German submarine Bremen

Bremen was a blockade-breaking German merchant submarine of World War I. Developed with private funds and operated by the North German Lloyd Line, she was one of the first of seven U-151 class U-boats built and one of only two used as unarmed cargo submarines.

Construction

"Bremen" was built together with her sister ship "Deutschland" in 1916 by the "Deutsche Ozean-Reederei", a private shipping company created for the enterprise, a subsidiary company of the North German Lloyd shipping company (now Hapag-Lloyd) and the Deutsche Bankcite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Primary Documents: German Submarine Deutschland's Atlantic Crossing, 9 July 1916 | work = | publisher = FirstWorldWar.com | date = 8 November, 2003 | url = http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/deutschland1.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate = ] . She was constructed without armaments, with a wide beam to provide space for cargo. The cargo capacity was 700 tons (much of it outside the pressure hull), relatively small compared to surface ships.

"Bremen" was one of seven submarines designed to carry cargo between the United States and Germany in 1916, through the naval blockade of the Entente Powers. Mainly enforced by Great Britain's Royal Navy, the blockade had led to great difficulties for German companies in acquiring raw materials which could not be found in quantity within the German sphere of influence, and thus substantially hindered the German war effort.

Five of the submarine freighters were converted into long-range cruiser U-boats (U-kreuzers) equipped with two 105mm deck guns, and only two were completed according to the original design: the "Deutschland" and the "Bremen".

First voyage

The "Bremen" departed Bremerhaven in September 1916 for Norfolk, Virginia, commanded by Kapitaenleutnant Karl Schwartzkopf, and reportedly carrying financial credits for Simon Lake to begin building cargo submarines for Germany.cite book | last = Polmar | first = Norman | authorlink = | coauthors = Kenneth J. Moore | title = Cold War Submarines | publisher = Brassey's | date = 2004 | location = | pages = p. 225 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 1574885944] .She did not complete this voyage and her fate is a mystery.

Fate

There are several accounts of Bremen’s demise.

One source records that a submarine believed to have been the "Bremen" was sighted convert|300|mi|abbr=on south of Iceland on a course for Baltimore and units of the 10th Cruiser Squadron were dispatched to intercept it; HMS "Mantua" reported ramming a heavy, submerged object. [cite book | last = Gibson | first = R.H. | authorlink = | coauthors = Maurice Prendergast | title = The German Submarine War 1914-1918 | publisher = Periscope Publishing Ltd. | year = 2002 | location = | pages = p. 103 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 1904381081]

Another states that "Bremen" she was sunk by British submarine HMS G13. [ Gray p 218] In March 1917, "G13" was on patrol off Shetland, covering the exit by U-boats from the North Sea.There she sighted a submarine identified as "Bremen", and fired 2 torpedoes, which both missed. Turning, "G13" fired again, first with her starboard beam, and continuing her turn with her port beam torpedoes; both these also missed. Then a final shot, with her stern tube, at a range of 7000 yards, was rewarded with an explosion, and "Bremen" was believed sunk. However the Admiralty felt this was inconclusive, and withheld credit for the hit. [Grey also records the view that "Bremen" survived this hit to return to port, where she was written off, and converted into a surface vessel.]

In the absence of any firm evidence, "Bremen" was regarded as lost, probably as a result of hitting a mine. [cite book | last = Akermann | first = Paul | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Encyclopedia of British Submarines 1901-1955 | publisher = Periscope Publishing Ltd. | date = 2002 | location = | pages = p. 66 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 1904381057]

Notes

References

*cite book | last = König | first = Paul | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Voyage of the Deutschland, the First Merchant Submarine | publisher = US Naval Institute Press | date = 2001 | location = | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 1557504245
* Edwyn Grey : "A Damned Un-English Weapon" (1971) ISBN 0 855422 007 0

External links

* [http://uboat.net/wwi/types/index.html?type=U+151 Uboat.net: U-boat Type U 151]