SM U-40 (Germany)

S. M. U 40 ( His Majesty's U 40 ) was a German U-boat (more precisely, dive boat ) of the German Imperial Navy. It was the first German U- boat, a submarine trap fell victim.

Architectural History

In drafting the double hull offshore boat Type U 31 - U 41 it was draft Germania shipyard. The principal reason for the development of this type was the engineer Hans Techel. U 56, U 63 - - U 65 and U 81 - From these designs also the double hull ocean-going boats Type U 51 U 86 launched from. U 40 was given on 12 June 1912 in order and placed on 3 April 1913 in the Germania shipyard in Kiel. The launch took place on 22 October 1914. Upon his entry into service on February 24, 1915 U was assumed 40 stationed on Helgoland II submarine flotilla.

Officers

Commander of the submarine was Lieutenant Gerhardt Fürbringer, Second Officer was Lieutenant for S. Rudolf Jauch. [A 1]

Feindfahrt

The submarine completed only a patrol on which it ran 40 miles in the British submarine case before the Taranaki located in the Scottish Borders Eyemouth on 23 June 1915 a new British defense against submarines, and was sunk. In the case it was the "decoy trawler " Taranaki and the towed from this, older submarine C-Class HMS C24. As U 40 appeared to control the freighter, the dew to HMS C24, whose crew was connected via a telephone line and was informed of the approach of the German U- boat should be capped and C24 should U 40 torpedo. The release mechanism for the rope but failed. Spite of this, the Commander Taylor, to get in position C24 and U 40 to torpedo successfully. 32 sailors were killed, three crew members, Commander, WO and Maat, the amidships were the torpedo strike on the tower could be saved. The wreck was discovered in 2009. After the place had been adopted of doom - in Aberdeen ( 57 ° 0 ' N, 1 ° 50' W57 - 1.8333333333333 ) - to be corrected.

Follow

The use of fishing boats and those in their towing submarines as submarine traps was of doubtful success. The British navy was only the sinking of two German submarines by decoy trawler, that except from U 40 only from U 23 The survivors of U 23 were imprudently brought together in England with interned Germans, who were repatriated in late summer of 1915 to Germany. Due to the existing of this information in the home, the German Navy set on this stratagem - British trawlers were always treated as if they were Decoy Ships. Until 1918 675 fishing boats were sunk. This 434 fishermen came for her life. Even where other types of submarine traps were used - for example hidden armed vessels flying the flag of non- belligerent nations ( cf. U 36) -, the losses hardly justify the use of such vessels: 11 sunken submarines were a total of 76 sunk by the Germans Tarnschiffe opposite. In 1917, the remaining ships were no longer used.

Remarkable

U 40 should have been the first submarine, on its cover an aircraft was transported, a tactic that should have been, however, shortly afterwards discarded as a failure by the Navy leadership.