- Source: SM U-53
SM U-53 was one of the six Type U 51 U-boats of the Imperial German Navy during the First World War. While in command of U-53 her first captain Hans Rose became the 5th ranked German submarine ace of World War I sinking USS Jacob Jones and 87 merchant ships for a total of 224,314 gross register tons (GRT).
Construction and commissioning
U-53 was ordered from Germaniawerft, Kiel on 23 August 1914 and launched on 1 February 1916. On 22 April 1916 Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant Commander) Hans Rose was appointed as her first captain and he commissioned her on 22 April 1916.
After sea trials found no defects the submarine passed through the Kiel Canal on 30 May to reach the naval base at Helgoland the following day.
Service history
= Voyage to America
=While U-53 was in Wilhelmshaven having its steering gear repaired and with most of its crew away on leave, Rose was called on 3 September 1916 to office of Fregattenkapitän Hermann Baur, commander of the U-boat fleet on the Hamburg. Bauer informed him that the merchant submarine Bremen was due to make her maiden voyage to America and it had been proposed by captain Paul König of her sistership Deutschland that another submarine be used to assist in its passage by attacking any Royal Navy vessels that were in its path. Rose had been chosen for this politically risky mission because he had the necessary qualifications and experience, as well as a good knowledge of English. Also, his submarine had only been commissioned in April 1916, so it was new and well-run in.
Rose was given 30 hours to think about it and immediately telegraphed his chief engineer Henning Möller return from leave for consultation and discussing it with him 24 hours later Rose accepted the assignment.
While U-53 had a theoretical range of 9,400 nautical miles at 8 knots it was expected that in actual service 5,000 miles was the practical limit. The longest voyage to date that U-53 had completed to date had been nine days. A return voyage to America would take 50 days and cover 8,000 miles. Rose and Möller identified that by converting the two middle diving tanks II an IV in fuel tanks they could carry an additional 150 tons of diesel fuel to give a range of 11,000 miles. Additional fresh water was carried by filling the two of the four trim tanks and the two rear torpedo tubes with fresh water which bought the total amount being carried to 7,000 litres. However with this amount of fuel on board and the necessary provisions the submarine’s buoyancy would be reduced in half and it would sit 400 mm lower in the water, which would badly impact on its sea-worthiness on the outward journey. Rather than the normal complement of six torpedoes forward and four aft they decided to carry only the forward torpedoes. They also added two additional engineers which increased the crew from 34 to 36. Other than Möller only the two First Lieutenants Stein and Wacker was told about the secret voyage prior to the rest of the crew being told once the submarine as at sea. To misdirect any enemy agents, it was put about that the submarine was heading south.
After being delayed for two days by poor weather the submarine departed the naval base at Helgoland on 17 September 1916, travelling northward around the British Isles, escorted by the Zeppelin LZ-17 for the first day. Once they reached the Atlantic Ocean on 21 September Rose told the crew their actual destination. Most of the outward voyage was plagued by bad weather with sea conditions deteriorating at one point to Force 9 on the Beaufort Scale.
On 24 September the submarine passed beyond radio contact with Germany. On 28 September the submarine heard a report from a radio station at Sayville on Long Island that the Bremen had been sunk. After deliberating for two days as to whether the report was true or the Bremen was merely late Rose decided to continue with his original orders to Newport, Rhode Island rather than divert to attack shipping at Halifax.
On 7 October 1916, U-53, was sighted off Newport by American submarine D-2 which surfaced and tracked the German vessel as it headed to port. As the two submarines passed Brenton Reef Lightship Rose requested and was given permission to enter port.
Once he had docked Rose paid courtesy visits to Rear Admiral Austin M. Knight, Commandant of the United States Second Naval District, and Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves aboard the cruiser USS Birmingham; and then received courtesy visits from both admirals aboard U-53. Admiral Gleaves brought his wife and daughter to visit U-53. It took the neutral US government about two hours to decide how to handle this surprise visit. When the harbor master started talking about quarantine regulations, Rose returned to sea to avoid being interned.
U-53 commenced military operations the next morning two miles off the Lightship Nantucket. The US steamship Kansan was stopped by a shot across the bow at 05:35, and then released when examination of her papers revealed no contraband cargo. A large passenger liner was allowed to pass at 06:00 because Rose felt unable to provide for the safety of a large number of passengers. The 4,321 GRT British steamship Strathdene was stopped at 06:53 and torpedoed at 07:43 after the crew had abandoned ship. The 4,224 GRT Norwegian steamship Christian Knutsen with a cargo of diesel oil for London was stopped at 08:03 and torpedoed at 09:53 after the crew had abandoned ship. The 3,847 GRT steamship West Point was stopped at 11:30 and scuttled by explosive charges after the crew had abandoned ship.
Seventeen US destroyers were dispatched from Newport to search for survivors in response to the Nantucket lightship's reports of sinkings. The destroyers arrived about 1700 as U-53 stopped the Dutch steamship Blommersdijk bound for the Netherlands with cargo that Rose believed to be contraband bound for Britain which he sank at 19:50. The 3,449 GRT British passenger liner Stephano carrying a cargo of codfish, worth $140,000 was stopped, and the gathering US destroyers took off its crew and passengers before Rose used his last torpedoes to sink it at 22:30. After sinking five ships in 17 days with no loss of life Rose set a homeward course via the Gulf Stream and evaded three British destroyers sent from Canada to intercept him.
On 27 October U-53entered Helgoland harbour to a hero’s welcome. The next day the submarine departed for Wilhelmshaven, where upon arrival the crew were greeted by Admiral Scheer and his staff. Each member of the crew was personally awarded by the Admiral with Iron Cross while Rose was later awarded the House of Hohenzollern’s Order of the Knight’s Cross with Swords. That night for the first time in six weeks that the crew slept ashore.
