SM ''U-108'') and combined with the ''U'' for ''Unterseeboot'' would be translated as ''His Majesty's Submarine''., group=Note was a submarine in the

Imperial German 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. Kaise ...

World War I 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 ...

, taking part in the

First Battle of the Atlantic The Atlantic U-boat campaign of World War I (sometimes called the "First Battle of the Atlantic", in reference to the World War II campaign of that name) was the prolonged naval conflict between German submarines and the Allied navies in Atla ...

Construction

The building contract was confirmed 5 May 1916, and was awarded to Germaniawerft, Kiel.Rössler, Eberhard, ''The U-boat: The evolution and technical history of German Submarines'', Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1989, p. 66 A Type 93 boat, she was launched 11 October 1917 and commissioned 5 December. She was under the command of ''Korvettenkapitän'' Martin Nitzsche.

Design

German Type U 93 submarines were preceded by the shorter Type U 87 submarines. ''U-108'' had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of , a

pressure hull A submarine hull has two major components, the ''light hull'' and the ''pressure hull''. The light hull (''casing'' in British usage) of a submarine is the outer non-watertight hull which provides a hydrodynamically efficient shape. The pressure ...

length of , a beam of , a height of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two engines for use while surfaced, and two engines for use while submerged. She had two propeller shafts and two propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to . The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of . When submerged, she could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at . ''U-108'' was fitted with six

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical 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 (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s (four at the bow and two at the stern), twelve to sixteen

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, s ...

es, one SK L/45 deck gun, and one SK L/30 deck gun. She had a

complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-clas ...

of thirty-six (thirty-two crew members and four officers).

Fate

On 20 November 1918, ''U-108'' was surrendered to France where she was commissioned as ''Léon Mignot'' and served until 24 July 1935.

Summary of raiding history

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:U0108 World War I submarines of Germany German Type U 93 submarines Ships built in Kiel 1917 ships U-boats commissioned in 1917 Shipwrecks in the English Channel U-boats sunk in 1918 Ships lost with all hands