SM UB-17
Encyclopedia
SM UB-17 was a German Type UB I
German type UB I submarine
The Type UB I was a class of small coastal submarines built in Germany at the beginning of the First World War. Twenty boats were constructed, most of which went into service with the German Imperial Navy. Boats of this design were also operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the Bulgarian...
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 submarine disappeared during a patrol in March 1918.
UB-17 was ordered in November 1914 and was laid down at the AG Weser
AG Weser
Aktien-Gesellschaft Weser was one of the great German shipbuilding companies, located at the Weser River in Bremen. Founded in 1873 it was finally closed in 1983. Altogether, AG Weser built about 1400 ships of different types, including many war ships...
shipyard in Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
in February 1915. UB-17 was a little under 92 feet (28 m) in length and displaced
Displacement (ship)
A ship's displacement is its weight at any given time, generally expressed in metric tons or long tons. The term is often used to mean the ship's weight when it is loaded to its maximum capacity. A number of synonymous terms exist for this maximum weight, such as loaded displacement, full load...
between 127 and 141 MT (140 and 155.4 ST), depending on whether surfaced or submerged. She carried two torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
es for her two bow torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...
s and was also armed with a deck-mounted machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
. UB-17 was broken into sections and shipped by rail to Antwerp for reassembly. She was launched in April 1915 and commissioned as SM UB-17 in May."SM" stands for "Seiner Majestät" (His Majesty's) and combined with the U for Unterseeboot would be translated as His Majesty's Submarine.
UB-17 spent her entire career in the Flanders Flotilla and sank 13 ships, most of them British fishing vessels. She also captured two ships as prizes and damaged one tanker
Tanker (ship)
A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and the liquefied natural gas carrier.-Background:...
. On 11 March 1918, UB-17 departed for a patrol in the Hoofden but was never seen again. There have been several suggestions as to UB-17s fate, but none match the U-boat's operation details.
Design and construction
After the German ArmyGerman Army (German Empire)
The German Army was the name given the combined land forces of the German Empire, also known as the National Army , Imperial Army or Imperial German Army. The term "Deutsches Heer" is also used for the modern German Army, the land component of the German Bundeswehr...
's rapid advance along the North Sea coast in the earliest stages of World War I, the German Imperial Navy found itself without suitable submarines that could be operated in the narrow and shallow seas off Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
. Project 34, a design effort begun in mid-August 1914, produced the Type UB I
German type UB I submarine
The Type UB I was a class of small coastal submarines built in Germany at the beginning of the First World War. Twenty boats were constructed, most of which went into service with the German Imperial Navy. Boats of this design were also operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the Bulgarian...
design: a small submarine that could be shipped by rail to a port of operations and quickly assembled. Constrained by railroad size limitations, the UB I design called for a boat about 92 feet (28 m) long and displacing about 125 metric tons (137.8 ST) with two torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...
s.A further refinement of the design—replacing the torpedo tubes with mine chutes but changing little else—evolved into the Type UC I
German Type UC I submarine
The Type UC I submarines were a class of small coastal minelaying U-boats built in Germany during the early part of World War I. They were the first operational minelaying submarines in the world . A total of fifteen boats were built...
coastal minelaying
Minelayer
Minelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines. Historically this has been carried out by ships, submarines and aircraft. Additionally, since World War I the term minelayer refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines...
submarine. See: Miller, p. 458.
UB-17 and sister boat comprised an order of two submarines ordered on 25 November from AG Weser
AG Weser
Aktien-Gesellschaft Weser was one of the great German shipbuilding companies, located at the Weser River in Bremen. Founded in 1873 it was finally closed in 1983. Altogether, AG Weser built about 1400 ships of different types, including many war ships...
of Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
, a little more than three months after planning for the class began. UB-17 was laid down by Weser in Bremen on 21 February 1915. As built, UB-17 was 91 in 6 in (27.89 m) long, 10 in 6 in (3.2 m) abeam
Beam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
, and had a draft of 9 in 10 in (3 m). She had a single 60 bhp Körting
Körting Hannover
Körting Hannover AG is a long-standing industrial engineering company in Hanover.At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, the company played a leading role in the development of injector pumps in Germany and Europe.Körting still produces pump and pump-based vacuum technology, but...
