SM U-20 (Germany)

Last updated

U-Boote Kiel 1914.jpg
U-20 (second from left) in Kiel harbour, 1914
History
War Ensign of Germany 1903-1918.svg German Empire
NameU-20
Ordered25 November 1910
Builder Kaiserliche Werft Danzig
Cost2,450,000 Goldmark
Yard number14
Laid down7 November 1911
Launched18 December 1912
Commissioned5 August 1913
FateGrounded 4 November 1916 and destroyed by her crew the next day.
General characteristics
Class & type German Type U 19 submarine
Displacement
  • 650  t (640 long tons) surfaced
  • 837 t (824 long tons) submerged
Length64.15 m (210 ft 6 in)
Beam6.10 m (20 ft)
Height7.30 m (23 ft 11 in)
Draught3.58 m (11 ft 9 in)
Propulsion
  • 2 shafts
  • 2 × MAN 8-cylinder two stroke diesel motors with 1,700 PS (1,250 kW; 1,680 shp)
  • 2 × AEG double Motordynamos with 1,200 PS (880 kW; 1,180 shp)
  • 320 rpm submerged
Speed
  • 15.4 knots (28.5 km/h; 17.7 mph) surfaced
  • 9.5 knots (17.6 km/h; 10.9 mph) submerged
Range
  • 9,700 nautical miles (18,000 km; 11,200 mi) at 8 kn surfaced
  • 80 nautical miles (150 km; 92 mi) at 5 kn submerged
Test depth50 m (164 ft 1 in)
Boats & landing
craft carried
1 dinghy
Complement4 officers, 31 men
Armament
Service record
Part of:
  • III Flotilla
  • 1 August 1914 – 4 November 1916
Commanders:
  • Kptlt. Otto Dröscher [1]
  • 5 August 1913 – 15 December 1914
  • Kptlt. Walther Schwieger [2]
  • 16 December 1914 – 5 November 1916 [3]
Operations: 7 patrols
Victories:
  • 37 merchant ships sunk
    (145,830  GRT)
  • 1 merchant ship damaged
    (2,246  GRT)
  • 1 warship damaged
    (397 tons)

SM U-20 [Note 1] was a German Type U 19 U-boat built for service in the Imperial German Navy. She was launched on 18 December 1912, and commissioned on 5 August 1913. During World War I, she took part in operations around the British Isles. U-20 became infamous following her sinking of the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania on 7 May 1915, an act that dramatically reshaped the course of the First World War.

Contents

Career

On 7 May 1915, U-20 was patrolling off the southern coast of Ireland under the command of Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger. Three months earlier, on 4 February, the Germans had established a U-boat blockade around the British Isles and had declared any vessel in it a legitimate target. At about 13:40 Schwieger was at the periscope and saw a vessel approaching. From a distance of about 700 m (770 yd), Schwieger noted she had four funnels and two masts, making her a passenger liner and he fired a torpedo. It hit on the starboard side, almost directly below the bridge. Schwieger wrote that he was surprised by the size of the explosion, reasoning that a second explosion must have happened, possibly caused by coal dust, a boiler explosion or powder. According to his logs, only then did he recognise her as Lusitania, a vessel in the British Fleet Reserve. [4] In 18 minutes, Lusitania sank with 1,197 casualties. The wreck lies in 300 ft (91 m) of water.

Fifteen minutes after he had fired his torpedo, Schwieger noted in his war diary,

It looks as if the ship will stay afloat only for a very short time. [I gave order to] dive to 25 metres (82 ft) and leave the area seawards. I couldn't have fired another torpedo into this mass of humans desperately trying to save themselves.

There was at the time a great controversy about the sinking, over whether Lusitania was armed, carrying troops or illegal explosives to England and over Schwieger's method of attack. The Allies and the United States originally thought the U-20 fired two torpedoes. Postwar investigations showed only one was fired.

Before Schwieger got back to the docks at Wilhelmshaven for refuelling and supplies, the United States had formally protested to Berlin against the brutality of his action. Kaiser Wilhelm II wrote in the margins of the American note, "Utterly impertinent", "outrageous" and "this is the most insolent thing in tone and bearing that I have had to read since the Japanese note last August". To keep America out of the war, in June the Kaiser was compelled to rescind unrestricted submarine warfare and require all passenger liners be left unmolested. On 4 September 1915 Schwieger was back at sea with U-20, 85 nmi (157 km; 98 mi) off the Fastnet Rock in the south Irish Sea. This rock held one of the key navigational markers in the western ocean, the Fastnet Lighthouse, and any ships passing in and out of the Irish Sea would be within visual contact of it.

RMS Hesperian was beginning a run outward bound from Liverpool to Quebec and Montreal, with a general cargo, also doubling as a hospital ship, and carrying about 800 passengers when she was attacked and sunk by U-20 off the Fastnet.

Only a few days before, Count Bernsdorff, the German Ambassador, had assured the United States government that passenger liners will not be sunk without warning and without ensuring the safety of the non-combatants aboard providing that the liners do not try to escape or offer resistance.

