SM ''UC-72'' was a German Type UC II

minelaying A minelayer is any warship, submarine or military aircraft deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for installing controll ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. Kaiser ...

(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 12 January 1916 and was launched on 12 August 1916. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 5 December 1916 as SM ''UC-72''."SM" stands for "Seiner Majestät" ( en, His Majesty's) and combined with the ''U'' for ''Unterseeboot'' would be translated as ''His Majesty's Submarine''. In eight patrols ''UC-72'' was credited with sinking 41 ships, either by torpedo or by mines laid. ''UC-72'' disappeared after 21 August 1917. The wreck of ''UC-72'' was identified by marine archaeologist

Innes McCartney Innes McCartney (born 1964) is a British nautical archaeologist and historian. He is a Visiting Fellow at Bournemouth University in the UK. Career McCartney is a nautical archaeologist specializing in the interaction of shipwreck archaeology ...

off Dover in 2013. The wreck seems to have fallen victim to a mine while inbound from patrol.

Design

A Type UC II submarine, ''UC-72'' had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a

length overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

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 , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two six-cylinder four-stroke diesel engines each producing (a total of ), two

electric motor An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...

s producing , and two propeller shafts. She had a dive time of 48 seconds and was capable of operating at a depth of . The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a submerged speed of . When submerged, she could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at . ''UC-72'' was fitted with six mine tubes, eighteen UC 200 mines, three

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 (one on the stern and two on the bow), seven torpedoes, and one Uk L/30 deck gun. Her complement was twenty-six crew members.

Summary of raiding history

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Uc072 Ships built in Hamburg German Type UC II submarines U-boats commissioned in 1916 Maritime incidents in 1917 U-boats sunk in 1917 World War I minelayers of Germany World War I shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean World War I submarines of Germany 1916 ships Submarines lost with all hands