kind=small} Greece |
3,674 | Sunk |
| 27 November 1916 | Salvatore Ciampa | Kingdom of Italy |
1,728 | Sunk |
| 2 December 1916 | Palermo | Kingdom of Italy |
9,203 | Sunk |
| 11 December 1916 | Jeanne | Kingdom of Italy |
534 | Sunk |
| 14 December 1916 | Caledonia |  United Kingdom |
7,572 | Damaged |
| 3 June 1917 | Manin B. | Kingdom of Italy |
249 | Sunk |
| 7 June 1917 | Errington Court | United Kingdom |
4,461 | Damaged |
| 8 June 1917 | Cheltonian | United Kingdom |
4,426 | Sunk |
| 8 June 1917 | Felicina | Kingdom of Italy |
165 | Sunk |
| 9 June 1917 | Bravore | Norway |
1,650 | Sunk |
| 9 June 1917 | General Laurie | United Kingdom |
238 | Sunk |
| 9 June 1917 | Montebello | Kingdom of Italy |
2,603 | Sunk |
| 13 June 1917 | Santo | Kingdom of Italy |
622 | Sunk |
| 13 June 1917 | Biagio | Kingdom of Italy |
276 | Sunk |
| 25 June 1917 | Southern | United Kingdom |
5,694 | Damaged |
| 7 July 1917 | Shigizan Maru |  Japan |
2,828 | Sunk |
| 1 August 1917 | Rokeby | United Kingdom |
3,786 | Damaged |
| 4 August 1917 | British Monarch | United Kingdom |
5,749 | Sunk |
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Uboat.net U-72
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Encyclopedia of U-boats (2004), London:Greenhill Books, ISBN 1-85367-623-3, p.32
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Type UE 1 UE ocean minelayers class
- ↑ Fitzsimons, Bernard. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare (London: Phoebus, 1978), Vol. 23, p.2536.
- ↑ "Ernst Krafft (Royal House Order of Hohenzollern)". uboat.net. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
- ↑ "Johannes Feldkirchner". uboat.net. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
- ↑ "Erich Schulze". uboat.net. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
- ↑ "Hermann Bohm". uboat.net. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
- ↑ "SM U-72 successes". UBoat.net. Retrieved 14 January 2015.