SM U-40 (Germany)

SM U-40 was a German Type U 31 U-boat of the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I.

Her construction was ordered on 12 June 1912 and her keel was laid down on 3 April 1913 by Germaniawerft of Kiel. She was launched on 22 October 1914 and commissioned on 14 February 1915 under the command of Gerhardt Fürbringer. Second officer was lieutenant Rudolf Jauch (of the Jauch family).

U-40 conducted one patrol, without sinking a ship.

Fate
On the morning of 23 June 1915 U-40 stopped the trawler Taranaki in the North Sea. Taranaki was in fact a decoy vessel, or "Q-ship", and was connected to the submerged submarine C24 by a combined tow line and telephone cable. When U-40 stopped the trawler, Taranaki telephoned the situation to C24. When C24 tried to slip the tow line, however, the release mechanism failed, and C24 had to manoeuvre into an attacking position with a hundred fathoms of chain hanging from her bow. Her commander, Lieutenant Frederick Henry Taylor, was able to adjust her trim and avoid fouling the chain in the propellers and fired a single torpedo that struck U-40 amidships. The U-boat sank instantly, only three men in the conning tower surviving to be picked up by the Taranaki.

Wreck discovery
The reported location of the sinking varied. According to some sources it was "50 mi southeast of Aberdeen". Others suggested it was "east of the Firth of Forth".

However in March 2009 the Scottish company Marine Quest announced that divers from their company had discovered the wreck of the U-40 approximately 40 mi off Eyemouth, Berwickshire, Scotland, "miles from where it was recorded as going down".