SM ''U-103'') and combined with the ''U'' for ''Unterseeboot'' would be translated as ''His Majesty's Submarine''., group=Note was an Imperial Germany Navy Type U 57

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 ...

that was rammed and sunk by 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-103'' was built by

AG Weser Aktien-Gesellschaft „Weser" (abbreviated A.G. „Weser”) was one of the major German shipbuilding companies, located at the Weser River in Bremen. Founded in 1872 it was finally closed in 1983. All together, A.G. „Weser" built about 1,400 ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, launched on 9 June 1917 and commissioned 15 July 1917. She completed five tours of duty under '' Kptlt.'' Claus Rücker and sank eight ships totalling before being lost in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

on 12 May 1918.

Sinking

In the early hours of 12 May 1918, the surfaced ''U-103'' sighted ''Olympic'', the older sister of , which was carrying US troops to France. The crew prepared to launch

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 from her stern

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 but was unable to flood them in time before the submarine was spotted by ''Olympic'', whose gunners opened fire as the transport ship turned to ram. SM ''U-103'' started to crash dive to in an attempt to turn to a parallel course to the liner. But there was not enough time before the port propeller of ''Olympic'' sliced through the submarine's pressure hull just aft of its conning tower. The crew of ''U-103'' blew ballast tanks before scuttling their sinking submarine. Nine crewmen lost their lives. ''Olympic'' did not stop to pick up the survivors but continued on to

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

. later sighted a distress flare and took 35 survivors to Queenstown.

Wreck

The remains of ''U-103'' lie at a depth of in the English Channel about midway between England and France (). Its deep location makes its largely inaccessible to divers but the wreck was surveyed and identified by a

remotely operated underwater vehicle A remotely operated underwater vehicle (technically ROUV or just ROV) is a tethered underwater mobile device, commonly called ''underwater robot''. Definition This meaning is different from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the ai ...

in 2012.

Summary of raiding history

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:U0103 World War I submarines of Germany Type U 57 submarines Ships built in Bremen (state) 1917 ships U-boats commissioned in 1917 Maritime incidents in 1918 U-boats sunk in 1918 U-boats sunk by British merchant ship World War I shipwrecks in the English Channel U-boats sunk in collisions