submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
s serving 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. Wilhel ...
in
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 ...
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 of ''U-92'' was ordered in August 1915, and her
keel
The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
was
laid down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.
Keel laying is one o ...
in August 1916 at the Kaiserliche Werftyard in Danzig.Koerver, Hans Joachim. ''Room 40: German Naval Warfare 1914-1918. Vol II., The Fleet in Being'' (Steinbach, Germany: LIS Reinisch, 2009). She was launched in October 1917, and sunk by
mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
* Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
...
9 September 1918.
Design
German Type U 87 submarine
Type 87 was a class of U-boats built during World War I by the Kaiserliche Marine.
Type 87 U-boats carried 16 torpedoes and had various arrangements of deck guns. ''U 87'' and ''U 89'' had one 10.5 cm/45 and one 8.8 cm deck gun, U 88 was probab ...
s were preceded by the shorter Type U 81 submarines. ''U-92'' 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
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
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. She 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-92'' was fitted with four
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 (two at the bow and two at the stern), ten to twelve
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, ND one SK L/45deck gun. She had a complement of thirty-six (thirty-two crew members and four officers).
Operations
After acceptance trials at Danzig (where she was first detected by
Room 40
Room 40, also known as 40 O.B. (old building; officially part of NID25), was the cryptanalysis section of the British Admiralty during the First World War.
The group, which was formed in October 1914, began when Rear-Admiral Henry Oliver, the ...
, which followed and recorded all her subsequent movements), commanded by
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 ...
(
Lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...
) Bieler.Handelskrieg, V, pp.36-7. She joined the Kiel School 2 November 1917, leaving for the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
about the end of December 1917, being attached to the
3rd
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (d ...
''U-92'' departed for her first war patrol 1 January, ''via'' Heligoland Bight and around Scotland into the northern
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...
, recording no sinkings, and returning to WilhelmshavenHandelskrieg, V, p.310-1. 30 January.
2nd Patrol
Her second patrol began 24 February, and she was assigned to a station southwest of Ireland, transiting the Kiel Canal and the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
, due to heavy mining in the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
. Again, she scored no victories, but was in the vicinity of
The Skaw
Skagen Odde, also Skagens Odde, sometimes known in English as the Scaw Spit or The Skaw, is a sandy peninsula which stretches some northeast and comprises the northernmost area of Vendsyssel in Jutland, Denmark.commerce raider''Wolf'' stranded a prize, ''Igotz Mendi'', for two days. She also torpedoed the 7,034-ton steamer , killing one British seaman, and inflicting damage, none severe enough to keep her victim from reaching port. ''U-92'' returned to Kiel on 23 March.
3rd Patrol
After refit, ''U-92'' departed on her third patrol 24 April. She was again assigned to the southwest Ireland station, by way of
Heligoland
Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...
, the Kiel Canal, the Baltic, Denmark, Scotland, and Fair Isle. On this long patrol, from which she returned to Wilhelmshaven on about 28 May (Room 40 was uncertain of the date), she was attacked three times by enemy A/S forces (and once more by patrol
seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...
), and again scored no successes. On his return, after his third consecutive dry patrol and in keeping with usual practise for unproductive skippers, ''Kptlt.''. Bieler was relieved.
4th Patrol
''U-92'' returned to Ireland station for her fourth patrol, sortieing 29 June, now in the hands of ''Kptlt''. Günther Ehrlich. She came under attack on only the second day of her patrol, south of
Dogger Bank
Dogger Bank (Dutch: ''Doggersbank'', German: ''Doggerbank'', Danish: ''Doggerbanke'') is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about off the east coast of England.
During the last ice age the bank was part of a large landmass c ...
, by two torpedoes from submarine , Both missed. ''U-92'' attacked a convoy eight days later, on 9 July. She sank two armed steamers, the 2814 ton ''Ben Lomond'' southeast of Daunts Rock and the 3,550 ton ''Mars'' west by north of
Bishop Rock
The Bishop Rock ( kw, Men Epskop) is a skerry off the British coast in the northern Atlantic Ocean known for its lighthouse.
It is in the westernmost part of the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsu ...
. and suffered damage in a collision. On 10 July, she fired on the 339 ton armed schooner ''Charles Theriault'' with her deck gun, inflicting damage; ''Theriault'' was towed to port. The next day she torpedoed and sank the 5,590-ton
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...
at with the loss of 11 members of ''Westover''s crew, and on 13 July, the 3058-ton Spanish steamer with two torpedoes. By the end of her patrol, on 22 July, she had sunk 22,000
ton
Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses.
Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean
* the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds
...
s of shipping.
5th Patrol
For her fifth patrol, she left ''via'' Kattegat on 4 September. She was
mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
* Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
...
d 9 September in Area B of the
North Sea Mine Barrage
The North Sea Mine Barrage, also known as the Northern Barrage, was a large minefield laid easterly from the Orkney Islands to Norway by the United States Navy (assisted by the Royal Navy) during World War I. The objective was to inhibit the m ...
, and lost with all hands;Handelskrieg, Vol 5 her last position was suspected to be ."
Wreck Site
At the end of 2007, her wreck was located there by the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency ship ''Anglian Sovereign''.
Room 40
Room 40, also known as 40 O.B. (old building; officially part of NID25), was the cryptanalysis section of the British Admiralty during the First World War.
The group, which was formed in October 1914, began when Rear-Admiral Henry Oliver, the ...
Intelligence from
The National Archives
National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives.
Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...