SM UB-6 - Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

The British blockade of Germany, which prevented neutral shipping from reaching German ports, 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.

On 10 March, UB-6 departed Zeebrugge to patrol off the Mass lightship. Two days later, UB-6 entered Dutch territorial waters after Steckelberg made a navigational error, and ran aground at the mouth of the Maas River. Because the Netherlands was neutral during the war, and UB-6 did not leave Dutch territorial waters within 24 hours as required by international law, the submarine and her crew were interned by the Dutch. The Germans protested, but because UB-6's grounding was merely the result of an error and not because of distress, the Dutch could not release the submarine. UB-6 was taken to the port of Hellevoetsluis for internment, where, on 18 March, UB-6's crew scuttled her. The crew of UB-6 was interned for the duration of the war. After the end of the war, UB-6's wreck was surrendered to France, taken to Brest, and broken up in July 1921.