During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
,
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
s of the
German Imperial Navy
The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Kaiser ...
(german: Kaiserliche Marine) and the
Austro-Hungarian Navy
The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (german: kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', hu, Császári és Királyi Haditengerészet) was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the A ...
(german: Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine or K.u.K. Kriegsmarine) sank over 6,000
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
and neutral ships totaling over 14,200,000 tons.
[Gibson and Prendergast, pp. 380, 382.] 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
torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...
es, submarine-laid
mines, gunfire, or other means.
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—, , and —appear on the list twice. ''Justicia'' was damaged by on 19 July 1918 and sunk while under tow the following day by . ''Celtic'' was damaged by and in separate incidents in February 1917 and March 1918, respectively. ''Southland'' was seriously damaged by in September 1915 and sunk by in June 1917. All U-boats listed are German unless otherwise noted in the table.
''
Kapitänleutnant
''Kapitänleutnant'', short: KptLt/in lists: KL, ( en, captain lieutenant) is an officer grade of the captains' military hierarchy group () of the German Bundeswehr. The rank is rated OF-2 in NATO, and equivalent to Hauptmann in the Heer and ...
'' (Kptlt.)
Otto Weddigen
Otto Eduard Weddigen (15 September 1882 – 18 March 1915) was an Imperial German Navy U-boat commander during World War I. He was awarded the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest honour, for sinking four British warships.
Biography and car ...
in sank three
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
cruisers that appear on the list—, , and —in a little more than an hour during the
action of 22 September 1914
The Action of 22 September 1914 was an attack by the German U-boat that took place during the First World War. Three obsolete Royal Navy cruisers, of the 7th Cruiser Squadron, manned mainly by Royal Naval Reserve part-time reservists and sometim ...
. The first three victims of ''UB-14''s career—the , the British troopship , and the troopship (which was seriously damaged) in July, August, and September 1915, respectively—were all on the list.
Four U-boat commanders appear four or more times on the list. Kptlt.
Hans Rose
Hans Rose (April 18, 1885 – December 6, 1969) was one of the most successful and highly decorated German U-boat commanders in the '' Kaiserliche Marine'' during . He sank 79 ships for a total of during the war.
World War I
In September 1916, ...
in sank two ships and damaged two others between June 1917 and April 1918,
while ''Kptlt.''
Otto Steinbrinck
Otto Steinbrinck (19 December 1888 – 16 August 1949) was a highly decorated World War I naval officer and German industrialist who was later indicted and found guilty in the Nuremberg Flick Trial.
Having had a very successful career as a U-bo ...
in did the same between March and July 1917.
Between October 1916 and October 1918, Kptlt.
Wolfgang Steinbauer sank three ships on the list in and damaged a fourth in .
Kptlt.
Gustav Sieß—responsible for sinking the largest ship on the list, the hospital ship struck a mine and sunk (the younger
sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
of and )—topped the list with five entries, four (including ''Britannic'') sunk in and a fifth sunk in , all between April 1916 and April 1917.
Other notable commanders that appear on the list are Kptlt.
Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière
''Vizeadmiral'' Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière (; March 18, 1886 – February 24, 1941), born in Posen, Prussia, and of French-German descent, was a German U-boat commander during World War I. With 194 ships and sunk, he is the most successfu ...
(three times) who sank the most tonnage of any submarine commander ever,
[Tarrant, p. 146.] and ''
Linienschiffsleutnant
is a German language variant of the naval officer rank ship-of-the-line lieutenant. The rank is used by the Belgian Navy and formerly the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
Austro-Hungary
(; hu, Sorhajóhadnagy) was an officer rank in the Austro-Hu ...
''
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
''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Se ...
'' and its subsequent
film adaptation
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...
.
Notes
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Largest Ships Hit By U-Boats In World War I
Lists of World War I ships
Transport-related lists of superlatives
U-boats