SM ''UB-50'' was a German
Type UB III submarine or
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 ro ...
in 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. Wilhel ...
(german: Kaiserliche Marine) during
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 ...
. The U-boat was ordered on 20 May 1916. She was
commissioned into the
Pola Flotilla of the German Imperial Navy on 12 July 1917 as SM ''UB-50''.) and combined with the ''U'' for ''Unterseeboot'' would be translated as ''His Majesty's Submarine''., group=Note
The submarine conducted seven patrols and sank 40 ships during the war for a total loss of and 16,499 tons. She operated as part of the
Pola Flotilla based in
Cattaro
Kotor (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian: ), is a coastal town in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative ...
. ''UB-50'' surrendered on 16 January 1919 with the remainder of the Pola Flotilla following an order by Admiral
Reinhard Scheer
Carl Friedrich Heinrich Reinhard Scheer (30 September 1863 – 26 November 1928) was an Admiral in the Imperial German Navy (''Kaiserliche Marine''). Scheer joined the navy in 1879 as an officer cadet and progressed through the ranks, commandin ...
to return to port. During her passage through the Straits of Gibraltar, she managed to sink the battleship . ''UB-50'' was later
broken up
Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sold for re-use, ...
at
Swansea.
Construction
''UB-50'' was ordered by the German Imperial Navy on 20 May 1916. She was built by
Blohm & Voss,
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
and following just under a year of construction,
launched at Hamburg on 6 January 1917. ''UB-50'' was
commissioned later that same year under the command of
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 an ...
(Kptlt.)
Franz Becker. Like all Type UB III submarines, ''UB-50'' carried 10
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 and was armed with an
SK L/30 deck gun. ''UB-50'' could carry a crew of up to 34 men and had a cruising range of . ''UB-50'' had a displacement of while surfaced and when submerged. Her engines enabled her to travel at when surfaced and when submerged.
Service history
First patrol
Soon after she left
Pola Pola or POLA may refer to:
People
* House of Pola, an Italian noble family
* Pola Alonso (1923–2004), Argentine actress
* Pola Brändle (born 1980), German artist and photographer
* Pola Gauguin (1883–1961), Danish painter
* Pola Gojawiczyńsk ...
, ''UB-50'' encountered the ''William H. Crawford'', a American sailing ship. It sank after an attack from the U-boat stopped her. Four days later, ''UB-50'' sighted the British barge ''R.B.40''. ''UB 50'' launched a torpedo which instead hit the British tug towing the ship, the ''H.s.3''. The tug sank, but the barge was not sunk. The following day, ''UB-50'' found two Portuguese sailboats ''Correiro De Sines'' and ''Comizianes Da Graca'' at and respectively. They were sunk north of Cape Sines. A day later, she found the Portuguese ship ''Sado'', which she sank about south of her prey the day before. Four days later, ''UB-50'' finally encountered and sank a merchant, this being the British ''Polar Prince'', carrying coal for
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
. Two days later, she sank the ''Fabian'', a British steamer going to
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, killing three. Later that day, she sank the ''Gioffredo Mameli'', a ton Italian steamer carrying ore. The coal carrying Greek steamer ''Alkyon'' was attacked two days later by ''UB-50'', sinking close off
Oran. The UB 50 followed up with the sinking of the Norwegian steamer ''John Knudsen'', killing one. Four days later, the Italian sailboat ''Ciro'' was scuttled after being hit by ''UB-50'', the last ship she would sink before returning to base.
Second patrol
SM ''UB-50'' began her second patrol with the sinking of the ''Marc Fraissinet'', a French steamer carrying wood, munitions, and hay to Bizerte. It sank north of Tabarca after being torpedoed by ''UB-50''. Later that day UB 50 encountered the ''Senegal'', an Italian steamer, sinking her off the coast of Algeria with no casualties. Three days after that, the ''Margram Abbey'', a British steamer carrying coal, was found and torpedoed by ''UB-50''. It was beached off the coast of Algeria, but the torpedo damage, which killed two, had wrecked the ship. UB 50 attacked the ''Antaeus'', a British steamer, three days later off
Cape Bon. There were no casualties, but the captain was taken prisoner. On the following day, UB 50 torpedoed the ''Amberton'', a British steamer, but she was only damaged. Four days later, the submarine found her last target of her second patrol, the American steamer ''Rizal'', which sank from
Cape Cavallo.
Third patrol
''UB-50'' started out her third patrol by finding and sinking the Italian sailboat ''S. Giuseppe B.'' off the coast of Africa. She sank the British steamer ''City of Lucknow'' two days later northeast of the Cani Rocks. On Christmas Day, 1917, ''UB-50'' sank the ''Sant’ Antonio'', an Italian sailing vessel, by gunfire near
Bizerte. On New Year's Day, 1918, the ''Egyptian Transport'', a British steamer, was damaged during an attack by ''UB-50'', which killed five men. It was later beached but refloated. Two days later, the ''Allanton'', a British steamer carrying coal, was sunk by UB-50, which also sunk the ''Steelville'', a British steamer also carrying coal later that day. Four days later, ''UB-50'' torpedoed the ''Arab'', a British steamer coal off the coast of
Cape Serrat, killing 21.
