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:

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Sunday, August 20, 1916

"From 26 July to 20 August, Arnauld de la Perière and U.35 enjoyed the most successful submarine cruise of any commander during the war; in the western Mediterranean he sank 54 steamers and sailing craft, representing more than 90,150 tons of shipping. Between July and September of 1916, Mediterranean U-boats sank directly or indirectly through submarine-laid mines 155 ships, or 321,542 tones, out of a worldwide total of 493,184 tons. The Mediterranean percentage of total sinkings by submarines had therefore risen from 49.6 percent in the second quarter of 1916 to more than 65 percent in the third quarter."

Quotation Context

Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière was a German submarine commander of French descent and the most successful submarine commander ever. The Mediterranean Sea was dominated by the surface fleets of the Entente Allies — Britain, France, and Italy — but offered many targets to a submarine including shipping crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and through the Suez Canal, passing to and from ports including Marseilles, those of Egypt and the Salonica Front, and the more distant ports in Mesopotamia and India.

Source

A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, page 388, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994

Tags

1916-08-20, 1916, August, Mediterranean, Mediterranean Sea, U-boat, Uboat, submarine, mine-laying submarine