SM UB-10 - Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

Since the early stages of the war, the Royal Navy had blockaded Germany, preventing neutral shipping from reaching German ports. By the time of the so-called "turnip winter" of 1916–17, the blockade had severely limited imports of food and fuel into Germany. Among the results were an increase in infant mortality and as many as 700,000 deaths attributed to starvation or hypothermia during the war. With the blockade having such dire consequences, Kaiser Wilhelm II personally approved a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare to begin on 1 February 1917 to help force the British to make peace. The new rules of engagement specified that no ship was to be left afloat.

Under these new rules of engagement, UB-10, now under the command of Kplt. Erich von Rohrscheidt, first sank the Dutch steamer Amstelstromm on 27 March. When encountered by UB-10, Amstelstromm was found "derelict and badly damaged" after shelling by German destroyers V44, G86, and G87; von Rohrscheidt launched a coup de grâce at the stricken ship and sent it down 20 nautical miles (37 km) east-northeast of the North Hinder Lightvessel.

As UB-10 was returning to Zeebrugge in early April, she was attacked by a British submarine near the area where she had escaped from HMS E54 the previous August. HMS C7, which had been waiting off the Schouwen gas buoy, launched a torpedo at a U-boat at 03:30 on 5 April. Although authors R. H. Gibson and Maurice Prendergast report that C7 sank UC-68 with that torpedo, C7 had in fact fired upon UB-10, and the explosion noted by C7 was her own torpedo prematurely exploding; UB-10 was able to continue on and make port in Zeebrugge. Later in the month, von Rohrscheidt sank two Dutch ships on the 24th and 25th: Minister Tak Van Poortvliet, a 1,106-ton steamer headed for Harlingen was sent down 20 nautical miles (37 km) off Ymuiden; the sailing ship Elizabeth was sunk between Lowestoft and Zeebrugge the following day.

On 20 August, UB-10—with Oblt. Fritz Gregor at the helm—sank Edernian, a British vessel, 6 nautical miles (11 km) from Southwold. The 3,588-ton ship, sent down with her cargo of steel and 14 of her crew, was the second largest sunk by UB-10. Early the next month, Gregor led the boat in sinking three more fishing vessels: the Belgian Jeannot and the British Unity on the 5th; and the British Rosary on the 6th. These were the last ships sunk by UB-10.