4-cylinder diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
for surface travel, and a single 120 shp Siemens-Schuckert
Siemens-Schuckert
Siemens-Schuckert was a German electrical engineering company headquartered in Berlin, Erlangen and Nuremberg that was incorporated into the Siemens AG in 1966....
electric motor
Electric motor
An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...
for underwater travel, both attached to a single propeller shaft. Her top speeds were 7.45 knots, surfaced, and 6.24 knots, submerged. At more moderate speeds, she could sail up to 1500 nautical miles (2,778 km) on the surface before refueling, and up to 45 nautical miles (83.3 km) submerged before recharging her batteries. Like all boats of the class, UB-17 was rated to a diving depth of 50 metres (164 ft), and could completely submerge in 33 seconds.
UB-17 was armed with two 45 centimetres (17.7 in) torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
es in two bow torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...
s. She was also outfitted for a single 8 millimetre (0.31496062992126 in) machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
on deck. UB-17s standard complement consisted of one officer and thirteen enlisted men.
After work on UB-17 was complete at the Weser yard, she was readied for rail shipment. The process of shipping a UB I boat involved breaking the submarine down into what was essentially a knock down kit. Each boat was broken into approximately fifteen pieces and loaded on to eight railway flatcar
Flatcar
A flatcar is a piece of railroad or railway rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck on four or six wheels or a pair of trucks or bogies . The deck of the car can be wood or steel, and the sides of the deck can include pockets for stakes or tie-down points to secure loads...
s. In early 1915, the sections of UB-17 were shipped to Antwerp for assembly in what was typically a two- to three-week process. After UB-17 was assembled and launched on 21 April, she was loaded on a barge and taken through canals to Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
where she underwent trials.
Early career
The submarine was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy as SM UB-17 on 4 May 1915 under the command of Kapitänleutnant (Kapt.) Ralph Wenninger, a 25-year-old former skipper of .Wenninger was in the Navy's April 1907 cadet class with 34 other future U-boat captains, including Werner FürbringerWerner Fürbringer
Werner "Fips" Fürbringer was a successful German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I, sinking 101 ships.He was present on U-20, but left prior to the U-20s sinking of in 1915. He exclusively commanded small, coastal U-boats, starting with UB-2 in February 1915...
, Heino von Heimburg
Heino von Heimburg
Heino von Heimburg was a German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I and served also as Vice Admiral in the Kriegsmarine during World War II.-World War I:...
, Hans Howaldt
Hans Howaldt
Hans Howaldt was a successful and highly decorated German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I and also active in World War II...
, and Otto Steinbrinck
Otto Steinbrinck
Brigadier General Otto Steinbrinck was a German industrialist and an accused in the Nuremberg Flick Trial....
. See: On 10 May, UB-17 joined the Flanders Flotilla , which had been organized on 29 March. When UB-17 joined the flotilla, Germany was in the midst of its first submarine offensive, begun in February. During this campaign, enemy vessels in the German-defined war zone , which encompassed all waters around the United Kingdom, were to be sunk. Vessels of neutral countries were not to be attacked unless they definitively could be identified as enemy vessels operating under a false flag
False flag
False flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is flying the flag of a country other than one's own...
.
Tanker (ship)
A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and the liquefied natural gas carrier.-Background:...
Batoum just off the Southwold
Southwold
Southwold is a town on the North Sea coast, in the Waveney district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located on the North Sea coast at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is around south of Lowestoft and north-east...
lighthouse. Despite the loss of six men, Batoums crew was able to beach the ship, listed as .After Batoum was refloated, repaired, and re-entered service, she was torpedoed and sunk by in June 1917. Early the next month, on 6 August, Wenninger and UB-17 sank four British fishing vessels while patrolling in the Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
–Lowestoft
Lowestoft
Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly point of the United Kingdom. It is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich...
area. All four of the sunken ships were smack
Smack (ship)
A smack was a traditional fishing boat used off the coast of England and the Atlantic coast of America for most of the 19th century, and even in small numbers up to the Second World War. It was originally a cutter rigged sailing boat until about 1865, when the smacks became so large that cutter...
s—sailing vessels traditionally rigged with red ochre sails—which were stopped, boarded by crewmen from UB-17, and sunk with explosives.
