Submarines: Type UC

[Pelican]

UC-75
UK hands back WWI U-boat propeller to Germany
A World War One U-boat propeller was handed back to the German Navy on August 31 following a joint operation between the UK’s Maritime & Coastguard Agency, Historic England and North Wales Police.
The propeller was formally handed over onboard FGS Bonn, a German replenishment ship which is currently based in Plymouth for training.
It is one of two propellers found at a storage unit in Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales in September 2017 that were believed to have been illegally recovered from the wreck of the submarine UC-75 by a diver.
Continues at - https://navaltoday.com/2018/09/04/uk-ha ... o-germany/
Note the links within the box to the full story and photos.

[ivorthediver]

And quite rightly to David , my views on unsolicited trophy hunters is well known , and remains unchanged .

[ivorthediver]

And quite rightly to David , my views on unsolicited trophy hunters is well known , and remains unchanged .

Regardless.......of who's navy it belonged to I might add

[Brian James]

Surrendered Type UC III Minelaying Submarine SM UC-97 pictured at Toronto in 1919...She was used to raise liberty bonds across the Great Lakes, she was sunk in Lake Michigan in 1921.

[designeraccd]

Here is sister UC-93, given to Italy as war reps where she was scrapped in 1921.........

SPECS:

"lass and type German Type UC III submarine
Displacement
491 t (483 long tons), surfaced
571 t (562 long tons), submerged
Length
56.51 m (185 ft 5 in) (o/a)
42.20 m (138 ft 5 in) (pressure hull)
Beam 5.54 m (18 ft 2 in) (o/a)
Draft 3.77 m (12 ft 4 in)
Propulsion
2 × propeller shafts
2 × 6-cylinder, 4-stroke diesel engines, 600 PS (440 kW; 590 bhp)
2 × electric motors, 770 PS (570 kW; 760 shp)
Speed
11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph), surfaced
6.6 knots (12.2 km/h; 7.6 mph), submerged
Range
9,850 nautical miles (18,240 km; 11,340 mi) at 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph), surfaced
40 nmi (74 km; 46 mi) at 4.5 knots (8.3 km/h; 5.2 mph), submerged
Test depth 75 m (246 ft)
Complement 32
Armament
6 × 100 cm (39.4 in) mine tubes
14 × UC 200 mines
3 × 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes (2 bow external; one stern)
7 × torpedoes
1 x 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 or 8.8 cm (3.5 in) Uk L/30 deck gun
Notes 15-second diving time"

DFO

[Brian James]

Type UC II Minelaying Submarine SM UC-56 pictured in dry dock at Santander, Spain on May 24th 1918...She was ordered on January 12th 1916, laid down on March 4th 1916 at Kaiserliche Werft Shipyards, Danzig and was launched on August 26th 1916. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on December 18th 1916 as SM UC-56. In six patrols UC-56 was credited with sinking one ship by torpedo: the British Hospital Ship HMHS Glenart Castle. UC-56 suffered from mechanical breakdowns that prevented her from submerging. She put in at Santander, Spain, on May 24th 1918 and was interned there for the duration of the war.....After the war, the British Admiralty sought the captains of U-boats who sank Hospital Ships, in order to charge them with war crimes. Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Kiesewetter — the commander of UC-56 was arrested after the war on his voyage back to Germany and interned in the Tower of London. He was released on the grounds that Britain had no right to hold a detainee during the Armistice. Britain pressed for Berlin to pursue the cases concerning the British Hospital Ships Rewa, Glenart Castle, Guildford Castle and Llandovery Castle at the Leipzig War Crimes Trials, as all were attacked in waters in which Germany had declared that they would be respected under the Hague Convention. Only the case of HMHS Llandovery Castle was prosecuted, but the convictions were quashed.

[emason]

UC55 found off Shetland

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... d-66302352

German WW1 U-boat found off the coast of Shetland

A World War One German U-boat has been identified by divers off the coast of Shetland.

The SM UC-55 submarine was sunk about eight miles south-east of Lerwick by the Royal Navy in 1917.

The U-boat had been laying mines in the convoy channel between Orkney and Shetland before being forced to surface due to a technical fault.

The wreck site had been been known about since the mid-1980s when scanning equipment picked it up, but Hazel Weaver, the owner of the Valhalla said that 10 years of planning had gone into the dive.

The submarine met its end after a loss of trim resulted in it sinking below its maximum dive depth, resulting in some flooding but it managed to rise to the surface.

Shortly afterwards two Royal Navy destroyers appeared and opened fire, sinking it.

Jacob Mackenzie, one of the divers who visited the wreck, said it was "eerie" being down there given that the some of the crew had perished along with their vessel.

"You are aware of that, although I believe about 15 of the crew did escape the rest of the crew of course didn't so they are still inside and that's very obvious when you're looking around it," he said.

The team were able to confirm the identity of the wreck because details of the damage had been recorded in the logbooks of the Royal Navy destroyers that sank the submarine.

"It certainly didn't sink by accident. This was wartime and if you haven't been to those depths before you won't appreciate that it's pitch black, it's very quiet, it is quite eerie when you swim around doing this," he said.

"In the back of your mind as well you have to remember the fact that this is essentially a grave for probably 20 men who didn't make it out alive unfortunately."

[Pelican]

Wreck of SM UC-55, German World War I U-Boat, Identified Off Shetland

https://www.oldsaltblog.com/2023/07/wre ... more-60730