SM UB-47 - German Imperial Navy Career

German Imperial Navy Career

SM UB-47 was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 4 July 1916 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Wolfgang Steinbauer. UB-47, Steinbauer's first U-boat command, was assigned to the Navy's Pola Flotilla (German: Deutsche U-Halbflotille Pola) in which she remained throughout her German career. Although the flotilla was based in Pola, the site of the main Austro-Hungarian Navy base, boats of the flotilla operated out of the Austro-Hungarian base at Cattaro which was located farther south and closer to the Mediterranean. German U-boats typically returned to Pola only for repairs.

On 17 August, Steinbauer and UB-47 achieved their first success when they sank the Italian steamer Stampalia south of Cape Matapan. Although Italy and Germany would not formally be at war for another ten days, German U-boats in the Mediterranean routinely attacked Italian vessels by posing as Austro-Hungarian submarines and flying the ensign of that country's navy. Stampalia was an ocean liner of 9,000 gross register tons (GRT) that had formerly been in passenger service between New York and Genoa, and had been one of the first Italian merchant vessels to be armed against submarine attacks. At the time of her sinking, she was in the service of the Italian government but was not carrying any passengers; no casualties from Stampalia were reported in the attack.

Three weeks later, Steinbauer and UB-47 scored a triple kill, sinking three ships on the same day. The British steamer Butetown, en route from Malta to Mudro, was carrying coal and other cargo when she was sent down 55 nautical miles (102 km) west-southwest of Cape Matapan on 8 September. UB-47 attacked Llangorse, another British steamer, 7 nautical miles (13 km) away, sending the ship and her cargo of Canadian oats headed to Salonica to the bottom. The third ship was the Greek ship Spetzai, headed from Cyprus to Liverpool when sunk in the same vicinity. There were no casualties from any of the three ships; the crews of Butetown and Llangorse were rescued and landed at Marseilles on 16 September.

On 4 October, Steinbauer sank the largest ship of his career when UB-47 torpedoed the 1911 Cunard Line steamer Franconia at position 35°56′N 18°30′E / 35.933°N 18.500°E / 35.933; 18.500, 195 nautical miles (361 km) east of Malta. The 625-foot (191 m) long, 72-foot (22 m) wide Franconia—nicknamed the "Bath Ship" in civilian days because of the number of passenger baths and showers—was, at 18,510 GRT, the fifth largest ship sunk by a U-boat during World War I. Franconia had been in service as a troopship since February 1915 but was not carrying troops at the time of the attack. The hospital ship Dover Castle picked up 302 survivors from Franconia; 12 men were killed in the attack.

UB-47's next success came a week later, on 11 October, when the 5,002-ton British steamer Crosshill was sunk west of Malta with the loss of four men. A German military announcement of 20 October proclaiming Steinbauer's sinking of the ship reported that Crosshill's cargo included horses and Serbian grooms. The following day, Sebek, a British ship headed to Alexandria, was torpedoed southeast of Gozo. Although the German Admiralty reported her sunk, Sebek's captain was able to ground his ship and prevent it from sinking. On 14 October, UB-47 sank five small Italian sailing vessels—ranging in size from 32 to 80 tons—near Syracuse, Sicily. The next day, UB-47 closed out the month of October with the sinking of the Greek steamer Avis. UB-47's tally of sunken ships for the month of October came to 24,776 gross register tons, which accounted for nearly 20% of the total sunk by all German U-boats in the Mediterranean.

On patrol in the Aegean Sea on 27 December, Steinbauer came across the French pre-dreadnought battleship Gaulois. Although screened by light cruisers and naval trawlers, Steinbauer was, nonetheless, able to sink the 11,100-ton displacement ship east of Cerigo. Two men were killed in the initial explosion and another two men died in the aftermath; Gaulois's normal complement was 631 men. Five days later, New Year's Day 1917, UB-47 torpedoed and sank the Cunard Line ship Ivernia—in service as a British troopship—at position 35°30′N 22°53′E / 35.500°N 22.883°E / 35.500; 22.883, 58 nautical miles (107 km) from Cape Matapan. Under the command of Captain William T. Turner, who had been in command of Lusitania when that liner was sunk in May 1915, the 14,278-ton Ivernia was ferrying troops to Salonica when sunk by UB-47. Because of the heavy weather at the time of Ivernia's sinking, 120 officers and men and 33 crewmen were killed in the attack. Like Franconia, both Gaulois and Ivernia were among the largest ships sunk by U-boats; Ivernia was the 20th largest sunk. Two days after the attack on Ivernia, UB-47 torpedoed and damaged the British steamer Huntsend, killing one person in the process. The 8,818 GRT Huntsend was the former North German Lloyd liner Lützow which had been captured by British naval forces in the Mediterranean in August 1914, and, like UB-47, had been built by AG Weser in Bremen.

On 1 March 1917, UB-47 torpedoed and damaged the British steamer Euterpe near Suda Bay, killing two men in the process. A week later, on 8 March, Steinbauer sank his last ship at the helm of UB-47, when Georgian was sent to the bottom 52 nautical miles (96 km) from Cape Sidero. The 1890 British ship, rated at 5,088 gross register tons, was carrying government stores; five of her crew perished in the attack.

On 1 April, Oberleutnant zur See Hans Hermann Wendlandt replaced Steinbauer as commanding officer of UB-47. A week after assuming his first U-boat command, the 30-year-old Wendlandt scored his first success by sinking two Greek steamers on the same day. Livatho was sailing in ballast from Salonica for New York when she was sunk northwest of Crete by an explosive charge placed by UB-47's crew. Nestos was carrying a load of wheat from New York for Piraeus when shelled and sunk 50 nautical miles (93 km) from Sapientza. Three days later, the British ship Cyfarthfa was torpedoed 32 nautical miles (59 km) from Cerigotto. The master of Cyfarthfa, which had been headed from Oran to Salonica, was taken prisoner by Wendlandt.

Wendlandt and UB-47 sank the Greek destroyer Doxa, a Niki-class destroyer of 350 metric tons (390 short tons) displacement, on 27 June. Although a part of the Royal Hellenic Navy, Doxa had been seized by the French in October 1916 and was operating as a French ship with an all-French crew when torpedoed and sunk by UB-47 in the Straits of Messina; 29 sailors died in the attack. Three days later, Wendlandt sank two Italian sailing ships of about 100 GRT each while east of Sicily. Five days later, UB-47 attacked the Japanese steamer Shinsan Maru, from Karachi with a cargo of wheat for delivery to Italy. Wendlandt torpedoed the 1898 ship between Crete and Sicily. Shinsan Maru was the last ship sunk by UB-47 in her German service.

On 21 July, UB-47 was decommissioned at Pola and handed over to the Austro-Hungarian Navy. In her German Imperial Navy career of just over a year, UB-47 sank twenty merchant ships totaling 76,195 GRT, damaged three ships of 16,967 GRT, and sank two warships with a combined displacement of 11,450 metric tons (12,620 short tons).