On 18 August, the chief of the Admiralstab, Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff
Henning von Holtzendorff
Henning von Holtzendorff was a German admiral during World War I who became famous for his Dec 1916 memo to Kaiser Wilhelm II about unrestricted submarine warfare against the United Kingdom...
, issued orders suspending the first offensive in response to American demands after German submarines had sunk the Cunard Line
Cunard Line
Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
steamer in May 1915 and other high profile sinkings in August and September. Holtzendorff's directive ordered all U-boats out of the English Channel and the South-Western Approaches and required that all submarine activity in the North Sea be conducted strictly along prize regulations. Six days later, UB-17 seized the Belgian sailing vessel Leon Mathilde as a prize
Prize (law)
Prize is a term used in admiralty law to refer to equipment, vehicles, vessels, and cargo captured during armed conflict. The most common use of prize in this sense is the capture of an enemy ship and its cargo as a prize of war. In the past, it was common that the capturing force would be allotted...
off Ostende.
Enemy naval targets were not subject to the prize regulations, so on 23 September, Wenninger torpedoed and sank the , a trawler of the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
off the Dyck lightship. There was only one survivor from the 303-ton ship's eighteen-man crew. Three months later, Wenninger misidentified the 74-ton French fishing ship Jesus Maria as a destroyer. UB-17 launched a torpedo which struck the ship and killed all six men of Jesus Marias crew.
On 31 January 1916, in the Lowestoft–Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh is a coastal town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. Located on the River Alde, the town is notable for its Blue Flag shingle beach and fisherman huts where freshly caught fish are sold daily, and the Aldeburgh Yacht Club...
area, UB-17 sank an additional four fishing ships: three British, and one Belgian. The next day, UB-17s war journal records the torpedoing of the 957-ton British steamer Franz Fischer off the Kentish Knock
Kentish Knock
Kentish Knock may refer to:* Kentish Knock, an area off the coast of Kent and Essex in England* Battle of the Kentish Knock, fought in October 1652* London Array, a wind farm near the Kentish Knock....
. British records list the cargo ship as being sunk by bombs from a zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
. Franz Fischer was the last ship sunk with Wenninger in command. On 7 February, he was relieved by Oberleutnant zur See (Oblt.) Arthur Metz for a month, Kapt. Werner Fürbringer
Werner Fürbringer
Werner "Fips" Fürbringer was a successful German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I, sinking 101 ships.He was present on U-20, but left prior to the U-20s sinking of in 1915. He exclusively commanded small, coastal U-boats, starting with UB-2 in February 1915...
for a week, and Oblt. Friedrich Moecke for another month. Wenninger resumed command on 16 April.
In the meantime, Germany had begun its second submarine offensive against merchant shipping at the end of February in reaction to the British blockade of Germany. By early 1916, the British blockade was having an effect on Germany and her imports. The Royal Navy had stopped and seized more cargo destined for Germany than the quantity of cargo sunk by German U-boats in the first submarine offensive. UB-17 sank no ships during this offensive, which was called off near the end of April by Admiral Reinhardt Scheer, the commander-in-chief of the High Seas Fleet
High Seas Fleet
The High Seas Fleet was the battle fleet of the German Empire and saw action during World War I. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet was renamed as the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the fleet; he envisioned a force powerful enough to...
.
Grand Fleet ambush attempts
In mid-May, Scheer completed plans to draw out part of the British Grand Fleet. The German High Seas Fleet would sortie for a raid on Sunderland, luring the British fleet across nests' of submarines and mine-fields". In support of the operation, UB-17 and five other Flanders boats set out at midnight 30/31 May to form a line 18 nautical miles (33.3 km) east of Lowestoft.The other five boats for the May action were , , , UB-16, and . This group was to intercept and attack the British light forces from HarwichHarwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...
, should they sortie north to join the battle. Unfortunately for the Germans, the British Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
had intelligence reports of the departure of the submarines which, coupled with an absence of attacks on shipping, aroused British suspicions.
A delayed departure of the German High Seas Fleet for its sortie (which had been redirected to the Skagerrak
Skagerrak
The Skagerrak is a strait running between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area, which leads to the Baltic Sea.-Name:...
