 SMUB-14 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 German Empire | |
| Name | UB-14 |
| Ordered | 15 October 1914[1] |
| Builder | AG Weser,Bremen[2] |
| Yard number | 223[1] |
| Laid down | 9 November 1914[1] |
| Launched | 23 March 1915[1] |
| Commissioned | 25 March 1915[1][3] |
| Fate | Scuttled off Sevastopol in the Black Sea in 1919 |
| General characteristics[4] | |
| Class & type | Type UB I submarine |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 27.88 m (91 ft 6 in) (o/a) |
| Beam | 3.15 m (10 ft 4 in) |
| Draft | 3.03 m (9 ft 11 in) |
| Propulsion |
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| Speed |
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| Range |
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| Test depth | 50 metres (160 ft) |
| Complement | 14 |
| Armament |
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| Notes | 33-second diving time |
| Service record | |
| Part of: |
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| Commanders: |
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| Operations: | 22 patrols[1] |
| Victories: | |
SMUB-14 was a GermanType UB Isubmarine orU-boat in theGerman Imperial Navy (German:Kaiserliche Marine) duringWorld War I. The submarine was also known by theAustro-Hungarian Navy designation ofSMU-26.
UB-14 was ordered in October 1914 and waslaid down at theAG Weser shipyard inBremen in November.UB-14 was a little under 28 metres (92 ft) in length anddisplaced between 127 and 141 tonnes (125 and 139 long tons), depending on whether surfaced or submerged. She carried twotorpedoes for her two bowtorpedo tubes and was also armed with a deck-mountedmachine gun.UB-14 was broken into sections and shipped by rail to the Austrian portPola for reassembly. She waslaunched andcommissioned in March 1915 as SMUB-14 in the German Imperial Navy under the command ofOberleutnant zur SeeHeino von Heimburg.[Note 1]
Because Germany and Italy were not yet at war whenUB-14 entered service, she was transferred in name only to the Austro-Hungarian Navy. The submarine retained her German captain and crew, and remained under German command as a part of theKaiserliche Marine'sPola Flotilla. During her first patrol in theAdriatic,UB-14 torpedoed and sank theAmalfi. While traveling to Constantinople (present-dayIstanbul) to join theConstantinople Flotilla,UB-14 attacked two Britishtroopships, sinkingRoyal Edward with heavy loss of life, and seriously damagingSouthland. All three ofUB-14's first victims wereamong the largest ships attacked by U-boats during the war.
AlthoughUB-14 sank the British submarineHMS E20 in theSea of Marmara in November 1915, she spent most of the rest of her career patrolling in theBlack Sea. The U-boat had only limited success there, sinking only three ships through the end of the war. After the war ended, the submarine was disarmed atSevastopol and scuttled off that port in early 1919.[5]
After theGerman Army's rapid advance along the North Sea coast in the earliest stages of World War I, theGerman Imperial Navy found itself without suitable submarines that could be operated in the narrow and shallow seas offFlanders.[6][7] Project 34, a design effort begun in mid-August 1914,[7] produced theType UB I design: a small submarine that could be shipped by rail to a port of operations and quickly assembled. Constrained by railroad size limitations, the UB I design called for a boat about 28 metres (92 ft) long and displacing about 125 tonnes (123 long tons) with twotorpedo tubes.[6][Note 2]
UB-14 was part of the initial allotment of seven submarines—numberedUB-9 toUB-15—ordered on 15 October fromAG Weser ofBremen, just shy of two months after planning for the class began.[6][8]UB-14 waslaid down by Weser in Bremen on 9 November.[1] As built,UB-14 was 27.88 metres (91 ft 6 in) long, 3.15 metres (10 ft 4 in)abeam, and had adraft of 3.03 metres (9 ft 11 in). She had a single 59-brake-horsepower (44 kW)Körting 4-cylinderdiesel engine for surface travel, and a single 119-shaft-horsepower (89 kW)Siemens-Schuckertelectric motor for underwater travel, both attached to a singlepropeller shaft. Her top speeds were 7.45 knots (13.80 km/h; 8.57 mph), surfaced, and 6.24 knots (11.56 km/h; 7.18 mph), submerged.[2] At more moderate speeds, she could sail up to 1,500nautical miles (2,800 km; 1,700 mi) on the surface before refueling, and up to 45 nautical miles (83 km; 52 mi) submerged before recharging her batteries. Like all boats of the class,UB-14 was rated to a diving depth of 50 metres (160 ft), and could completely submerge in 33 seconds.
