SM UC-38
Career (German Empire) | |
---|---|
Class and type: | German Type UC II submarine |
Name: | UC-38 |
Ordered: | 20 November 1915[1] |
Builder: | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg[2] |
Yard number: | 279[1] |
Launched: | 25 June 1916[1] |
Commissioned: | 26 October 1916[1] |
Fate: | depth charged, 14 December 1917[1] |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Type UC II submarine |
Displacement: | 427 t (471 short tons), surfaced[2] 509 t (561 short tons), submerged |
Length: | 165 ft 2 in (50.34 m)[2] |
Beam: | 17 ft 4 in (5.28 m)[2] |
Draft: | 12 ft 2 in (4 m)[3] |
Propulsion: | 2 × propeller shafts 2 × 6-cylinder, 4-stroke diesel engines, 500 bhp (370 kW)[3] 2 × electric motors, 460 shp (340 kW)[3] |
Speed: | 11.9 knots (22.0 km/h), surfaced[2] 6.8 knots (12.6 km/h), submerged |
Endurance: | 10,180 nautical miles at 7 knots, surfaced[3] (18,850 km at 13 km/h) 54 nautical miles at 4 knots, submerged[3] (100 km at 7.4 km/h) |
Test depth: | 50 m (160 ft)[3] |
Complement: | 26[3] |
Armament: | 6 × 100 cm (39.4 in) mine tubes[3] 18 × UC 200 mines 3 × 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes (2 bow/external; one stern) 7 × torpedoes 1 × 8.8 cm (3.46 in) KL/30 deck gun[2] |
Notes: | 35-second diving time[2] |
Service record | |
---|---|
Part of: |
Pola Flotilla 23 Jan 1917 - 14 Dec 1917 |
Commanders: |
Oblt Albrecht von Dewitz[4] 19 Oct 1917 - 29 Oct 1917 Oblt Alfred Klatt[5] 29 Oct 1916 - 4 Aug 1917 Oblt Hans Hermann Wendlandt[6] 5 Aug 1917 - 14 Dec 1917 |
Operations: | 9 patrols |
Victories: |
37 merchant ships sunk (50,671 GRT) 3 merchant ships damaged (13,352 GRT) 6 warships sunk (11,637 tons) |
SM UC-38 was a German Type UC II minelaying submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 20 November 1915 and was launched on 25 June 1916. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 26 October 1916 as SM UC-38.[Note 1] In 9 patrols UC-38 was credited with sinking 43 ships, either by torpedo or by mines laid.
On 14 December 1917, by 38°15′N 20°22′E / 38.250°N 20.367°ECoordinates: 38°15′N 20°22′E / 38.250°N 20.367°E, under Hans Hermann Wendlandt,[7] UC-38 met a French convoy comprising the fast cruiser Chateaurenault, serving as a troopship, and her escorts Mameluk, Rouen and Lansquenet.[8] UC-38 approached and fired one torpedo on Chateaurenault, which was hit in her middle section at 6:47. UC-38 dived at 38 metres, while the Mameluk and Rouen rushed to the launching position of the torpedo, and Lansquenet started picking up people thrown overboard by the explosion. Chateaurenault requested her escorts to close in and evacuate personnel, which was completed by 07:26. The trawler Balsamine came to the rescue and made attempts to take Chateaurenault in tow.[8]
Back to periscope depth, UC-38 saw Chateaurenault still afloat, and fired a second torpedo, which hit at 8:20; Chateaurenault foundered quickly, but all personnel still alive aboard could be rescued. Lansquenet, in the process of picking up her launches, rushed to the launching point and fired 7 depth charges. One caused a light leak in the submarine; Captain Wendlandt ordered a dive to bring his ship below the area targeted by the grenades, but a false manœuvre made UC-38 climb instead, and a second explosion caused a large leak, forcing Wendlandt to crash surface and abandon ship.[7][8]
UC-38 surfaced briefly and was immediately targeted by the guns of Mameluk, which continued her attack by launching several depth charges. UC-38 surfaced again, and this time both Mameluk and Lansquenet opened fire, hitting her several times and killing several of her crew as they exited. She sank at 8:40, and the French destroyers picked up the survivors.[7][8]
German sources claim that 25 men were rescued and 9 killed; a sailor of UC-38 claimed that 20 men were saved out of a 28-man crew; French enquiry reports 20 rescued and 5 confirmed dead out of a 27-man crew.[7]
Summary of Raiding Career
Date | Name | Nationality | Tonnage (GRT) |
Fate[9] |
---|---|---|---|---|
