A chart showing losses from month to month and gives a graphical overview of the escalation in the war. When the year ended 9 of them had been lost. U was actually sunk twice so she appears twice in that number.
The U-boat fleet lost 87 boats during this year, most of them in the latter half the year. A sign of things to come With the biggest convoy battles of the war and the highest number of boats at sea, stakes were high. The British began to take U-boats more seriously after a major stealth attack decimated three of its large cruisers, the HMS Aboukir , Hogue and Cressy in September By spring of the next year, Germany had roughly 35 functioning U-boats , many of which utilized torpedoes and had been highly effective in targeting ships passing through their vicinity.
As of April , German forces had sunk 39 ships and lost only three U-boats in the process. U-boats played a pivotal role in helping Germany react to the economic offensive that Britain had established with its blockade, by responding in kind and cutting off merchant business and trade. Early on, many German officials began to believe U-boats would offer a swift and decisive victory to the war.
The Lusitania attack put increased public pressure on the Wilson administration to reconsider United States involvement in World War I, leading up to an official declaration of war in Wilson and Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan were determined to remain neutral in a war they considered driven by European nationalism. Following the Lusitania tragedy, Wilson issued three strongly worded declarations to Germany regarding U-boat warfare, after which submarine attacks on merchants subsided significantly in the Atlantic and shifted to the Mediterranean to assist the Austrians and Turks.
This status was maintained for some time, until early , when Germany decided U. After an American bomber attacked the subs, they broke off the rescue operation. Navy Catalina in the Caribbean, 8 March Altogether, sank 27 ships totaling , tons. Surrendered to the British at Singapore 15 August and scuttled there 16 February Other passengers bound for Japan included several Luftwaffe officers and technical specialists intended to improve Japanese aircraft defenses.
The U. Navy used U for experimental trials and then sank her off Cape Cod, November Following ramming, both warships remained temporarily locked together, and some fighting took place at close quarters before the U-boat broke away and sank with all 49 hands.
USS Borie succumbed the next day from damage suffered, with the loss of 27 officers and seamen. Resupplied a total of 65 U-boats in her first five patrols, March June The remaining 41 crewmen were recovered as prisoners of war. Navy since the War of The captured Enigma encryption machine and accompanying documentation in June greatly facilitated subsequent Allied decryption efforts for the remainder of the war.
Her second commanding officer, KL Peter Zschech, committed suicide on board during a depth-charge attack 24 October Navy Task Group In , U was awarded to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, where it remains today as the best preserved and most originally furnished of the four museum U-boats, the others being U, U, and U For more about U, see Resources.
The same task group that captured U sank U Sixteen crewmen were lost in the sinking; the remaining 44 were rescued and made prisoners of war. Commander Henke was killed 15 June in a suicidal escape attempt at Ft. Hunt, Virginia.
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