List_of_the_largest_ships_hit_by_U-boats_in_World_War_I

List of the largest ships hit by U-boats in World War I

List of the largest ships hit by U-boats in World War I

Add article description

During the First World War, U-boats of the German Imperial Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) and the Austro-Hungarian Navy (German: Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine or K.u.K. Kriegsmarine) sank over 6,000 Allied and neutral ships totaling over 14,200,000 tons.[1] Many additional ships that are not included in those totals were damaged, but were able to return to service after repairs. This list contains the approximately 100 ships over 10,000 tons that were either damaged or sunk by U-boats by torpedoes, submarine-laid mines, gunfire, or other means.[Note 1]

List

Ships listed are presented in descending order on the tonnage figure. Those that were damaged are indicated with an asterisk after their names. Three ships—Justicia, Celtic, and Southland—appear on the list twice. Justicia was damaged by UB-64 on 19 July 1918 and sunk while under tow the following day by UB-124.[2] Celtic was damaged by U-80 and UB-77 in separate incidents in February 1917 and March 1918, respectively.[3] Southland was seriously damaged by UB-14 in September 1915 and sunk by SM U-70 in June 1917.[4] All U-boats listed are German unless otherwise noted in the table.

Kapitänleutnant (Kptlt.) Otto Weddigen in U-9 sank three Royal Navy cruisers that appear on the list—Aboukir, Hogue, and Cressy—in a little more than an hour during the action of 22 September 1914.[5] The first three victims of UB-14's career—the Amalfi, the British troopship Royal Edward, and the troopship Southland (which was seriously damaged) in July, August, and September 1915, respectively—are all on the list.[6]

Four U-boat commanders appear four or more times on the list. Kptlt. Hans Rose in U-53 sank two ships and damaged two others between June 1917 and April 1918,[7] while Kptlt. Otto Steinbrinck in UC-65 did the same between March and July 1917.[7] Between October 1916 and October 1918, Kptlt. Wolfgang Steinbauer sank three ships on the list in UB-47 and damaged a fourth in UB-48.[7] Kptlt. Gustav Sieß—responsible for sinking the largest ship on the list, the hospital ship Britannic struck a mine and sunk (the younger sister ship of Titanic and Olympic)—topped the list with five entries, four (including Britannic) sunk in U-73 and a fifth sunk in U-33, all between April 1916 and April 1917.[7] Other notable commanders that appear on the list are Kptlt. Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière (three times) who sank the most tonnage of any submarine commander ever,[8] and Linienschiffsleutnant Georg Ritter von Trapp of the Austro-Hungarian Navy (two times), known as the patriarch of the family made famous in The Sound of Music and its subsequent film adaptation.[9]

More information Ship, Nationality ...
  1. damaged but not sunk

Notes

  1. [N 1]
    Merchant ship tonnages are in gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement

References

  1. [1]
    Gibson and Prendergast, pp. 380, 382.
  2. [2]
    Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Justicia". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  3. [3]
    Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Celtic". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  4. [4]
    Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Southland". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  5. [5]
    Gibson and Prendergast, pp. 7–9.
  6. [6]
    Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by UB 14". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  7. [7]
    Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Largest Ships sunk or damaged". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  8. [8]
    Tarrant, p. 146.
  9. [9]
    Gearin, Joan. "The Real Story of the von Trapp Family". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved 15 April 2009.

Bibliography
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article List_of_the_largest_ships_hit_by_U-boats_in_World_War_I, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.