WWI U-boats

U 20

Type U 19
ShipyardKaiserliche Werft, Danzig (Werk 14)
Ordered 25 Nov 1910
Laid down 7 Nov 1911
Launched 18 Dec 1912
Commissioned 5 Aug 1913
Commanders
5 Aug 1913 - 15 Dec 1914 Kptlt. Otto Dröscher (Royal House Order of Hohenzollern)
16 Dec 1914 - 4 Nov 1916 Kptlt. Walther Schwieger (Pour le Mérite)
Career 7 patrols
1 Aug 1914 - 4 Nov 1916 III Flotilla
Successes37 ships sunk with a total of 145,830 tons.
1 ship damaged with a total of 2,246 tons.
1 warship damaged with a total of 397 tons. (View ships hit by U 20)
Fate 4 Nov 1916 - Grounded at 5633N 0808E on the Danish coast and blown up by her crew the next day.

On 7 May, 1915 U 20 (Kptlt. Walther Schwieger) torpedoed the British liner RMS Lusitania. She sank in 18 minutes, taking 1195 lives with her, including 123 Americans. This sinking pushed the Americans slightly closer to declaring war on Germany, but that would not take place until April 1917.

There was another U 20 in World War Two
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 14 Jan 1936 and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine on 1 Feb 1936. Take a look at U 20 from WWII.

Media links


The Lusitania

Butler, Daniel Allen


SS Lusitania

Kennedy, William P.


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