UB-14 was armed with two 45-centimeter (17.7 in)torpedoes in two bowtorpedo tubes. She was also outfitted for a single 8-millimeter (0.31 in)machine gun on deck.UB-14's standard complement consisted of one officer and thirteen enlisted men.[9]
Most of the UB I boats were shipped to their port of operations by rail, where they were assembled,launched, tested, andcommissioned. Information onUB-14 suggests that she may not have followed that pattern as closely as most other boats. According to several sources,UB-14 waslaunched on 23 March 1915,[1][3] andcommissioned into the German Imperial Navy as SMUB-14 on 25 March under the command ofOberleutnant zur SeeHeino von Heimburg[1] a 25-year-old first-time U-boat commander.[10][Note 3] Those same sources are silent onUB-14's whereabouts at the time, but information onUB-14' later shipment and arrival in the Mediterranean suggest that her initial launch and commissioning may have occurred in Germany.
UB-14 was shipped by rail in June to the main Austrian naval base atPola, with an arrival date on the 12th.[11] The process of shipping a UB I boat involved breaking the submarine down into what was essentially aknock down kit. Each boat was broken into approximately fifteen pieces and loaded onto eight railwayflatcars.[9] German engineers and technicians that accompanied earlier UB I boats to Pola worked under the supervision ofKapitänleutnant Hans Adam, head of the U-boat special command (German:Sonderkommando).[12] Typically, the UB I assembly process took about two to three weeks.[9][13]
WhileUB-14 made her way to Austria-Hungary, von Heimburg and his German crew were assigned toUB-15 at Pola. The submarine was temporarily commissioned into the German Imperial Navy before a subsequent transfer to theAustro-Hungarian Navy as itsU-11.[14] Von Heimburg and his German crew, with one Austrian officer aboard, gained valuable experience inUB-15/U-11, sinking theMedusa on that U-boat's first patrol.[15]UB-15/U-11 was handed over to the Austro-Hungarian Navy on 16 June, and von Heimburg and his crew were transferred intact on 21 June toUB-14, which was still a few days from completion.[16]
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Italy had declined to join itsTriple Alliance partners—Germany and Austria-Hungary—in declaring war against theEntente Powers, and opted to remain neutral. Pressure from the United Kingdom and France swayed Italy to sign the secret1915 Treaty of London on 26 April, in which Italy promised to leave the Triple Alliance and declare war against its former allies within a month in return for territorial gains after the end of the war. Because Italy initially declared war only on Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy were not officially at war. As a consequence, German submarines operating in the Adriatic and the Mediterranean were all assigned Austrian numbers and flew the flag of Austria-Hungary when making attacks on Italian vessels;UB-14 was assigned the designation ofU-26 and entered onto the rolls of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, despite the fact that she remained completely under German control.[17] According to historian Lawrence Sondhaus, this dual numbering system reflected the close submarine cooperation between the two countries and still makes it difficult to distinguish between submarines of the two navies.[17]
On 1 July,UB-14 joined thePola Flotilla (German:Deutsche U-Halbflotille Pola),[1] and departed soon thereafter on her first patrol.[16] On the night of 6/7 July, Italianarmored cruisers that had recently been deployed atVenice undertook a "reconnaissance in force" off Pola in an attempt to discourage future Austrian sorties against the Italian coast.[16][18] When the Italian ships retired in the early morning hours of the 7th,UB-14 was about 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi) off Venice. At dawn, the armored cruiserAmalfi crossed paths withUB-14 and was torpedoed.Amalfi quickly began listing to port and sank within 30 minutes with the loss of 67 men. At 10,118 tonnes (9,958 long tons) displacement,Amalfi wasone of the largest ships sunk by U-boats during the war.[19]UB-14 escaped the scene without damage.[16]
Enver Pasha and other Turkish leaders had been pleading with their German and Austrian allies to send submarines to the Dardanelles to help attack the British and French fleet pounding Turkish positions.[20] As part of the German response,UB-14 was ordered to Constantinople (present-dayIstanbul) to joinU-21;sister boatsUB-7 andUB-8; and theUC I boatsUC-14 andUC-15 in theConstantinople Flotilla (German:U-Boote der Mittelmeer-Division in Konstantinopel).[21] Since her intermediate refueling stop atBodrum was beyond her limited range,UB-14 departed Pola under tow from an Austrian destroyer on 15 July 1915.[16]UB-14's engine andgyrocompass broke down while offCrete, leaving the boat dead in the water for a time,[16][Note 4] but temporary repairs by the crew enabled the boat to make Bodrum on the 24th. A repair crew from Constantinople was dispatched—having to travel by train and camel just to reachUB-14—and the ship was ready to resume her journey on 13 August.[16][Note 5]
