Type I U-boat (German)

The Type I U-boat was the first post–World War I attempt by Nazi Germany’s Hocheseeflotte to produce an oceangoing submarine. Only two Type IAs were built, but the decision to halt production on further boats is believed to be because of political decisions and not because of major faults in the Type I design. Although the boats did not have any major design faults, they were known to be difficult to handle due to their poor stability and slow dive rate. The type was based on the design of the Finnish Vetehinen class and the Spanish Type E-1, designed by Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw (the company also designed the Soviet S class submarine). The design later served as a basis for the development of other types of boats, primarily the VII and IX classes.

Constructed by Deschimag in Bremen, the first Type IA was launched on 14 February 1936. The two boats produced, U-25 and U-26, were primarily used as training vessels and for propaganda purposes to fly the Nazi flag. In 1940, the boats were called into combat duty due to the shortage of available submarines. Both boats experienced short, but successful combat careers.

German U-boat U-25 (1936)

German submarine U-25 was one of two Type IA ocean-going submarines produced by Nazi Germany’s Kriegsmarine. Constructed by DeSchiMAG AG Weser in Bremen as yard number 903, U-25 was commissioned on 6 April 1936. It experienced a short, but successful combat career, sinking eight ships and damaging one.

Until 1940, U-25 was primarily used as training vessel and for propaganda purposes by the Nazi government. During its trials it was found that the Type IA submarine was difficult to handle due to its poor stability and slow dive rate. In early 1940, the boat was called into combat duty due to the shortage of available submarines. U-25 participated in five war patrols, sinking eight ships and badly damaging one.

On 17 January 1940, 10 miles north of Shetland, U-25 torpedoed SS Polzella. Enid (Captain Wibe), of then-neutral Norway en route to Dublin, went to assist Polzella. U-25 then shelled and sank Enid. Her crew escaped in their lifeboats. None of Polzella ‘s crew survived.

U-25 sank eight vessels for a total of 50,255 gross register tons (GRT) and damaged one for 7,638 GRT.

Around 1 August 1940, while on a mine-laying mission near Norway, U-25 passed through British mine barrage number seven and struck a mine. The boat sank, taking all hands with it.

U-25 took part in one wolfpack, Prien (12–17 June 1940).

German Submarine U-26 (1936)

German submarine U-26 was one of the two Type IA ocean-going U-boats produced by Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Constructed in Bremen, U-26 was commissioned in May 1936. She experienced a short, but successful combat career, sinking eleven ships.

Until 1940, U-26 was primarily used as training vessel and for propaganda purposes by the German government.[citation needed] During her trials it was found that the Type IA submarine was difficult to handle due to her poor stability and slow dive rate.

In early 1940, the boat was called into combat duty due to the shortage of available submarines. U-26 participated in six war patrols, sinking eleven ships and badly damaging one other. On her first patrol laying mines, U-26 sank three merchant ships and damaged one British warship. On her second war patrol it became the first U-boat during World War II to enter the Mediterranean Sea. U-26 participated in three other successful patrols, sinking four additional merchant ships.

Construction History

Laid down by DeSchiMAG AG Weser in Bremen as yard number 904 on 1 August 1935, U-26 was launched on 14 March 1936. She was commissioned on 6 May with Kapitänleutnant Werner Hartmann in command.

Operational History

U-26 carried out six patrols between August 1939 and July 1940, during which she sank or damaged 12 ships.

First Patrol

U-26 was one of the first group of German submarines deployed to the Atlantic Ocean prior to the German invasion of Poland. Oberkommando der Marine (OKM) had ordered her loaded with mines and to be ready to put in place a minefield in Portland Harbour. Upon her completion of refit on 28 August, she put to sea with a load of mines and six torpedoes, under the command of Klaus Ewerth. U-26 was positioned off of the western end of the English Channel awaiting final orders. She was deemed unfit for combat duties but was none-the-less to stand ready to engage shipping with torpedoes upon completion of mining operations. OKM conceived of the mission to deny the British a port of embarkation for transporting the British Army to France, but Karl Dönitz opposed the mission as too risky as the port was a major Royal Navy base, including their sonar school, and thus the harbor was bound to be well defended by antisubmarine forces.

With the war underway, on 4 September, U-26 began to penetrate the harbour but was slowed by antisubmarine patrols which were intense, as Dönitz had feared, and forced the first two attempts to be aborted. It was not until four days later, on his third attempt, that Ewerth found a good position, known as the Shambles, to deploy his TMB mines. After laying all the carried mines, he escaped to deeper water where the crew rested and loaded the six torpedoes in order to continue the patrol. While moving westward, U-26 was hounded by British anti-submarine forces, preventing the boat's resumption of communications. The Admiralty had claimed the sinking of a mine-laying U-boat on 8 September and attempts to contact U-26 went unanswered, leading Dönitz to fear that U-26 and her valuable Enigma machine may have been sunk in shallow waters from which they may be recovered by the British. Consequently, orders were put out by OKM to change all Enigma settings and thereafter that mine-laying boats were not to carry Enigma. U-26 however evaded the British forces and successfully reached the open Atlantic from which she was able to report her success to Dönitz.<[4]

While mine-laying was generally disliked by submariners for many reasons, this first minefield laid by U-boats in the war actually yielded a handsome return. Three freighters totaling 17,414 tons were sunk (one each of Greek, Belgian, and Dutch nationality) and the corvette HMS Kittiwake was damaged severely, though this last result was successfully kept from the Germans.[5]

Fate

The boat was scuttled southwest of Ireland after being badly damaged by depth charges dropped by the British Flower-class corvette HMS Gladiolus and an Australian Sunderland flying boat of No. 10 Squadron RAAF. The crew (48 men), all survived. However, 6 of them were killed on 22 July 1940, along with 2 British servicemen, when a Heinkel He 111 of Kampfgeschwader 26 jettisoned its remaining bombs when returning from an inshore anti-shipping sortie and accidentally hit POW Camp 5 at Duff House, Banff, Scotland.

In Fiction

The U-boat in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark has the number U-26. However, the film's submarine is a Type VIIC U-boat. This is because the boat used was actually a replica of U-96, on loan from the makers of Das Boot. Both movies were filming at the La Rochelle U-boat pens around the same time.

Summary of Raiding History

Date	Name	Nationality	Tonnage (GRT)	Fate
15 September 1939	Alex van Opstal	Belgium	5,965	Sunk (mine)
7 October 1939	Binnendijk	Netherlands	6,873	Sunk (mine)
13 November 1939	Loire	France	4,285	Sunk
22 November 1939	Elena R.	Greece	4,576	Sunk (mine)
12 February 1940	Nidarholm	Norway	3,482	Sunk
14 February 1940	Langleeford	United Kingdom	4,622	Sunk
15 February 1940	Steinstad	Norway	2,477	Sunk
21 April 1940	Cedarbank	United Kingdom	5,159	Sunk
26 June 1940	Frangoula B. Goulandris	Greece	6,701	Sunk
30 June 1940	Belmoira	Norway	3,214	Sunk
30 June 1940	Merkur	Estonia	1,291	Sunk
1 July 1940	Zarian	United Kingdom	4,871	Damaged

 

U-25, a Type I U-boat, in about 1936; the number on the conning tower was removed at the beginning of the war.

A Sunderland flown by Flight Lieutenant W. N. Gibson of No. 10 Squadron, RAAF, makes a second attack on an enemy U26, southwest of the Scilly Isles. The U-boat scuttled itself soon afterwards. 1 July 1940.