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World War One discussions.
Re: USS New York v. U-Boat
Posted by:
Michael Lowrey
()
Date: January 01, 2004 08:32PM
<HTML>Joe,
Noone to my knowledge has specifically address Jones' claims, but I will take a shot at it. (I do the WWI fate information for this site and also work with divers to locate and identify WWI U-boat wrecks.)
The problem with Jones' claim is that it makes no sense from a WWI U-boat operations standpoint. The Scottish east coast was a separate patrol area to which neither UB 113 or UB 123 was assigned. In fact, UBIIIs were not even typically assigned to the area this late in WWI -- Germany-based UCIIs were patrolling those waters.
UB 123 was homebound from the Irish Sea when lost. Her last radio contact was with UB 125 on October 18, 1918 asking about routing through the Northern Barrage.
UB 113 sailed on September 14, 1918 for the west end of the English Channel. She was to sail around Scotland. There was no contact with her after she sailed. It is unclear what happened to her -- the Northern Barrage certainly is a possibility either outbound or inbound. Also, the Royal Navy laid some new minefields off the Flanders coast in August and September 1918 that could have been a factor as well.
In any case, had UB 113 of survived, she would have returned not to Flanders but to Kiel! After the abandonment of the Flanders ports in late September/early October 1918, Flanders-based boats at sea used the standard HSF return routing through the Skagerrak ino the Baltic and to Kiel. I've looked at enough KTBs to say that Germany-based boats operating around Scotland did not typically go anywhere near the Firth of Forth.
Best wishes,
Michael</HTML>
Noone to my knowledge has specifically address Jones' claims, but I will take a shot at it. (I do the WWI fate information for this site and also work with divers to locate and identify WWI U-boat wrecks.)
The problem with Jones' claim is that it makes no sense from a WWI U-boat operations standpoint. The Scottish east coast was a separate patrol area to which neither UB 113 or UB 123 was assigned. In fact, UBIIIs were not even typically assigned to the area this late in WWI -- Germany-based UCIIs were patrolling those waters.
UB 123 was homebound from the Irish Sea when lost. Her last radio contact was with UB 125 on October 18, 1918 asking about routing through the Northern Barrage.
UB 113 sailed on September 14, 1918 for the west end of the English Channel. She was to sail around Scotland. There was no contact with her after she sailed. It is unclear what happened to her -- the Northern Barrage certainly is a possibility either outbound or inbound. Also, the Royal Navy laid some new minefields off the Flanders coast in August and September 1918 that could have been a factor as well.
In any case, had UB 113 of survived, she would have returned not to Flanders but to Kiel! After the abandonment of the Flanders ports in late September/early October 1918, Flanders-based boats at sea used the standard HSF return routing through the Skagerrak ino the Baltic and to Kiel. I've looked at enough KTBs to say that Germany-based boats operating around Scotland did not typically go anywhere near the Firth of Forth.
Best wishes,
Michael</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
USS New York v. U-Boat
|
Joe Brennan | 01/01/2004 05:01PM |
|
Re: USS New York v. U-Boat
|
Michael Lowrey | 01/01/2004 08:32PM |
|
Re: USS New York v. U-Boat
|
Joe Brennan | 01/02/2004 12:02AM |
|
Re: USS New York v. U-Boat
|
Michael Lowrey | 01/02/2004 01:34AM |
|
Re: USS New York v. U-Boat
|
Michael Lowrey | 01/02/2004 01:55AM |