Shortly after departing Bodrum,UB-14 had just cleared the Greek island ofKos and was off the nearby island ofKandeloussa when von Heimburg sighted several potential victims. The first ship seen was the British hospital shipSoudan, headed to Alexandria from the Dardanelles. Von Heimburg, seeing the properly identified hospital ship, allowedSoudan to pass unmolested. The next ship was not so lucky, however. It was the unescortedRoyal Edward, a Canadianocean liner pressed intotroopship duties.Royal Edward was headed in the opposite direction fromSoudan: from Alexandria to the Dardanelles with reinforcements for theBritish 29th Infantry and a small group with theRoyal Army Medical Corps, all of whom were destined forGallipoli.[22] Von Heimburg launched one of his two torpedoes from about a mile (2 km) away and hitRoyal Edward in the stern;[23] the ship sank stern-first in six minutes, with a large loss of life.Soudan and several other ships were able to rescue nearly 700 men, but over 900 died.[23][Note 6]Royal Edward, at 11,117 gross register tons (GRT), was also among the largest ships hit by U-boats during the war.[19] While evading the rescue ships, which included two French destroyers,UB-14's compass broke down again, forcing a return to Bodrum on the morning of the 15th.[24]
After repairs were completed at Bodrum,UB-14 continued on her way with a passenger,Prince Heinrich XXXVII Reuss of Köstritz (of theReuss Junior Line) who needed passage to Constantinople.[24] During the journey north,UB-14 came upon another fully loaded troopship near the island of Efstratis, about 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) fromLemnos. At 09:51 on 2 September,[25] von Heimburg launched a single torpedo at the British troopshipSouthland, which was carrying mostly Australian troops headed for Gallipoli.[26][27] The torpedo scored a hit on the starboard bow of the liner, which immediately began to list in that direction. As the men boarded lifeboats to abandon ship, another torpedo narrowly missed the stricken ship. The Britishseaplane carrierBen-my-Chree sped to the scene of the attack, and rescued nearly 700 men from the water.[26] The hospital shipNeuralia was also on the scene and rescued a sizable number.[28] A group of about 40 volunteers stayed on boardSouthland to help the crew, and with some towing assistance fromBen-my-Chree, were able to beach the ship on Lemnos. In all, fewer than 40 men died in the attack;[29] amongSouthland's survivors wasJames Martin, who, upon his death less than two months later, became the youngest Australian known to have died in the war.[30] The stricken ship had received serious damage, but was later repaired and returned to service.[27][Note 7] As withUB-14's first two targets,Southland was also the largest ships hit by U-boats,[19] giving von Heimburg andUB-14 three victims from the list of the largest in their first three attacks.[31]
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After the attack onSouthland,UB-14 broke down again and put in atChanak to await repairs. While there on 4 September, word came of the British submarineE7 entangled in Turkishantisubmarine nets offNagara Point. Von Heimburg, Prince Heinrich, andUB-14's cook, a man by the name of Herzig, set out in a rowboat to observe the Turkish attempts to destroyE7. After severalmines that formed part of the net had been detonated to no avail,[Note 8] von Heimburg and his group rowed out and repeatedly dropped a plumb line until it contacted metal. Then, von Heimburg dropped a Turkish sinker mine with a shortened fuse right on top ofE7.[32] After the hand-dropped mine detonated too close for the British submarine's captain's comfort, he ordered his boat surfaced, abandoned, andscuttled. Between shellfire from the Turkish shore batteries andE7's scuttling charges, von Heimburg and company narrowly escaped harm.[33] While most sources creditE7's sinking to the Turkish efforts, author Robert Stern contends that von Heimburg andUB-14 deserve partial credit for the demise ofE7.[34]
