SM U-103

For other ships with the same name, see German submarine U-103.

History

German Empire
Name:	U-103
Ordered:	15 September 1915
Builder:	AG Weser, Bremen
Laid down:	8 August 1916
Launched:	9 June 1917
Commissioned:	15 July 1917
Fate:	Rammed and sunk 12 May 1918 by HMT Olympic. 9 crewmen killed, 31 survived.
General characteristics ^[1]
Class and type:	German Type U 57 submarine
Displacement:	750 t (740 long tons) surfaced 952 t (937 long tons) submerged
Length:	67.60 m (221 ft 9 in) (o/a) 54.02 m (177 ft 3 in) (pressure hull)
Beam:	6.32 m (20 ft 9 in) (o/a) 4.05 m (13 ft 3 in) (pressure hull)
Height:	8.25 m (27 ft 1 in)
Draught:	3.65 m (12 ft 0 in)
Installed power:	2 × 2,400 PS (1,765 kW; 2,367 shp) surfaced 2 × 1,200 PS (883 kW; 1,184 shp) submerged
Propulsion:	2 shafts, 2 × 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) propellers
Speed:	16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) surfaced 8.8 knots (16.3 km/h; 10.1 mph) submerged
Range:	10,100 nmi (18,700 km; 11,600 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) surfaced 56 nmi (104 km; 64 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) submerged
Test depth:	50 m (164 ft 1 in)
Complement:	4 officers, 32 enlisted
Armament:	4 × 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes (two bow, two stern) 10–12 torpedoes 2 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) deck gun
Service record
Part of:	Kaiserliche Marine II Flotilla 26 August 1917 – 12 May 1918
Commanders:	Kptlt. Claus Rücker^[2] 26 August 1917 – 12 May 1918
Operations:	5 patrols
Victories:	8 merchant ships sunk totalling of 15,462 GRT 1 merchant ship damaged 6,042 GRT

SM U-103^{[Note 1]} was an Imperial Germany Navy Type U 57 U-boat of the First World War. U-103 was built on AG Weser in Bremen, launched on 9 June 1917 and commissioned 15 July 1917. She completed five tours of duty under Kptlt. Claus Rücker and sank eight ships totalling 15,462 gross register tons (GRT).^[3]

Loss

HMT Olympic during WWI

In the early hours of 12 May 1918, U-103 prepared to launch torpedoes from her stern tubes at RMS Olympic, a sister ship of RMS Titanic, which was en route for France with US troops on board. The crew was unable to flood the two stern torpedo tubes, and the submarine was sighted on the surface by Olympic, whose gunners opened fire as Olympic turned to ram.

U-103 started to crash dive to 30 m (98 ft) and turned to a parallel course, but almost immediately afterwards was struck just aft of her conning tower and Olympic's port propeller sliced through U-103's pressure hull. The crew of U-103 blew her ballast tanks and scuttled and abandoned their sinking submarine. Nine crew members on board lost their lives. Olympic did not stop to pick up the survivors, but continued on to Cherbourg. USS Davis later sighted a distress flare and took 35 survivors to Queenstown.^[4]^[5]

U-103's wreck lies at position 49°16′N 4°51′W / 49.267°N 4.850°W / 49.267; -4.850Coordinates: 49°16′N 4°51′W / 49.267°N 4.850°W / 49.267; -4.850.

Summary of raiding history

Date	Name	Nationality	Tonnage^{[Note 2]}	Fate^[6]
12 September 1917	St. Margaret	United Kingdom	943	Sunk
12 November 1917	Depute Pierre Goujon	France	4,121	Sunk
16 November 1917	Garron Head	United Kingdom	1,933	Sunk
26 January 1918	Cork	United Kingdom	1,232	Sunk
29 January 1918	Glenfruin	United Kingdom	3,097	Sunk
17 March 1918	Cressida	United Kingdom	150	Sunk
17 March 1918	Sea Gull	United Kingdom	976	Sunk
18 March 1918	Grainton	United Kingdom	6,042	Damaged
20 March 1918	Kassanga	United Kingdom	3,015	Sunk

References

Notes

↑ "SM" stands for "Seiner Majestät" (English: His Majesty's) and combined with the U for Unterseeboot would be translated as His Majesty's Submarine.
↑ Tonnages are in gross register tons

Citations

↑ Gröner 1991, pp. 12-14.
↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boat commanders: Claus Rücker (Royal House Order of Hohenzollern)". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: U 103". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
↑ McCartney, Innes; Jak Mallmann-Showell (2002). Lost Patrols: Submarine Wrecks of the English Channel. Periscope Publishing Ltd. p. 36. ISBN 1-904381-04-9.
↑ Kemp, Paul (1997). U-Boats Destroyed (German submarine losses in the World Wars). London: Arms and Armour Press. p. 49. ISBN 1-85409-321-5.
↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U 103". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 26 January 2015.

Bibliography

Gröner, Erich; Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin (1991). U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels. German Warships 1815–1945. 2. Translated by Thomas, Keith; Magowan, Rachel. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-593-4.

German Type U 57 submarine

SM U-57 SM U-58 SM U-59 SM U-60 SM U-61 SM U-62 SM U-99 SM U-100 SM U-101 SM U-102 SM U-103 SM U-104

Preceded by: Type U 51 Followed by: Type U 63 List of U-boats of Germany

Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in May 1918

Shipwrecks	2 May: SM UB-31, Unity 5 May: Kyarra, SM UB-119 8 May: SM U-32 9 May: SM UC-78 10 May: SM UB-16, HMS Vindictive 11 May: Sant Anna, SM U-154, Verona 12 May: SM U-103, SM UB-72 13 May: SM UB-114, USS Zaanland 14 May: HMS Phoenix 17 May: SM U-35 18 May: Catapulte, HMS Chesterfield 23 May: Innisfallen, HMS Moldavia, SM UB-52 26 May: SM UB-74 31 May: HMS Fairy, USS President Lincoln, SM UC-75 Unknown date: SM UB-70

Other incidents	13 May: USS Hisko, Nidd 29 May: RMS Magdalena

1917 1918 1919 April 1918 June 1918

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.