) and the failure of several of the U-boats stationed to the north to receive the coded message warning of the British advance caused Scheer's anticipated ambush to be a "complete and disappointing failure". In UB-16s group, only UB-10 sighted the Harwich forces, and they were too far away to mount an attack. The failure of the submarine ambush to sink any British capital ships allowed the full Grand Fleet to engage the numerically inferior High Seas Fleet in the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
, which took place 31 May – 1 June.
Wenninger left UB-17 for good on 27 June and was succeeded by Kapt. Günther Suadicani, who commanded the boat for just under two weeks. He was followed by Oblt. Hans Degetau, who commanded the boat from July to December. Under Degetau's leadership, UB-17 added another ship to her tally when she captured and sank the Dutch ship Zeearend on 1 September. The 462-ton steamer was en route to London from Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
with a cargo of piece goods when she was sunk 19 nautical miles (35.2 km) from the Mass Lightship. UB-17s next success was the capture of the Norwegian steamer Birgit in the Hoofden area under the command of Kapt. Ulrich Meier, who had taken command on 4 December. Birgit was the last success for UB-17 for the next twelve months.
Conversion to minelayer
Minelayer
Minelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines. Historically this has been carried out by ships, submarines and aircraft. Additionally, since World War I the term minelayer refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines...
submarines by 1918. The conversion involved removing the bow section containing the pair of torpedo tubes from each U-boat and replacing it with a new bow containing four mine chutes capable of carrying two mines each. In the process, the boats were lengthened to 105 feet (32 m), and the displacement increased to 147 metric tons (162 ST) on the surface, and 161 metric tons (177.5 ST) below the surface. Exactly when this conversion was performed on UB-17 is not reported, but UB-17 was at the dockyard from November 1916 to January 1917, and it is possible UB-17 was converted during this same timeframe.
While Meier remained in command of UB-17, Kaiser Wilhelm II personally approved a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare to begin on 1 February 1917 to help force the British to make peace. Although the new rules of engagement specified that no ship was to be left afloat, UB-17 did not contribute to the effort until December 1917, when she captured and sank a single fishing smack off Aldeburgh under the direction of Oblt. Johannes Ries. In January 1918, Ries was replaced by Oblt. Albert Branscheid.
Sinking
On 11 March 1918, Branscheid led UB-17 out from ZeebruggeZeebrugge
Zeebrugge is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zeebrugge and a seafront resort with hotels, cafés, a marina and a beach.-Location:...
for a patrol in the Hoofden and the U-boat was never seen again. One postwar account tells of two British seaplanes that bombed a U-boat in the North Sea on 12 March, but, according to author Dwight Messimer, the account provides no details to support the claim. Messimer also discounts an account that attributes UB-17s sinking to British destroyer on 25 February south of Portland by pointing out that UB-17 was in port in Zeebrugge on that date. A German postwar study also rejected a British claim that destroyers , , and sank UB-17 at 21:25 on 11 March at position 57°7′N 2°43′E because UB-17 didn't depart Zeebrugge until 30 minutes after the attack took place. Whatever the specific cause of UB-17s demise, all eighteen crewmen on board the submarine were killed.
Ships sunk or damaged
| Date | Name | Merchant ship tonnages are in gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement Displacement (ship) A ship's displacement is its weight at any given time, generally expressed in metric tons or long tons. The term is often used to mean the ship's weight when it is loaded to its maximum capacity. A number of synonymous terms exist for this maximum weight, such as loaded displacement, full load... Tonnage | Nationality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Batoum | 4,054 | British | |
| C.E.S. | 47 | British | |
| Fisherman | 24 | British | |
| Hesperus | 47 | British | |
| Ivan | 44 | British | |
| Leon Mathilde* | unknown | Belgian | |
| 303 | French | ||
| Jesus Maria | 74 | French | |
| Artur Wilhelm | 56 | British | |
| Hilda | 44 | British | |
| Marguerite | 32 | Belgian | |
| Radium | 59 | British | |
| Franz Fischer | 957 | British | |
| Zeearend | 462 | Dutch | |
| Birgit* | 316 | Norwegian | |
| Forward | 40 | British | |
| Sunk or captured: Damaged: Total: |
2,505 4,054 6,559 |
Prize (law)
Prize is a term used in admiralty law to refer to equipment, vehicles, vessels, and cargo captured during armed conflict. The most common use of prize in this sense is the capture of an enemy ship and its cargo as a prize of war. In the past, it was common that the capturing force would be allotted...