WWI U-boats

U 37

Type U 31
ShipyardGermaniawerft, Kiel (Werk 197)
Ordered 12 Jun 1912
Laid down 2 Jan 1913
Launched 25 Aug 1914
Commissioned 9 Dec 1914
Commanders
9 Dec 1914 - 30 Apr 1915 Kptlt. Erich Wilcke
Career 1 patrol
unknown start - 30 Apr 1915 II Flotilla
Successes2 ships sunk with a total of 2,811 tons.
1 ship damaged with a total of 3,459 tons. (View ships hit by U 37)
Fate 30 Apr 1915 - Mined while homebound near the Sandettie Bank (Straits of Dover area). Wreck located in recent years. Exact date of loss uncertain. 33 dead (all hands lost).

Suggestions that this wreck is U 31 are incorrect. U 31 was not assigned to operate near or through the Straits of Dover and was lost in any case before the Royal Navy laid mines near the Sandettie Bank.

There was another U 37 in World War Two
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 14 May 1938 and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine on 4 Aug 1938. Take a look at U 37 from WWII.


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