Archibald Hurd [5]

Schwieger was reprimanded by the Admiralty but was unrepentant. The Germans decided to report that the ship was hit by a mine.

Fate and legacy

U-20 grounded on the Danish coast in 1916. Torpedoes had been exploded in the bow to destroy the boat U 20 grounded Denmark 1916.JPG
U-20 grounded on the Danish coast in 1916. Torpedoes had been exploded in the bow to destroy the boat

On 4 November 1916, U-20 grounded on the Danish coast south of Vrist, a little north of Thorsminde after suffering damage to its engines. Her crew attempted to destroy her with explosives the following day, succeeding only in damaging the boat's bow but making it inoperative as a warship. [6] U-20 remained on the beach until 1925 when the Danish government blew it up in a "spectacular explosion". [7] The Danish navy removed the deck gun and made it unserviceable by cutting holes in vital parts. The gun was kept in the naval stores at Holmen in Copenhagen for almost 80 years. [8] The conning tower was removed and placed on the front lawn of the local museum Strandingsmuseum St. George Thorsminde, where it remains. [7] [9] [10] The novelist Clive Cussler claimed his National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) located the remains of U-20 in 1984, about 400 yd (370 m) from shore. [11]

Summary of raiding history

U20 successes [12]
DateNameNationality GRT Fate
30 January 1915 Ikaria Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 4,335Sunk
30 January 1915 Oriole Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 1,489Sunk
30 January 1915 Tokomaru Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 6,084Sunk
7 March 1915 Bengrove Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 3,840Sunk
9 March 1915 Princess Victoria Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 1,108Sunk
11 March 1915 Florazan Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 4,658Sunk
5 May 1915 Earl of Lathom Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 132Sunk
6 May 1915 Candidate Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 5,858Sunk
6 May 1915 Centurion Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 5,495Sunk
7 May 1915 Lusitania Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 30,396Sunk
8 July 1915 Marion Lightbody Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 2,176Sunk
9 July 1915 Ellesmere Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 1,170Sunk
9 July 1915 Leo Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 2,224Sunk
9 July 1915 Meadowfield Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 2,750Sunk
13 July 1915 Lennok Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1,142Sunk
2 September 1915 Roumanie Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 2,599Sunk
3 September 1915 Frode Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 1,875Sunk
4 September 1915 Hesperian Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 10,920Sunk
5 September 1915 Dictator Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 4,116Sunk
5 September 1915 Douro Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 1,604Sunk
5 September 1915 Rhea Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1,145Sunk
6 September 1915 Guatemala Flag of France.svg  France 5,913Sunk
7 September 1915 Bordeaux Flag of France.svg  France 4,604Sunk
7 September 1915 Caroni Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 2,652Sunk
8 September 1915 Mora Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 3,047Sunk
30 April 1916 Bakio BandMercante1785.svg Spain 1,906Sunk
1 May 1916 Bernadette Flag of France.svg  France 486Sunk
2 May 1916 Ruabon Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 2,004Sunk
3 May 1916 Marie Molinos Flag of France.svg  France 1,946Sunk
6 May 1916 Galgate Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 2,356Sunk
8 May 1916 Cymric Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 13,370Sunk
1 August 1916 Aaro Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 2,603Sunk
29 August 1916IboNaval Jack of Portugal.svg  Portuguese Navy 397Damaged
26 September 1916 Thelma Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 1,002Sunk
18 October 1916 Ethel Duncan Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 2,510Sunk
23 October 1916 Arromanches Flag of France.svg  France 1,640Sunk
23 October 1916 Chieri Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg  Italy 4,400Sunk
23 October 1916 Felix Louis Flag of France.svg  France 275Sunk
26 October 1916FabianCivil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 2,246Damaged

See also

References

Notes

  1. "SM" stands for "Seiner Majestät" (English: His Majesty's) and combined with the U for Unterseeboot would be translated as His Majesty's Submarine.

Citations

  1. Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boat commanders: Otto Dröscher (Royal House Order of Hohenzollern)". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  2. Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boat commanders: Walther Schwieger (Pour le Mérite)". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  3. Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: U 20". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  4. "English Translation of His Majesty's Submarine U-20 War Diary".
  5. The History of the Great War: The Merchant Navy, Vol. II
  6. "Major themes of the exhibition", 'World War I'. Royal Danish Naval Museum (Archived from the original on 8 October 2007)
  7. 1 2 Erik Larson (2015). "Epilogue: Person Effects". Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania. Crown. p. 349.
  8. "U-20 | | The Lusitania ResourceThe Lusitania Resource". www.rmslusitania.info. Archived from the original on 12 May 2011.rmslusitania.info
  9. "Strandingsmuseum St. George Thorsminde". Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  10. "Sea War Museum Jutland".
  11. North Sea and English Channel Hunt Archived 28 December 2003 at the Wayback Machine
  12. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U 20". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 14 December 2014.

Bibliography

56°35′00″N08°07′50″E / 56.58333°N 8.13056°E / 56.58333; 8.13056