| SM U-17 (Germany) | |
|---|---|
 U-17 (second row, second from the right), Kiel Harbour, February 1914 | |
| Career (Germany) |  |
| Name: | U-17 |
| Ordered: | 10 May 1910 |
| Builder: | Kaiserliche Werft Danzig |
| Cost: | 2,333,000 Goldmark |
| Yard number: | 11 |
| Laid down: | 1 October 1910 |
| Launched: | 16 April 1912 |
| Commissioned: | 3 November 1912 |
| Struck: | 27 January 1919 |
| Fate: | Struck 27 January 1919, scrapped at Imperial Dockyard, Kiel. Pressure hull sold to Stinnes, Hamburg on 3 February 1920. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | German Type U 17 submarine |
| Displacement: |
564 t (622 short tons) ↑ 691 t (762 short tons) ↓ |
| Length: | 62.35 m (204 ft 7 in) |
| Beam: | 6 m (19 ft 8 in) |
| Height: | 7.30 m (23 ft 11 in) |
| Draught: | 3.40 m (11 ft 2 in) |
| Propulsion: |
2 shafts 2 × 2 Körting 8-cylinder two stroke paraffin motors with 1,400 PS (1,400 hp) 2 × AEG electric motors with 1,120 PS (1,100 hp) 550 rpm ↑ 425 rpm ↓ |
| Speed: |
14.9 knots (27.6 km/h) ↑ 9.5 knots (17.6 km/h) ↓ |
| Range: |
6,700 nautical miles (7,700 mi; 12,400 km) @ 8 kn ↑ 75 nautical miles (86 mi; 139 km) @ 5 kn ↓ |
| Test depth: | 50 m (164 ft 1 in) |
| Boats & landing craft carried: | 1 dingi |
| Complement: | 4 officers, 25 men |
| Armament: |
4 x 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes (2 each bow and stern) with 6 torpedoes 1 × 5 cm (2.0 in) SK L/40 gun 1 x 3.7 cm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss gun |
| Service record | |
|---|---|
| Part of: |
Imperial German Navy Baltic Flotilla, II Flotilla, Training Flotilla |
| Commanders: |
Johannes Feldkirchener 1 August 1914 – 7 March 1915, Hans Walther 8 March 1915 – 9 January 1916 |
| Operations: | 4 patrols |
| Victories: | 12 ships sunk for a total of 16,550 GRT; 1 ship captured for a total of 3,538 GRT. |
SM U-17 was a German submarine during World War I. U-17 sank the first British merchant vessel in the First World War, and also sank another nine ships and captured one ship, surviving the war without casualty.
War service[]
Oberleutnant z.S. Feldkirchener
On 1 August 1914, Oberleutnant zur See Johannes Feldkirchener was given command of U-17.[1] On 20 October, U-17 stopped the 866 ton SS Glitra off the Norwegian coast, and having searched her cargo, ordered the crew to the lifeboats before scuttling the vessel. On 26 October, U-17 torpedoed the French ferry SS Admiral Ganteaume in the Strait of Dover. The vessel made port before sinking, with the loss of 40 lives out of over 2,500 on board.[2]
On 2 March 1915 the command of U-17 passed to Kapitänleutnant Hans Walther. On 12 June 1915, U-17 chased and torpedoed the SS Desabla off the coast of Scotland. The crew escaped on lifeboats while the vessel was scuttled and sunk. Walther's command ended on 9 January 1916 and the next day U-17 joined the Training Flotilla.[1]
Post war[]
U-17 was decommissioned on 27 January 1919 and sold for scrapping.
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "U 17". Uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=17. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
- ↑ "U-Boat warfare at the Atlantic in WW1". German Notes. Archived from the original on 2008-03-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20080310175335/http://www.germannotes.com/hist_ww1_uboat.shtml. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
References[]
- Spindler, Arno (1932,1933,1934,1941/1964,1966). Der Handelskrieg mit U-Booten. 5 Vols. Berlin: Mittler & Sohn. Vols. 4+5, dealing with 1917+18, are very hard to find: Guildhall Library, London, has them all, also Vol. 1-3 in an English translation: The submarine war against commerce.
- Beesly, Patrick (1982). Room 40: British Naval Intelligence 1914-1918. London: H Hamilton. ISBN 978-0-241-10864-2.
- Halpern, Paul G. (1917). A Naval History of World War I. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-85728-498-0.
- Roessler, Eberhard (1997). Die Unterseeboote der Kaiserlichen Marine. Bonn: Bernard & Graefe. ISBN 978-3-7637-5963-7.
- Schroeder, Joachim (2002). Die U-Boote des Kaisers. Bonn: Bernard & Graefe. ISBN 978-3-7637-6235-4.
- Koerver, Hans Joachim (2008). Room 40: German Naval Warfare 1914-1918. Vol I., The Fleet in Action. Steinbach: LIS Reinisch. ISBN 978-3-902433-76-3.
- Koerver, Hans Joachim (2009). Room 40: German Naval Warfare 1914-1918. Vol II., The Fleet in Being. Steinbach: LIS Reinisch. ISBN 978-3-902433-77-0.
External links[]
- Photo of U-17.
- Photos of cruises of German submarine U-54 in 1916-1918. Great photo quality, comments in German.
- A 44 min. film from 1917 about a cruise of the German submarine U-35. A German propaganda film without dead or wounded; many details about submarine warfare in World War I.
- Uboat.net: More detailed information about U-17.
- Room 40: original documents, photos and maps about World War I German submarine warfare and British Room 40 Intelligence from The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, UK.
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The original article can be found at SM U-17 (Germany) and the edit history here.