SM U-152

Officers, crewmen and former prisoners of war on the foredeck of U-152 Officers, crewmen and a former prisoner of war, Lt. Frank L. Muller, USNRF, Executive Officer of USS Ticonderoga (standing third from right, wearing his uniform and a civilian cap), on the submarine's foredeck, while she was passing through the Kiel Canal on the way to Harwich, England to be surrendered, 28 November 1918.
History
German Empire
Name:	U-152
Ordered:	29 November 1916
Builder:	Reiherstiegwerft, Hamburg
Laid down:	20 May 1917
Commissioned:	17 October 1917
Fate:	Surrendered, November 1918 Sunk, 1921
General characteristics
Class & type:	German Type U 151 submarine
Displacement:	1,512 tonnes (1,488 long tons) (surfaced) 1,875 tonnes (1,845 long tons) (submerged) 2,272 tonnes (2,236 long tons) (total)
Length:	65.00 m (213 ft 3 in) (o/a) 57.00 m (187 ft) (pressure hull)
Beam:	8.90 m (29 ft 2 in) (o/a) 5.80 m (19 ft) (pressure hull)
Height:	9.25 m (30 ft 4 in)
Draught:	5.30 m (17 ft 5 in)
Installed power:	800 PS (590 kW; 790 bhp) (surfaced) 800 PS (590 kW; 790 bhp) (submerged)
Propulsion:	2 × shafts, 2 × 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in) propellers
Speed:	12.4 knots (23.0 km/h; 14.3 mph) surfaced 5.2 knots (9.6 km/h; 6.0 mph) submerged
Range:	25,000 nmi (46,000 km; 29,000 mi) at 5.5 knots (10.2 km/h; 6.3 mph) surfaced, 65 nmi (120 km; 75 mi) at 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph) submerged
Test depth:	50 metres (160 ft)
Complement:	6 officers, 50 enlisted
Armament:	2 50 cm (20 in) bow torpedo tubes 18 torpedoes 2 × 15 cm (5.9 in) deck guns with 1672 rounds 2 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) deck guns with 764 rounds

SM U-152 was a German Type U 151 submarine of the Imperial German Navy during World War I.

Built at Hamburg, the submarine was commissioned in October 1917. Initially intended as a submersible merchantman for transporting critical war materiel through the British blockade, she was converted to a combat ship while under construction.

Service history

U-152 was actively employed in the Atlantic during the last year of the conflict. Among her victims were two American schooners, Julia Frances (sunk on 27 January 1918) and A.E. Whyland (sunk on 13 March 1918), the Norwegian barque Stifinder (boarded and scuttled on 13 October 1918), the Spanish Giralda (sunk on 25 January 1918), and the U.S. Navy cargo ship USS Ticonderoga. The latter was sunk, after a two-hour gun battle, with heavy casualties among her crew and passengers, on 30 September 1918. The previous day, 29 September, the submarine had also fought a gun battle with the Navy oiler USS George G. Henry, but despite being badly damaged the American ship escaped.

After returning to Germany in November 1918, at the end of her final wartime cruise, U-152 went to Harwich, England, where she was surrendered to the British. U-152 was deliberately sunk by the Royal Navy in July 1921.

Gallery

• USS Ticonderoga 1918.jpg

  USS Ticonderoga in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts

• U-152 Zeitung.jpg

  Newspaper report on the sinking of USS Ticonderoga

• Bark Stifinder.jpg

  Bark Stifinder sinking

• U-152 Gefangene.jpg

  Two U.S. Navy officers captured when the submarine sank USS Ticonderoga on 30 September 1918. They are Lt. Frank L. Muller, USNRF (left), and Lt. (j.g) Junius H. Fulcher, USNRF

• SS George G. Henry.jpg

  USS George G. Henry

Bibliography

• Bodo Herzog/Günter Schomaekers: Ritter der Tiefe – Die erfolgreichsten U-Bootkommandanten der Welt. Verlag Welsermühl, Wels und München 1976, ISBN 3-85339-136-2
• Paul Kemp: Die deutschen und österreichischen U-Boot Verluste in beiden Weltkriegen. Urbes Verlag Hans Jürgen Hansen, Gräfelfing vor München 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7
• Eberhard Möller / Werner Brack: Enzyklopädie deutscher U-Boote, Von 1904 bis zur Gegenwart, Motorbuch Verlag, ISBN 3-613-02245-1

External links

• Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images: U-152