History | |
---|---|
Name | SS Lesbian |
Namesake | Inhabitants of the island of Lesbos |
Owner | Ellerman Lines |
Port of registry | Liverpool |
Builder | W. Harkess & Sons, Middlesbrough [1] |
Yard number | 207 [1] |
Launched | 3 April 1915 [1] |
Completed | July 1915 [1] |
Identification | UK official number: 137465 [1] |
Fate | Sunk by U-35, 5 January 1917 [1] |
General characteristics | |
Type | Cargo ship [1] |
Tonnage | 2,555 GRT [1] |
Length | 93.1 m (305 ft 5 in) (lpp) [1] |
Beam | 12.9 m (42 ft 4 in) [1] |
Propulsion | 1 × triple-expansion steam engine [1] |
Speed | 11 knots (20 km/h) [1] |
Armament | unknown |
SS Lesbian was a cargo ship built for the Ellerman Lines in 1915. On 5 January 1917 she was shelled and sunk by German U-boat U-35, the most successful U-boat participating in World War I, without loss of life.
Lesbian was a built as a cargo ship for the Ellerman Lines by W. Harkess & Sons of Middlesbrough. Sources do not indicate when Lesbian's keel was laid, but she was launched on 3 April 1915, and completed by July of the same year. The ship was 93.1 metres (305 ft 5 in) long (between perpendiculars) and was 12.9 metres (42 ft 4 in) abeam. She was powered by a single triple-expansion steam engine and had a top speed of 11 knots (20 km/h). Lesbian was registered at 2,555 gross register tons (GRT). [1] Sources do not indicate what size crew she carried. Lesbian was defensively armed against attacks by submarines, but available sources provide no indication of what size or how many guns with which she was equipped. [2]
Little information is available about Lesbian's short career, but details about her final voyage suggest that she may have been employed in cargo service between India and the United Kingdom. For her final voyage, she departed Calicut—where she had taken on a general cargo bound for London and Tees—in December 1916. After passing through the Suez Canal, Lesbian entered the Mediterranean and headed towards Malta. While 125 nautical miles (232 km) from there on 5 January 1917, she encountered U-35, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière. [3]
At 16:15 on 5 January 1917, U-35 shelled and sank Lesbian east of Malta at position 35°48′N17°6′E / 35.800°N 17.100°E . [3] [4] Although complete details of U-35's attack on Lesbian are not reported in sources, von Arnauld de la Perière's typical method of attack was to open fire with his submarine's 4.1-inch (100 mm) deck gun from a distance of 6,000 yards (5,500 m) and close to 3,000 yards (2,700 m). There he would wait until the crew had abandoned the ship in lifeboats and then shell the bow and stern of the ship until it sank. [5] Von Arnauld de la Perière claimed that he always provided crews of his victims with directions to the nearest port, [3] but there is no indication in sources whether or not this done for Lesbian's crew. The master of Lesbian was taken prisoner aboard U-35 by von Arnauld de la Perière. [2] There were no casualties among Lesbian's crew in the attack and sinking. [2] [3]
SM U-151 or SM Unterseeboot 151 was a World War I U-boat of the Imperial German Navy, constructed by Reiherstieg Schiffswerfte & Maschinenfabrik at Hamburg and launched on 4 April 1917. From 1917 until the Armistice in November 1918 she was part of the U-Kreuzer Flotilla, and was responsible for 34 ships sunk (88,395 GRT) and 7 ships damaged.
SM U-35 was a German U 31-class U-boat which operated in the Mediterranean Sea during World War I. It ended up being the most successful U-boat participating in the war, sinking 220 merchant ships for a total of 505,121 gross register tons (GRT).
VizeadmiralLothar von Arnauld de la Perière, born in Posen, Prussia, and of French-German descent, was a German U-boat commander during World War I. With 194 ships and 453,716 gross register tons (GRT) sunk, he is the most successful submarine captain ever. His victories came in the Mediterranean, almost always using his 8.8 cm deck gun. During his career he fired 74 torpedoes, hitting 39 times.
SM U-12 or U-XII was a U-5-class submarine or U-boat built for and operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy before and during the First World War.
SM U-4 or U-IV was a U-3-class submarine or U-boat built for and operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy before and during the First World War. The submarine was built as part of a plan to evaluate foreign submarine designs, and was the second of two boats of the class built by Germaniawerft of Kiel, Germany.
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SM U-70 was a Type U 66 submarine or U-boat for the German Imperial Navy during World War I. She had been laid down in February 1914 as U-11 the final boat of the U-7 class for the Austro-Hungarian Navy but was sold to Germany, along with the others in her class, in November 1914.
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SM U-28 or U-XXVIII was a U-27-class U-boat or submarine for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. U-28, built by the Austrian firm of Cantiere Navale Triestino (CNT) at the Pola Navy Yard, was launched in January 1917 and commissioned in June.
SM UB-47 was a Type UB II submarine or U-boat for the German Imperial Navy during World War I. UB-47 was sold to the Austro-Hungarian Navy during the war. In Austro-Hungarian service the B was dropped from her name and she was known as SM U-47 or U-XLVII as a member of the Austro-Hungarian U-43 class.
SM UB-43 was a Type UB II submarine or U-boat for the German Imperial Navy during World War I. UB-43 was sold to the Austro-Hungarian Navy during the war. In Austro-Hungarian service the B was dropped from her name and she was known as SM U-43 or U-XLIII as the lead boat of the Austro-Hungarian U-43 class.
SM UB-42 was a Type UB II submarine or U-boat for the German Imperial Navy during World War I. UB-42 operated in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas during the war. She was broken up at Malta in 1920.
SM UB-12 was a German Type UB I submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The submarine disappeared in August 1918.
SM UB-16 was a German Type UB I submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The submarine was sunk by a British submarine in May 1918.
SM UB-17 was a German Type UB I submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The submarine disappeared during a patrol in March 1918.
SM UB-6 was a German Type UB I submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The submarine was interned after running aground in neutral Dutch waters, and was scuttled by her crew at Hellevoetsluis.
The U-boat campaign from 1914 to 1918 was the World War I naval campaign fought by German U-boats against the trade routes of the Allies. It took place largely in the seas around the British Isles and in the Mediterranean. The German Empire relied on imports for food and domestic food production and the United Kingdom relied heavily on imports to feed its population, and both required raw materials to supply their war industry; the powers aimed, therefore, to blockade one another. The British had the Royal Navy which was superior in numbers and could operate on most of the world's oceans because of the British Empire, whereas the Imperial German Navy surface fleet was mainly restricted to the German Bight, and used commerce raiders and submarine warfare to operate elsewhere.
The Atlantic U-boat campaign of World War I was the prolonged naval conflict between German submarines and the Allied navies in Atlantic waters—the seas around the British Isles, the North Sea and the coast of France.
SS Gallia was a transatlantic ocean liner of the Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique built in 1913. Gallia was the Roman name for the province of Gaul.