Fourth patrol
''UB-50''s fourth patrol was very successful. In less than a month, she sank six vessels. The first victim was the French steamer ''Saint Jean Ii'', which went down 22 March 1918 off
Cap Bon
Cape Bon ("Good Cape") is a peninsula in far northeastern Tunisia, also known as Ras at-Taib ( ar, الرأس الطيب), Sharīk Peninsula, or Watan el Kibli;
Cape Bon is also the name of the northernmost point on the peninsula, also known as ...
. That same day, ''UB-50'' managed to damage the British steamer ''Shadwell'' off
Bizerta
Bizerte or Bizerta ( ar, بنزرت, translit=Binzart , it, Biserta, french: link=no, Bizérte) the classical Hippo, is a city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia. It is the northernmost city in Africa, located 65 km (40mil) north of the cap ...
. Four days later ''UB-50'' sank the Italian steamer ''Volturno'' off
Bone (Annaba), Algeria. On 6 April, ''UB-50'' sank the French vessel ''Madeleine Iii'' and on 11 April, she sank the Italian sailing ship ''Carmela G'' and the British vessel ''Highland Prince''.
Fifth patrol
''UB-50'' began her fifth war patrol by damaging the British steamer ''Elswick Grange'' carrying coal off the coast of Oran, killing one. Two days later, she ran across the British steamer ''Mavisbrook'' carrying coal. She was torpedoed south east of Cabo de Gata, killing 18. On that same day, she came upon the Danish three-masted iron-hulled schooner ''Kirstine Jesen'', sinking after being fired upon from ''UB-50''
's deck gun with no deaths. Two days later, the ''New Sweden'', a Swedish steamer, was hit by ''UB-50'' and sank. Two days later, ''UB-50'' found the Spanish steamer ''Maria Pia'', which sank with no casualties. Three days after that, the French sailboat ''Animal Lafont'' and Italian sailboat ''Santa Teresa'' were torpedoed by the U-boat with no casualties.
Sixth patrol
Shortly before her sixth patrol,
Oberleutnant zur See
''Oberleutnant zur See'' (''OLt zS'' or ''OLZS'' in the German Navy, ''Oblt.z.S.'' in the '' Kriegsmarine'') is traditionally the highest rank of Lieutenant in the German Navy. It is grouped as OF-1 in NATO.
The rank was introduced in the Imp ...
Heinrich Kukat took over command from Kptlt. Becker. On her sixth patrol, ''UB-50'' encountered the ''Imber'', a British steamer and torpedoed her south of Cape St. Maria di Leuca, though she survived. Three days later, ''UB-50'' sank the ''War Swallow'', a British merchant ship carrying coal from the
River Tyne to
Port Said. Another three days passed before ''UB-50'' found her next target, the Italian steamer ''Adria 1'', a ship carrying cotton from
Palermo to
Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
, population_note =
, population_urban =
, population_metro = 2658816
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, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 ...
. It sank, but there were no deaths. Two days later, the British steamer ''Upada'' was torpedoed by ''UB-50'' killing three, but was only damaged. ''UB-50'' sank the ''Messidor'', a British coal steamer two days later, sinking the ship and killing one. The following day, she torpedoed the ''Rutherglen'', a British steam merchant carrying coal. That was followed by an attack on the ''Magellan'', a British steamer on the following day. She sank with one man. The last ship sunk on the patrol was the ''Antonio S.'', a Italian sailboat sunk off the coast of Tunisia.
Seventh patrol
On 9 November 1918, two days before the
Armistice with Germany
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...
, ''UB-50'' sank the British battleship
HMS ''Britannia''. The ''Britannia'' was on a voyage to Gibraltar when she was torpedoed off
Cape Trafalgar
Cape Trafalgar (; es, Cabo Trafalgar ) is a headland in the Province of Cádiz in the southwest of Spain. The 1805 naval Battle of Trafalgar, in which the Royal Navy commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson decisively defeated Napoleon's combined ...
.
After the initial explosion, the ship began listing ten degrees to port. A few minutes later, another explosion started a fire in a
magazine, which resulted in a
cordite
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom since 1889 to replace black powder as a military propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burn ...
explosion in the magazine. The ''Britannia'' stayed at 10-degrees for 2½ hours before sinking.
[Burt, p. 253, says that ''Britannia'' listed 10 degrees within "minutes" of the first explosion, then held that list for 2½ hours before sinking, while ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921'', p. 9, claims that she stayed afloat for a total of 3½ hours before sinking, making the length of time it took her to sink ambiguous] Its 16,350-tons made it the largest ship the U-boat ever sank, and the only one ''UB-50'' would sink during her last patrol.
Summary of raiding history
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ub050
German Type UB III submarines
World War I submarines of Germany
U-boats commissioned in 1917
1917 ships
Ships built in Hamburg