SM UC-7
For other ships of the same name, see German submarine U-7.
| Career (German Empire) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | UC-7 |
| Ordered: | by November 1914[1] |
| Builder: | AG Vulcan, Hamburg[2] |
| Yard number: | 51[1] |
| Launched: | 6 July 1915[1] |
| Commissioned: | 9 July 1915[1] |
| Fate: | disappeared after 5 July 1917[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | German Type UC I submarine |
| Displacement: | 168 t (185 short tons), surfaced[2] 183 t (202 short tons), submerged |
| Length: | 111 ft 6 in (33.99 m)[3] |
| Beam: | 10 ft 4 in (3.15 m)[3] |
| Draft: | 10 ft (3 m)[3] |
| Propulsion: | 1 × propeller shaft 1 × Daimler 6-cylinder, 4-stroke diesel engine, 90 bhp (67 kW)[3] 1 × electric motor, 175 shp (130 kW)[3] |
| Speed: | 6.20 knots (11.48 km/h), surfaced[2] 5.22 knots (9.67 km/h), submerged |
| Endurance: | 780 nautical miles at 5 knots, surfaced[3] (1,440 km at 9.3 km/h) 50 nautical miles at 4 knots, submerged[3] (93 km at 7.4 km/h) |
| Test depth: | 50 m (160 ft)[3] |
| Complement: | 14[3] |
| Armament: | 6 × 100 cm (39 in) mine tubes[3] 12 × UC 120 mines 1 × 8 mm (0.31 in) machine gun[2] |
| Service record | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
Flandern Flotilla 12 Aug 1915 - 5 Jul 1916 |
| Commanders: |
Oblt Franz Wäger[4] 9 Jul 1915 - 29 Nov 1915 Oblt Georg Haag[5] 30 Nov 1915 - 5 Jul 1916 |
| Operations: | 34 patrols |
| Victories: |
20 merchant ship sunk (43,545 gross register tons (GRT)) 2 merchant ship damaged (6,151 GRT) 12 warships sunk (5,709 tons) |
SM UC-7 was a German Type UC I minelayer submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I. The U-boat had been ordered by November 1914 and was launched on 6 July 1915. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 9 July 1915 as SM UC-7.[Note 1] Mines laid by UC-7 in her 34 patrols were credited with sinking 32 ships.
Fate
UC-7 sailed from Zeebrugge on 3 March 1916 to lay mines off the English coast and failed to return. UB-12 sighted a submarine believed to be UC-7 on 5 July, west of the Bligh Bank, 46 km (29 mi) from Ostend. The submarine in question was reported to be on a course that would run it into a minefield, and Verschollen notes that the time and place would be correct if UC-7 were returning to base. The bodies of two crew members were later washed ashore on the coast of Flanders on 19 July. It was claimed that UC-7 was sunk by HMS Salmon on 7 July off Southwold, but this was doubted since the reported position was too far off UC-7's operating area.[6]
Summary of Raiding Career
| Date | Name | Nationality | Tonnage (GRT) |
Fate[7] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 September 1915 | HMT Malta |  Royal Navy |
138 | Sunk |
| 1 September 1915 | HMT Nadine | Royal Navy |
150 | Sunk |
| 1 September 1915 | Savona |  United Kingdom |
1,180 | Sunk |
| 3 September 1915 | Churston | United Kingdom |
2,470 | Sunk |
| 22 September 1915 | Koningin Emma |  Netherlands |
9,181 | Sunk |
| 26 September 1915 | Vigilant |  United Kingdom |
69 | Sunk |
| 5 October 1915 | Novocastrian | United Kingdom |
1,151 | Sunk |
| 6 October 1915 | Texelstroom | Netherlands |
1,601 | Sunk |
| 28 November 1915 | HMT William Morrison | Royal Navy |
212 | Sunk |
| 8 December 1915 | Ignis | United Kingdom |
2,042 | Sunk |
| 10 December 1915 | Ingstad |  Norway |
780 | Sunk |
| 21 December 1915 | Knarsdale | United Kingdom |
1,641 | Sunk |
| 31 December 1915 | HMT Speeton | Royal Navy |
205 | Sunk |
| 6 February 1916 | Balgownie | United Kingdom |
1,061 | Sunk |
| 8 February 1916 | Elswick Manor | United Kingdom |
3,943 | Damaged |
| 11 February 1916 | HMS Arethusa | Royal Navy |
3,520 | Sunk |
| 26 February 1916 | Dido | United Kingdom |
4,769 | Sunk |
| 27 February 1916 | Mecklenburg | Netherlands |
2,885 | Sunk |
| 9 March 1916 | Fauvette | United Kingdom |
2,644 | Sunk |
| 18 March 1916 | HMT Ameer | Royal Navy |
216 | Sunk |
| 18 March 1916 | Lowlands | United Kingdom |
1,789 | Sunk |
| 19 March 1916 | HMT Valpa | Royal Navy |
230 | Sunk |
| 24 March 1916 | Fulmar | United Kingdom |
1,270 | Sunk |
| 25 March 1916 | HMD Hilary II | Royal Navy |
78 | Sunk |
| 26 March 1916 | Cerne | United Kingdom |
2,579 | Sunk |
| 2 April 1916 | Bourbaki |  France |
2,208 | Damaged |
| 2 April 1916 | HMT Commandant | Royal Navy |
207 | Sunk |
| 9 April 1916 | Avon | United Kingdom |
1,574 | Sunk |
| 14 April 1916 | HMT Alberta | Royal Navy |
209 | Sunk |
| 14 April 1916 | HMT Orcades | Royal Navy |
270 | Sunk |
| 15 April 1916 | Tusnastabb | Norway |
859 | Sunk |
| 23 April 1916 | HMT Lena Melling | Royal Navy |
274 | Sunk |
| 10 May 1916 | Dolcoath | United Kingdom |
1,706 | Sunk |
| 18 June 1916 | Seaconnet |  United States |
2,294 | 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-7". U-Boat War in World War I. Uboat.net. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Tarrant, p. 173.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Gardiner, p. 181.
- ↑ "Franz Wäger". Uboat.net. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
- ↑ "Georg Haag". Uboat.net. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
- ↑ Messimer, Dwight R. (2002). Verschollen : World War I U-boat losses. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p. 244. ISBN 978-1-55750-475-3. OCLC 231973419.
- ↑ "SM UC-7 successes". UBoat.net. Retrieved 8 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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