To a very limited extent, yes. Only a very few boats (the U-cruisers and maybe the UEIIs) would have the range to get there and time on station would have been limited.
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None. As far as south as they got was the North Carolina coast.
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Forgot to mention: The location of the wreck does match a Bulgarian defensive minefield laid earlier in 1916. Key to the identification is that the wreck is fitted with a Bethlehem 37mm gun. UB 8 when under Bulgarian control as Podvodnik No. 18 is known to have been retrofitted with a Schneider & Cie 47mm gun, so can be excluded. The third UBI in the Black Sea was UB 14, which we now know was
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Christopher, Thanks for sharing the link. The article is well written and does a good job with most of the English-language sources. There’s one problem though: The wreck of UB 7 has been located and identified 15 miles SE of Varna. The boat was apparently lost while outbound, so on September 29, 1916. Best wishes, Michael
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No, Kurt Druschel was killed when U 154 was sunk on July 3, 1944.
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Lio, U 59 was outbound with two armed trawlers as escort when the group got into a newly-laid German minefield. U 59 and the armed trawler fitted for minesweeping Fulda both sank. U 59's survivors were Steuermann Paul Hennig, Bootsmannmaat Bachmann, Bootsmannmaat Zieglowski, and Oberheizer Pilz. Presumably the survivors from U 59 and Fulda were rescued by the other armed trawler, Orion
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Nick, UB 119 sailed from Helgoland on her first patrol on April 27, 1918. The U-boat was assigned to operate in the northern North Sea though her commanding officer could, if he chose, continue on to patrol off the north coast of Ireland, in the North Channel, and in the northern Irish Sea. At 4:30am on April 30, UB 119 reported in from about 90 miles WSW of Lindesnes, Norway. That was the las
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Paul, The issue is the torpedo tube arrangement on U 135: it's four torpedo tubes forward, 2 torpedo tubes aft. The propeller shafts ran below the aft torpedo room, so the photo looks to be correctly labeled. Best wishes, Michael
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Klaus-Peter, Thanks for offer of help. As of now, I have 1922-1926, 1929-1932, 1935-1938, 1940-1944 and portions of 1927 and 1928. Looks like we're facing pretty much the same data holes — the 1933 and 1934 editions would fill some holes. The website as of now should reflect all of the volumes I have access to. I added the Seekadett dates for Crew 1925 earlier today. Best wishes,
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Martin, I've just had a quick look. I'm not aware of a specific matching sinking claim, but U 87 was sunk with all hands on December 25, 1917 and would have roughly been in the area where St. Olaf was lost and thus is a possibility. The weather seems to have been nice,so likely not a factor. Best wishes, Michael
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Arend, It's not an exact match to any specific U-boat — many of the details are a bit off. My guess is that the artist painted it based upon limited source material and got the proportions and locations of some things wrong. That said, it seems to be mainly based upon one of the U-series diesel-powered torpedo attack types. Best wishes, Michael
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Correct, UC 66 was the first U-boat sunk by aircraft on May 27, 1917.
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Felix, I have U 66's KTB. The Swedish steamer was the Ingeborg and she was stopped on December 14 and then released. Unfortunately, the name of the officer taken as a POW is not included in the KTB; he's only described as a "englischer Armeeoffizier (Hauptmann)" — English Army officer (captain). Best wishes, Michael
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Alan, I have U 90's KTB. There's no engagement on November 19, 1917, so she isn't teh answer. Best wishes, Michael
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Bolty, Marie Susanne is listed in British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-18 as coming under attack on three occasions in 1917: On May 22, 1917, she was missed by torpedoes in the Mediterranean On June 18, 1917, she was "rescued" from a gunfire engagement from a U-boat in the Atlantic On November 19, 1917, she was in another fire fight with a U-boat in the Atlantic. Given the date,
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I had a look at Elemer Malanotti's entries in the “Rangliste der K.u.K. Kriegsmarine.” It’s strange. He's a Fregattenleutnant throughout the war — and the senior Fregattenleutnant for much of the war. Which is to say for some reason which is not obvious in the Rangliste he wasn’t promoted to to Linenschiffleutnant in November 1915 with his classmates. Most of the officers that didn’t ge
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Joe, OK, found the same file Olivier found and the attack is a match for what's in U 57's KTB. Have added it in to the database. Best wishes, Michael
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This is a researchable question, as WWI U-boat war diaries (KTBs) survive. I have most of them on microfilm, but unfortunately can't currently access a microfilm reader… There certainly was a U-boat in the Irish Sea on June 5, 1918: U 96 (Jeß), which sank the British steamer Polwell off Dublin. Her KTB is where I’d start looking. Perhaps someone else has a copy of it at hand? Best wish
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Karl Keidel and Franz Dömpke were both Heizers. (Note the correct spelling of both their last names.) Best wishes, Michael
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I made copies of parts of Wladimir Aichelburg's "Die Unterseeboote Österriech-Ungarns", which provides more details. The U 17 action was on January 1, 1916. The ship attacked was an unidentified two masted sailing vessel of an estimated of 40 grt at about 41°57'N, 19°25'E. It's in my personal database but not in the online database; will add it in. Rigele'
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Kristen, DEUTSCHLAND would be from the battleship SMS Deutschland. I would guess he served on it, possibly before transferring to submarines. I.UNTERSEEBOOTS.HALBFLOTTILLE.I -- The 1st submarine half flotilla. This was a prewar and early war formation of the High Seas Fleet and operated out of Germany. The 1st Half Flotilla wss renumbered as the 1st Flotilla in late 1916, so he was submari
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No, just one sentence on the sinking, gives identity as Italian Y4, 250 tons, shelled, abandoned, then destroyed.
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Stephen, I do have U 39's KTB describing the action. Best wishes, Michael
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Simon, No idea why they misidentied the vessel. Same sort of thing happen on October 12, 1915 when U 39 sank the RN drifter Restore of 93 grt — the U-boat thought the vessel was the armed Montenegrin steamer LT of 215 grt. Strangely, in both cases the identification errors are repeated in Spindler's official history. Best wishes, Michael
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Otto Steinbrink, see:
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Bolty, By "daily log book" I presume you mean its "Kriegstagebuch" (KTB, war diary), which is the source historians use to examine U-boat operations. Yes, U 39's KTB survives. The original should be at BAMA Freiburg; NARA has copies on microfilm, and a number of individuals and organizations have copies or scans. I do have the microfilm roll with U 39's KTB, un
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That makes a lot of sense and is consistent with his promotion dates in the various Rangliste.
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Seevogel, I handle the WWII crew section of this website, and can provide a little insight. The source you are looking for is the Rangliste der deutschen Kriegsmarine, previously the Rangliste der deutschen Reichsmarine, the yearly listing of German naval officers and officer candidates. I have access to various editions, including 1932, and 1935 - 1938. 1940 - 1942, and 1944. PM me for
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There is an oddity in Helmut Schmoeckel's career path, and it comes in 1938. He clearly entered as Crew 36, and was promoted to Fähnrich zur See on May 1, 1937. He's not listed though in the 1938 Rangliste. In the 1940 Rangliste, he's a Leutnant zur See as of August 1, 1939 (with Crew 1937a) with seniority of “14a”, indicating he was inserted into into the list. In the 1941 Ran
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I’ll address your question more broadly. The German navy had until 1938 something called a Deckoffizier, which is best translated as a warrant officer. (The German navy had much more of the distinction between commissioned and warrant officers than say the Royal Navy.) Steuermann and Obersteuermann were both Deckoffizier ranks, navigation branch warrant officers. You can think of an Obersteuer
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