Unterseeboot 25 (1936)

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Career (Germany)
U-25 on patrol.
Name:	U-25
Ordered:	December 17, 1934
Builder:	AG Weser, Bremen
Yard number:	903
Laid down:	June 28, 1935
Launched:	February 14, 1936
Commissioned:	April 6, 1936
Fate:	Lost around August 1, 1940 in the North Sea north of Terchelling. 49 dead.
General characteristics
Type:	IA

Service record
Part of	Kriegsmarine 2. Unterseebootsflottille
Identification codes	M 10 950
Commanders	Eberhard Godt Werner von Schmidt Otto Schuhart Georg-Heinz Michel Viktor Schütze Heinz Beduhn
Operations	5 patrols
Victories	7 ships sunk for a total of 33.209 gross register tons (GRT) 1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 17.046 GRT 1 ship damaged for a total of 7.638 GRT

Unterseeboot 25 (also known as U-25) was one of the two Type IA ocean going submarines produced by the German Kriegsmarine. Constructed by AG Weser in Bremen, U-25 was commissioned on April 6, 1936. It experienced a short, but successful combat career, sinking eight enemy ships and damaging one.

Until 1940, U-25 was primarily used as training vessel and for propaganda purposes by the Nazi government. During its trials it was found that the Type IA submarine was difficult to handle due to its poor stability and slow dive rate. In early 1940, the boat was called into combat duty due to the shortage of available submarines. U-25 participated in five war cruises, sinking eight enemy ships and badly damaging one.

[edit] Fate

Around August 1, 1940, while on a mine laying mission near Norway, U-25 passed through British mine barrage number seven and struck a mine. The boat sank with all hands on board.

[edit] References

U-boat.net. List of all U-Boats – U-25. Retrieved on July 31, 2006.
ubootwaffe.net webpage about U-25
u-boot-archiv.de webpage for U-25
Gordon Williamson. Wolf Pack: The Story of the U-Boat in World War II, Osprey Publishing Limited, 2005.