SM U-151

Career (German Empire)
Class and type:	Type U-151 U-boat
Name:	U-151
Ordered:	29 November 1916
Builder:	Reiherstieg Schiffswerfte & Maschinenfabrik, Hamburg
Yard number:	Werk 303
Launched:	4 April 1917
Commissioned:	21 July 1917
Captured:	Surrendered to France at Cherbourg
Fate:	Sunk as target ship at Cherbourg, 7 June 1921
General characteristics
Class and type:	German Type U 151 submarine
Displacement:	1,512 long tons (1,536 t) surfaced 1,875 long tons (1,905 t) submerged
Length:	65 m (213 ft) overall 57 m (187 ft) pressure hull
Beam:	8.9 m (29 ft) overall 5.8 m (19 ft) pressure hull
Draught:	5.3 m (17 ft)
Propulsion:	Surfaced: 800 hp Submerged: 800 hp
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 mi (40,000 km) at 6 kn (11 km/h; 6.9 mph) surfaced 65 mi (105 km) at 3 kn (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph) submerged
Test depth:	Calculated crush depth: 50 m (160 ft)
Complement:	56 officers & ratings
Armament:	• 2 × bow torpedo tubes (18 torpedoes) • 2 × 105 mm (4 in) deck guns with 1672 rounds
Service record
Part of:	Kaiserliche Marine U-Kreuzer Flotilla 21 July 1917 - 11 November 1918
Commanders:	Korvetten-Kapitän Waldemar Kophamel 1917-07-21 - 1917-12-26 Korvetten-Kapitän Heinrich von Nostitz und Jänckendorff 1917-12-27 — 1918-11-11
Operations:	4 patrols
Victories:	37 ships sunk for a total of 89,759 gross register tons (GRT) 5 ships damaged for a total of 10,195 gross register tons (GRT)

SM U-151 or SM Unterseeboot 151 was a World War I U-boat of the Imperial German Navy, constructed by Reiherstieg Schiffswerfte & Maschinenfabrik at Hamburg and launched on 4 April 1917. From 1917 until the Armistice in November 1918 she was part of the U-Kreuzer Flotilla, and was responsible for sinking 37 ships.

Background

The U-151 was originally one of seven Deutschland class U-boats designed to carry cargo between the United States and Germany in 1916. Five of the submarine freighters were converted into long-range cruiser U-boats (U-kreuzers) equipped with two 105mm deck guns, including the U-151 which was originally to have been named Oldenburg. They were the largest U-boats of World War I.

Service history

U-151 was commissioned on 21 July 1917. From 21 July to 26 December 1917 she was commanded by Waldemar Kophamel who took U-151 on a long-range cruise which eventually covered a total of 12,000 miles. On 19 September 1917 the U-151 claimed her first victim, the 3,104 ton French sailing vessel Blanche in the Atlantic. On 20 November 1917 U-151 captured the steamship Johan Mjelde, and scuttled her on 26 November after transferring 22 tons of her cargo of copper.

American cruise

U-151 left Kiel on 14 April 1918 commanded by Korvettenkapitän Heinrich von Nostitz und Jänckendorff, her mission to attack American shipping. She arrived in Chesapeake Bay on 21 May where she laid mines off the Delaware capes, and cut the submerged telegraph cables which connected New York with Nova Scotia. On 25 May she stopped three US schooners off Virginia, took their crews prisoner, and sank the three ships by gunfire.

On 2 June 1918, known to some historians as "Black Sunday", U-151 sank six US ships and damaged two others off the coast of New Jersey in the space of a few hours. The next day the tanker Herbert L. Pratt struck a mine previously laid by U-151 in the area but was later salvaged. 13 people died in the seven sinkings, their deaths caused by a capsized lifeboat.^[1]

On 9 June U-151 stopped the Norwegian freighter Vindeggan off Cape Hatteras. Scuttling charges were rigged aboard her then she was escorted outside the sea lane under a prize crew. Von Noztitz then transferred 70 tons of copper ingots from the Vindeggan to the U-151.^[2]

On the 18th of June, U-151 sank the SS Dwinsk, and then loitered near her lifeboats in the hopes that more Allied shipping would be attracted to them.^[3] Through this ruse, she launched torpedoes at the USS Von Steuben, but missed and was instead depth charged by the Von Steuben.

U-151 returned to Kiel on 20 July 1918 after a 94-day cruise in which she had covered a distance of 10,915 mi (17,566 km). Her commander reported that she had sunk 23 ships totalling 61,000 tons and had laid mines responsible for the sinking of another 4 vessels.^[4]

Fate

At the end of the war U-151 was surrendered to France at Cherbourg, where she was turned into a target ship, and was sunk on 7 June 1921.

See also

• USS Von Steuben, one of the ships she unsuccessfully attacked in 1918.

Notes

1. ^ ""Black Sunday" - Victims of U-151". Scuba Diving - New Jersey & Long Island New York. http://njscuba.net/sites/site_black_sunday.html. 
2. ^ Hadley, Michael L.; Roger Flynn Sarty (1991). Tin-pots and Pirate Ships. McGill-Queen's Press. pp. 244–245. ISBN 0773507787. 
3. ^ "S/S C. F. Tietgen, Scandinavian America Line". Norway-Heritage. http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=cftie. Retrieved 20 February 2008. 
4. ^ Gibson, p. 308

References

• Gibson, R.H.; Maurice Prendergast (2002). The German Submarine War 1914-1918. Periscope Publishing Ltd.. ISBN 1904381081. 

External links

• uboat.net webpage for U-151
• For a discussion of the impact of this boat on the U.S. submarine effort in WWI