Postcard of a cross-section of the German mine-laying submarine UC5, captured by the British.

Captured German UC5, mine-laying submarine. by Authority of the Admiralty, July 1916.



Areal 2 wires

Jumping wires

Periscope

Telescopic mast Height ???? feet

Steering wheel fitted to ????

Main vent from tank

Waterline

Vertical rudder

After trimming tank

Silencer

Engine room; engine; electric motors and diesel Benz motors

Tank; oil fuel tanks

Accumulators??? 70 in number???

Ballast keel; 18.3 ?? tons

Hand wheel

Kingston valves

Ballast tanks tons; safety weight

Accumulators

Ballast keel

. . .

Reverse:

Crown Copyright Reserved.-Not to be reprinted without permission of Controller of H.M. Stationary Office.

Other views: Larger, Larger

Tuesday, August 14, 1917

"On 10 August [1917] U-117, operating under prize rules, despatched nine fishing trawlers on Georges Bank off the coast of Maine.

Dröscher then turned south, sinking the 3875-ton Norwegian steamer Somerstad in thick fog off Fire Island. Bearing south, Dröscher on 13 August destroyed the 7127-ton American tanker Frederick R. Kellogg, inbound from Mexico with 7500 barrels of crude oil. He then laid his first series of mines off the Barnegat along the New Jersey coast, which 2 months later claimed the American steamer San Saba (2458 tons) as well as the Cuban freighter Chappara (1505 tons). On 14 August Dröscher destroyed the American five-masted schooner Dorothy B. Barrett near the mouth of the Delaware River, and then leisurely approached the Five Fathom Bank lightship to silence its SOS signals.

Instead U-117 crash dived at the approach of aircraft. Lying in 25 yards of water Dröscher counted nine bombs in a span of 50 minutes, with each one getting closer. He wondered whether the light-grey colour of his hull could be seen through the shallow water, but feared that air bubbles or leaking oil might have betrayed his position. After several anxious hours on the bottom, U-117 headed for the Fenwick Island Shoal lightship off the coast of Maryland, where it laid a second series of mines, and then for the Winter Quarter lightship, where it sowed a third mindfield. The battleship USS Minnesota was severely damaged by these mines almost 6 months later; in November, the empty troop ship Saetia (2873 tons) also fell victim to the mines."

Quotation Context

Under Lieutenant-Commander Otto Dröscher, U-117 left Kiel on July 11, 1917 for Canada and the United States. He attacked ships and a convoy, but had no success until the August 10 sinkings above.

Source

The First World War: Germany and Austria Hungary 1914-1918 by Holger H. Herwig, pp. 323–324, copyright © 1997 Holger H. Herwig, publisher: Arnold, publication date: 1997

Tags

1917-08-13, August, 1917, U-boat, mine-laying submarine