SM UB-107 was a German Type UB III

German type UB III submarine

The Type UB III submarine was a class of U-boat built during World War I by the Kaiserliche Marine.UB III boats carried 10 torpedoes and were armed with one 88 mm deck gun. They carried a crew of 34 and had a cruising range of around 9,000 miles...

 submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 or U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

 in the German Imperial Navy  during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. The U-boat was ordered on 23 September 1913 and launched on 21 July 1917. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 16 February 1918 as SM UB-107."SM" stands for "Seiner Majestät" (His Majesty's) and combined with the U for Unterseeboot would be translated as His Majesty's Submarine. The submarine sank 11 ships in 4 patrols.

The first recorded fate of UB-107 was noted as sunk by depth charge

Depth charge

A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...

 on July 27, 1918 by the Royal Navy trawler Calvis and HMY Vanessa II at position 57°23′N 00°24′W. It has since been argued that the UB-107 was probably not present for the attack by Calvis and Vanessa II as it was the only U-boat that could have been responsible for the sinking of steamers Chloris and John Rettig two and a half hours later at position 53°52′N 00°10′E.

In 1985 divers discovered the wreck of UB-107 one mile north of Flamborough Head

Flamborough Head

Flamborough Head is a promontory of on the Yorkshire coast of England, between the Filey and Bridlington bays of the North Sea. It is a chalk headland, and the resistance it offers to coastal erosion may be contrasted with the low coast of Holderness to the south...

 at position 54°08′N 00°00′W entangled with another wreck, the SS Malvina, a British steamer torpedoed and sunk on 3 August 1918 by . UB-107 was identified by the markings on her propellers. It is suggested that either UB-107 suffered an accident of some sort or was lost on a British mine between July 28 and August 3, 1918 leaving all hands lost (38 dead).

Television Documentary

The fate of UB-107 was the subject of an episode of the documentary television series Deep Sea Detectives

Deep Sea Detectives

Deep Sea Detectives is a television show on The History Channel. The show began airing in 2003.In a post dated September 1, 2006 on the Deep Sea Detectives message board, series producer Kirk Wolfinger stated that the show would not be renewed for another season.- External links :* *...

: "Mystery U-Boat of WWI". The documentary offered various scenarios for the sinking based on historical evidence and exploratory diving at the wreck site.