SM UB-68 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 20 May 1916. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 5 Oct 1917 as SM UB-68."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 conducted five patrols and sank five ships during the war. Under the command of Karl Dönitz

Karl Dönitz

Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...

, on Oct. 4, 1918 UB-68 encountered technical problems and had to surface where she was shelled until sinking at 3356N 1620E. There was one dead and thirty-three survivors.