SM U-69

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For other ships with the same name, see German submarine U-69.
History
German Empire
NameU-69
Ordered2 February 1913
Builder
Germaniawerft, Kiel[2]
Yard number206[1]
Laid down7 February 1914, as U-10 (Austria-Hungary)[1]
Launched24 June 1915[1]
Commissioned4 September 1915[1]
FateMissing after 11 July 1917 (crew presumed dead)
General characteristics [3]
Class and typeGerman Type U 66 submarine
Displacement
  • 791 t (779 long tons) surfaced
  • 933 t (918 long tons) submerged
Length
  • 69.50 m (228 ft) (
    o/a
    )
  • 54.66 m (179 ft 4 in) (
    pressure hull
    )
Beam
  • 6.30 m (20 ft 8 in) (o/a)
  • 4.15 m (13 ft 7 in) (pressure hull)
Height7.95 m (26 ft 1 in)
Draft3.79 m (12 ft 5 in)
Propulsion
  • 1 × shaft
  • 2 ×
    PS
    (2,300 shp; 1,700 kW) total
  • 2 ×
    double-acting electric motors
    , 1,240 PS (1,220 shp; 910 kW) total
Speed
  • 16.8 knots (31.1 km/h; 19.3 mph) surfaced
  • 10.3 knots (19.1 km/h; 11.9 mph) submerged
Range
  • 7,370 nmi (13,650 km; 8,480 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) surfaced
  • 115 nmi (213 km; 132 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth50 m (160 ft)
Complement4 officers, 32 enlisted men
Armament
Service record
Part of:
  • IV Flotilla
  • 4 March 1916 – 23 July 1917
Commanders:
Operations: 6 patrols
Victories:
  • 29 merchant ships sunk
    (89,266 GRT)
  • 2 auxiliary warships sunk
    (13,609 GRT)
  • 1 merchant ship damaged
    (1,648 GRT)

SM U-69 was a

U-7 class for the Austro-Hungarian Navy (German
: Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine or K.u.K. Kriegsmarine) but was sold to Germany, along with the others in her class, in November 1914.

The submarine was ordered as U-10 from

commissioned in September. As completed, she displaced 791 tonnes (779 long tons), surfaced, and 933 tonnes (918 long tons), submerged. The boat was 69.50 metres (228 ft) long and was armed with five torpedo tubes and a deck gun
.

As a part of the 4th Flotilla, U-69 sank 31 ships with a combined gross register tonnage of 102,875 in five war patrols. U-69 left Emden on her sixth patrol on 9 July 1917 for operations off Ireland. On 11 July, U-69 reported her position off Norway but neither she nor any of her crew were ever heard from again. British records say that U-69 was sunk by destroyer HMS Patriot on 12 July, but a German postwar study cast doubt on this. U-69's fate is officially unknown.

Design and construction

After the

Germaniawerft 506d design, also known as the Type UD, for its new U-7 class of five submarines.[5] The Navy ordered five boats on 1 February 1913.[6]

The U-7 class was seen by the Austro-Hungarian Navy as an improved version of its

metric horsepower (2,269 bhp; 1,692 kW) total) for surface running at up to 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph), and twin electric motors (1,240 PS (1,223 shp; 912 kW) total) for a maximum of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) when submerged.[6] The boats were designed with five 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes; four located in the bow, one in the stern. The boats' armament was to also include a single 6.6 cm (2.6 in) deck gun.[6]

U-10 was laid down on 7 February 1914,[1] and her construction was slated to be complete within 29 to 33 months.[6]

Neither U-10 nor any of her

sister boats were complete when World War I began in August 1914.[7] With the boats under construction at Kiel, the Austrians became convinced that it would be impossible to take delivery of the boats, which would need to be towed into the Mediterranean past Gibraltar, a British territory.[6][Note 2] As a result, U-10 and her four sisters were sold to the Imperial German Navy on 28 November 1914.[2][Note 3]

U-10 was renumbered by the Germans as U-69 when her class was redesignated as the Type U 66. The Imperial German Navy had the submarines redesigned and reconstructed to German standards, which increased the surface displacement by 96 tonnes (94 long tons) and the submerged by 48 tonnes (47 long tons). The torpedo load was increased by a third, from 9 to 12, and the deck gun was upgraded from the 6.6 cm (2.6 in) gun originally specified to an 8.8 cm (3.5 in) Uk L/30 one.[2]

Service career

U-69 was

commissioned into the Imperial German Navy under the command of Kapitänleutnant Ernst Wilhelms.[1] On 4 March 1916, U-69 was assigned to the IV. U-Halbflotille.[8]

U-69 successfully completed five war patrols in which she sank 31 ships with a combined a total of 102,875 