AfterUB-14's repairs were completed, she continued on to Constantinople and, from there, began a patrol in theBlack Sea on 3 October.[33] During this patrol, von Heimburg torpedoed the 474 GRT Russian steamerKatja about 15 nautical miles (28 km; 17 mi) northwest ofSevastopol on the 7th,[35] andApscheron, a Belgian steamer expropriated by theImperial Russian Navy, 24 nautical miles (44 km; 28 mi) south ofCape Chersonesos on the 8th.[36] After her return to Constantinople on the 19th,UB-14 was prepared for another patrol in the Black Sea. Just before her scheduled departure, however, the U-boat's destination was changed from the Black Sea to theSea of Marmara and von Heimburg andUB-14 headed south on 5 November. WhileUB-14 had been in port on 30 November, Turkish forces had captured theTurquoise before the submarine or any of the confidential papers on board could be destroyed.[33] WhenTurquoise was caught, her commander had not signaled her predicament to anyone, so a scheduled rendezvous with the British submarineHMS E20—as far as anyone other thanTurquoise or the Germans and Turks knew—was still on.UB-14 had been sent to keep the rendezvous,[37] reportedly going so far as to radio messages in the latest British code.[38] Upon arriving at the designated location,UB-14 surfaced and fired a torpedo atE20 from a distance of 500 metres (550 yd). Only whenE20's crew saw the torpedo did they realize something was amiss, but it was too late to avoid the weapon.[39] The torpedo hitE20'sconning tower and sank the submarine with the loss of 21 men.[39][40]UB-14 rescued nine men, includingE20's captain who,[39] reportedly, had beenbrushing his teeth at the time of the attack.[41]
In December, von Heimburg was replaced asUB-14's commander byKapitänleutnant Albrecht von Dewitz,[42] but in early February 1916, von Heimburg resumed command.[10]UB-14's activities between November and May are not reported in sources, but Paul Halpern reports thatUB-14 patrolled in the Black Sea offTrebizond from late May to early June, returning to Constantinople without success.[43]
On 17 June, von Heimburg was recalled to Germany to command the soon-to-be-commissionedUC-22,[41][44] and was replaced onUB-14 by Kapitänleutnant Kurt Schwarz, a first time U-boat commander.[45] Soon after Schwarz assumed command,UB-14 was in the Black Sea in support of a July sortie by the German battlecruiserGoeben and the light cruiserBreslau in the eastern Black Sea. Because the Russian fleet, headquartered at Sevastopol, might have an opportunity to cut off the German warships on the mission,UB-14 was sent on station off Sevastopol. When the Russian fleet did sortie, Schwarz attempted to torpedo theImperatritsa Mariya, but was seen and driven off by Russian dreadnought's screen of destroyers.[46]
After Romania joined the war on the side of theTriple Entente in August and was quickly overrun by theCentral Powers, the Russian efforts in the Black Sea in the second half of 1916 were focused in the west.[47] Because German submarines never really accomplished all that much in the Black Sea,[48] the February 1917resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare led the Germans to temporarily abandon the Black Sea in lieu of the more target-rich Mediterranean.[48]UB-14's whereabouts and activities during the latter half of 1916 and the first few months of 1917 are unreported in sources.[citation needed]
On 28 May 1917,Oberleutnant zur See Ernst Ulrich replaced Schwarz,[49] and, soon after,UB-14 sailed on the first German patrol of the year in the Black Sea.[50] On 5 June,UB-14 sank the 155 GRT Russian sailing vesselKarasunda north ofPoti;[51]Karasunda was the last ship credited toUB-14.[31] Other than to note thatOberleutnant zur See Bodo Elleke succeeded Ulrich in March 1918,[52] there is no mention in sources ofUB-14's activities between June 1917 and November 1918.
After theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic signed theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers on 3 March 1918, exiting the war, forces of the Central Powers surrounded and later seized the port of Sevastopol.UB-14 was at Sevastopol after the Germany signedthe armistice treaty that ended all fighting on 11 November.UB-14 and the three other surviving Constantinople Flotilla boats[Note 9] were disarmed on 25 November.UB-14 was scuttled in the Black Sea off Sevastopol in the early months of 1919.[1]
| Date | Name | Nationality | Tonnage[Note 10] | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 July 1915 | Amalfi |  Regia Marina | 10,118 | Sunk |
| 13 August 1915 | Royal Edward |  Canada | 11,117 | Sunk |
| 2 September 1915 | Southland |  Royal Navy | 11,899 | Damaged |
| 7 October 1915 | Katja |  Russia | 474 | Sunk |
| 8 October 1915 | Apscheron | Russia | 1,864 | Sunk |
| 6 November 1915 | HMS E20 | Royal Navy | 725 | Sunk |
| 5 June 1917 | Karasunda | Russia | 155 | Sunk |
| Sunk: Damaged: Total: | 24,453 11,899 36,352 |
 Imperial German Navy | |
|---|---|
 Austro-Hungarian NavyU-10 class | |
 Bulgarian Navy |
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