Unterseeboot 28 (1913)
|
|
The first Unterseeboot 28 (U-28) was a Type U-27 U-boat, ordered to be built on February 19, 1912, launched on August 30, 1913, from Kaiserliche Werft of Danzig, and commissioned into the Kaiserliche Marine on June 26, 1914 with Georg-Günther Freiherr von Forstner in command. Frhr.v. Forstner was relieved on June 15, 1916, by Otto Rohrbeck who was in turn relieved on August 5 by Frhr.v. Loe-Degenhart. On January 15, 1917, Kapitänleutnant Georg Schmidt took command.
U-28 conducted four patrols, sinking 39 ships totalling 93,782 tons. Der Krieg Zur See: Der Handelskrieg mit U-Booten, the official history of the U-boats of World War I, describes U-28's final patrol thusly:
- On 19.8.17 (August 19, 1917) U-28 left Emden for the war on shipping in the Arctic Sea. Officially confirmed newspaper reports state that, on 2.9.17 (September 2) at 1155 a.m., 85 miles NbE½E (north by east, a half east -- 16.875°) from North Cape, in position 72°34N, 27°56E, the U-Boat attacked the armed English steamer Olive Branch, 4649 t., carrying munitions from England for Arkhangelsk. Since the steamer was not sunk by a torpedo hit, U-28 came to close range to finish her with gunfire. The second shell hit the cargo of munitions, which detonated with an enormous explosion, whereby the U-boat was so badly damaged that it sank. Some men of the crew of U-28 were seen swimming, but were not picked up by the Olive Branch's lifeboats. No survivors.
Parenthetical comments added. All hands lost meant 39 dead.
A British description of the same event, Under the Black Ensign by R.S. Gwatkin-Williams, states that when the ammunition detonated, a truck carried as deck cargo was blown into the air and fell from a great height on the U-boat, sinking it. While it is not impossible that a doomed but heroic lorry wreaked vengeance for King and Country, the blast from the explosion probably laid the submarine over far enough to swamp her open hatches.