Unterseeboot 17 (1912)

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Career (German Empire)
Name: U-17
Ordered: 6 May 1910
Builder: Kaiserliche Werft, Danzig
Yard number: 11
Laid down: 1 October 1910
Launched: 16 October 1912
Commissioned: 3 November 1912
Struck: 27 January 1919
Fate: Struck 27 January 1919, scrapped at Imperial Dockyard, Kiel. Pressure hull sold to Stinnes, Hamburg on 3 February 1920.
General characteristics
Type: U-17
Displacement: 564 tons surface, 691 tons submerged.
Length: 62.35 metres (204 ft 7 in)
Beam: 6 metres (19 ft 8 in)
Height: 7.30 metres (23 ft 11 in)
Draught: 3.40 metres (11 ft 2 in)
Propulsion: 1 Korting heavy oil engine.[1]
Speed: 14.9 knots (27.6 km/h) surface, 9.5 knots (17.6 km/h) submerged.
Range: 6,700 nautical miles (7,700 mi/12,400 km) surface, 75 nautical miles (86 mi/139 km) submerged
Armament: 6 torpedoes.[2]
Service record
Part of Imperial German Navy Baltic Flotilla,
II Flotilla,
Training Flotilla
Commanders Johannes Feldkirchener,
Hans Walther
Operations 4 patrols
Victories 12 ships sunk for a total of 16,550 tons; 1 ship captured for a total of 3,538 tons.

U-17 was a submarine that sunk the first British merchant vessel in the First World War. She also sunk another nine ships and captured one ship, surviving the war without casualty.

Contents

[edit] War service

Kapitänleutnant Johannes Feldkirchener
Kapitänleutnant Johannes Feldkirchener

On 1 August 1914, Kapitänleutnan Johannes Feldkirchener was given command of U-17.[3] On 20 October, U-17 stopped the 866 ton SS Glitra off the Norwegian coast, and having searched her cargo, ordered the crew to the lifeboats before scuttling the vessel. On 26 October, U-17 torpedoed the French ferry Admiral Ganteaume in the Strait of Dover. The vessel made port before sinking, with the loss of 40 lives out of over 2,500 on board.[4]

On 2 March 1915 the command of U-17 passed to Hans Walther. Walther's command ended on 9 January 1916 and the next day U-17 joined the Training Flotilla.[3]

[edit] Post war

U-17 was decomissioned on 27 January 1919 and sold for scrapping.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ U-Boats of the Kaiser. Steelnavy.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-25.
  2. ^ Technical information for type U 17. Uboat.net. Retrieved on 2008-03-25.
  3. ^ a b U 17. Uboat.net. Retrieved on 2008-03-25.
  4. ^ U-Boat warfare at the Atlantic in WW1. German Notes. Retrieved on 2008-03-25.