Shetland Islands and was returning to Scapa Flow, when she was struck by a single torpedo on the port side. The ship began listing heavily and non-essential crew were evacuated while destroyers arrived and took her under tow. Despite strenuous efforts to save her, Avenger foundered ten hours after being hit when her internal bulkheads collapsed. One man was killed in the attack.[11]

U-69 began her sixth and final patrol on 9 July when she departed from Emden, destined for operations off Ireland. U-69's position report at 02:30 on 11 July reported that she was 35 nautical miles (65 km; 40 mi) south of Lindesnes, Norway, and was the last known contact with U-69. According to author Dwight Messimer, two British sources report that HMS Patriot sank U-69 at position 60°25′N 1°32′E / 60.417°N 1.533°E / 60.417; 1.533 on 12 July. An observer in a kite balloon deployed by Patriot spotted a surfaced U-boat at 07:00. The U-boat submerged and Patriot hunted the submarine until noon, when it loosed two depth charges that brought thick brown oil to the surface. A postwar study by Germany cast doubt on whether or not the submarine attacked by Patriot was U-69. Officially, her fate remains unknown.[12]

Summary of raiding history

Date Name Nationality Tonnage
(GRT) 		Fate[9]
15 April 1916 Fairport  United Kingdom 3,838 Sunk
15 April 1916 Schwanden  Russian Empire 844 Sunk
16 April 1916 Glendoon  Norway 1,918 Sunk
16 April 1916 Harrovian  United Kingdom 4,309 Sunk
16 April 1916 Papelera  Norway 1,591 Sunk
17 April 1916 Ernest Reyer  France 2,708 Sunk
18 April 1916 Ravenhill  United Kingdom 1,826 Sunk
20 April 1916 Cairngowan  United Kingdom 4,017 Sunk
11 July 1916 HMT Era  Royal Navy 168 Sunk
20 October 1916 Cabotia  United Kingdom 4,309 Sunk
24 October 1916 Sola  Norway 3,057 Sunk
26 October 1916 North Wales  United Kingdom 4,072 Sunk
26 October 1916 Rappahannock  United Kingdom 3,871 Sunk
2 November 1916 Spero  United Kingdom 1,132 Sunk
3 November 1916 Bertha  Sweden 591 Sunk
20 April 1917 Annapolis  United Kingdom 4,567 Sunk
25 April 1917 Hesperides  United Kingdom 3,393 Sunk
26 April 1917 Rio Lages  United Kingdom 3,591 Sunk
26 April 1917 Vauxhall  United Kingdom 3,629 Sunk
1 May 1917 Rockingham  United States 4,555 Sunk
2 May 1917 Troilus  United Kingdom 7,625 Sunk
29 May 1917 Argo  Sweden 123 Sunk
29 May 1917 Ines  Sweden 261 Sunk
29 May 1917 Consul N. Nielsen  Denmark 1,395 Sunk
31 May 1917 Esneh  United Kingdom 3,247 Sunk
3 June 1917 Luisa  Kingdom of Italy 1,648 Damaged
6 June 1917 Parthenia  United Kingdom 5,160 Sunk
8 June 1917 Enidwen  United Kingdom 3,594 Sunk
8 June 1917 Saragossa  United Kingdom 3,541 Sunk
13 June 1917 Kelvinbank  United Kingdom 4,072 Sunk
14 June 1917 Avenger  Royal Navy 13,441 Sunk
24 July 1917 Mikelis  Greece 2,430 Sunk

Notes

  1. U-3-class
    submarines, however, were less than half the displacement and nearly 90 feet (27 m) shorter than the U-7 design. See: Gardiner, pp. 342–43.
  2. U-3 class boats had been towed from Kiel to Pola via Gibraltar
    in 1909. See: Sieche, p. 19.
  3. Straits of Gibraltar
    , proving that delivery would have been possible after all. See: Gardiner, p. 343.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: U 69". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 9 December 2008.
  2. ^ a b c d Gardiner, p. 177.
  3. ^ Gröner 1991, p. 10.
  4. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boat commanders: Ernst Wilhelms (Royal House of Hohenzollern)". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  5. ^ Gardiner, p. 340.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Gardiner, p. 343.
  7. ^ Guðmundur Helgason. WWI U-boats: U 66, WWI U-boats: U 67, WWI U-boats: U 68, WWI U-boats: U 69, WWI U-boats: U 70. U-Boat War in World War I. Uboat.net. Retrieved on 9 December 2008.
  8. ^ Tarrant, p. 34.
  9. ^ a b Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U 69". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 9 December 2008.
  10. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Avenger". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 9 December 2008.
  11. ^ Hepper, p. 93.
  12. ^ Messimer, p. 88.

Bibliography

External links

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