16 February 1917 | Laertis | Greece | 3,914 | Sunk |
19 February 1917 | Quinto | Kingdom of Italy | 1,796 | Sunk |
20 February 1917 | Doravore | Norway | 2,760 | Sunk |
22 February 1917 | Adelina | Kingdom of Italy | 528 | Sunk |
22 February 1917 | Ape | Kingdom of Italy | 301 | Sunk |
22 February 1917 | Giovanni P. | Kingdom of Italy | 105 | Sunk |
22 February 1917 | Michielino | Kingdom of Italy | 20 | Sunk |
22 February 1917 | San Michele | Kingdom of Italy | 583 | Sunk |
22 February 1917 | Vincenzino | Kingdom of Italy | 20 | Sunk |
24 February 1917 | Albina | Kingdom of Italy | 187 | Sunk |
27 February 1917 | Elena M. | Kingdom of Italy | 125 | Sunk |
27 February 1917 | S. Ciro Palmerino | Kingdom of Italy | 113 | Sunk |
24 March 1917 | Emanuela | Kingdom of Italy | 16 | Sunk |
31 March 1917 | Brodness | United Kingdom | 5,736 | Sunk |
1 April 1917 | Warren | United Kingdom | 3,709 | Sunk |
2 April 1917 | Filicudi | Kingdom of Italy | 257 | Sunk |
3 April 1917 | Annunziata A | Kingdom of Italy | 206 | Sunk |
3 April 1917 | Caterina R. | Kingdom of Italy | 214 | Sunk |
3 April 1917 | Domenico | Kingdom of Italy | 260 | Sunk |
3 April 1917 | Nuova Maria Di Porto Salvo | Kingdom of Italy | 48 | Sunk |
12 April 1917 | Monviso | Kingdom of Italy | 4,020 | Damaged |
13 June 1917 | St. Andrews | United Kingdom | 3,613 | Sunk |
15 June 1917 | Elvaston | United Kingdom | 4,130 | Damaged |
15 June 1917 | Pasha | United Kingdom | 5,930 | Sunk |
15 June 1917 | Saint Louis V | France | 5,202 | Damaged |
12 July 1917 | Grace | United States | 1,861 | Sunk |
15 July 1917 | L.B.S. 1011 | Greece | 20 | Sunk |
15 July 1917 | L.B.S. 29 | Greece | 10 | Sunk |
15 July 1917 | HMS Redbreast | Royal Navy | 1,313 | Sunk |
16 July 1917 | Firfield | United Kingdom | 4,029 | Sunk |
16 July 1917 | Unidentified Sailing Vessel | Greece | 20 | Sunk |
17 July 1917 | HMS Newmarket | Royal Navy | 833 | Sunk |
18 July 1917 | K.507 | Greece | 40 | Sunk |
28 August 1917 | Pasqualino Carmela | Kingdom of Italy | 61 | Sunk |
28 August 1917 | Scilla | Kingdom of Italy | 397 | Sunk |
29 August 1917 | Vronwen | United Kingdom | 5,714 | Sunk |
22 September 1917 | Garifaglia | Greece | 430 | Sunk |
23 September 1917 | Agios Nicolaos | Greece | 119 | Sunk |
3 November 1917 | Nefeli | Greece | 3,868 | Sunk |
7 November 1917 | Villemer | United States | 3,627 | Sunk |
11 November 1917 | HMS M15 | Royal Navy | 540 | Sunk |
11 November 1917 | HMS Staunch | Royal Navy | 750 | Sunk |
14 November 1917 | Panormitis | Greece | 20 | Sunk |
14 November 1917 | Panaghia | Greece | 14 | Sunk |
6 December 1917 | Tubereuse | French Navy | 183 | Sunk |
14 December 1917 | Châteaurenault | French Navy | 8,018 | Sunk |
Notes
- ↑ "SM" stands for "Seiner Majestät" (English: His Majesty's) and combined with the U for Unterseeboot would be translated as His Majesty's Submarine.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: UC-38". U-Boat War in World War I. Uboat.net. Retrieved 23 February 2009.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Tarrant, p. 173.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Gardiner, p. 182.
- ↑ "Albrecht von Dewitz". Uboat.net. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- ↑ "Alfred Klatt". Uboat.net. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- ↑ "Hans Hermann Wendlandt (Royal House Order of Hohenzollern)". Uboat.net. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 UC-38
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Chateaurenault
- ↑ "SM UC-38 successes". UBoat.net. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
Bibliography
- Bendert, Harald (2001). Die UC-Boote der Kaiserlichen Marine 1914-1918. Minenkrieg mit U-Booten (in German). Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn: Mittler. ISBN 3-8132-0758-7.
- Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8. OCLC 12119866.
- Tarrant, V. E. (1989). The U-Boat Offensive: 1914–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-764-7. OCLC 20338385.
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