Political consequences of the voyage
There was a great deal of anger amongst the Allied powers after the visit of U-53 to a US port and the subsequent sinking of Allied shipping. While all of the sinkings were done according to Prize court laws and nobody was killed during them, the attacks instilled fear in the British because of the reach of the German U-boats, and the US because these attacks occurred so close to its shores.
Britain was further outraged that most of the attacks occurred while the submarine was surrounded by US destroyers. After a soothing speech by Sir Edward Grey, these complaints were calmed when he pointed out that the US ships had no legal right to interfere with these attacks and had done all they could to rescue the sailors in the water. German newspapers celebrated the trip as a great demonstration of the reach of the German Navy and Captain Rose was praised for his actions.
= Accompanied by artist Claus Bergen
=In the summer of 1917 German naval artist Claus Bergen accompanied U-53 on an Atlantic patrol, resulting in a series of well-known paintings.
= Sinking of SS Housatonic
=On 3 February 1917 U-53 captured and scuttled SS Housatonic about 20 nautical miles (37 km) southwest of Bishop Rock, Isles of Scilly.
At the time the USA was still neutral and reacted cautiously to Housatonic's sinking. The New York Times noted the courtesy and propriety with which Rose had applied the rules of war. The US Government did not regard Housatonic's sinking as a casus belli. Her sinking however contributed to increasing diplomatic tension that eventually led the US to declare war on Germany.
On March 11, 1917 U-53 torpedoed and sank the 6705 ton Cunard Liner RMS Folia.
On 16 August 1917 torpedoed and sank the Donaldson liner Athenia off Inishtrahull. Coincidentally, two decades later, in 1939, a new Athenia was sunk by the U-boat U-30 in the same area.
= Sinking of USS Jacob Jones
=On December 6, 1917, Rose torpedoed and sank USS Jacob Jones, the first American destroyer lost in the First World War. The torpedo hit Jacob Jones at 3,000 yards (2,700 m), the longest successful torpedo shot on record at the time.
On 8 July 1918 while off the Norwegian coast and two days out from its base at Helgoland U-53 answered a distress call from U-86 which had hit a mine and as a result had lost all of its diesel fuel. Meeting with the damaged submarine U-53 transferred fuel to it and provided further assistance until it was relieved by surface vessels.
On 10 July 1918 U-53 returned to port having completed its fifteenth mission under Rose.
= Rose replaced by von Schrader
=Rose returned from a months leave on 10 August to be informed that he had been replaced as commander of U-53 by Otto von Schrader.
Under von Schrader U-53 operated primarily within the English Channel after this, attacking Allied and neutral vessels, sinking ten ships of 1,782 tons with U-53 before the armistice on 11 November.
U-53 was surrendered to the Allies at Harwich on 1 December 1918 in accordance with the requirements of the Armistice with Germany. She was sold by the British Admiralty to George Cohen on 3 March 1919 for £2,400 (excluding her engines), and was broken up at Swansea.
Summary of raiding history
References
= Notes
== Citations
=Bibliography
Beesly, Patrick (1982). Room 40: British Naval Intelligence 1914-1918. London: H Hamilton. ISBN 978-0-241-10864-2.
Gröner, Erich; Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin (1991). U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels. German Warships 1815–1945. Vol. 2. Translated by Thomas, Keith; Magowan, Rachel. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-593-4.
Halpern, Paul G. (1953). A Naval History of World War I. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-85728-498-0.
Koerver, Hans Joachim (2008). Room 40: German Naval Warfare 1914-1918. Vol I., The Fleet in Action. Steinbach: LIS Reinisch. ISBN 978-3-902433-76-3.
Koerver, Hans Joachim (2009). Room 40: German Naval Warfare 1914-1918. Vol II., The Fleet in Being. Steinbach: LIS Reinisch. ISBN 978-3-902433-77-0.
Long, Wellington (October 1966). "The Cruise of the U-53". United States Naval Institute Proceedings. 92/10/764. United States Naval Institute.
Massie, Robert (2003). Castles of Steel. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-40878-0.
Robinson, Markus F.; Robinson, Gertrude J. (2018). Der Kapitän: U-Boat Ace Hans Rose (Hardcover). Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: Amberley. ISBN 978-1-4456-7560-2.
Roessler, Eberhard (1997). Die Unterseeboote der Kaiserlichen Marine. Bonn: Bernard & Graefe. ISBN 978-3-7637-5963-7.
Schroeder, Joachim (2002). Die U-Boote des Kaisers. Bonn: Bernard & Graefe. ISBN 978-3-7637-6235-4.
Spindler, Arno (1932). Der Handelskrieg mit U-Booten. 5 Vols (1933, 1934, 1941/1964, 1966 ed.). Berlin: Mittler & Sohn. Vols. 4+5, dealing with 1917+18, are very hard to find: Guildhall Library, London, has them all, also Vol. 1-3 in an English translation: The submarine war against commerce.
Tarrant, V.E. (1989). The U-Boat Offensive 1914-1945. Cassell & Company. ISBN 1-85409-520-X.
External links
Photos of cruises of German submarine U-54 in 1916-1918. Great photo quality, comments in German.
A 44 min. film from 1917 about a cruise of the German submarine U-35. A German propaganda film without dead or wounded; many details about submarine warfare in World War I.
Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: U 53". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
Room 40: Archived 15 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine original documents, photos and maps about World War I German submarine warfare and British Room 40 Intelligence from The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, UK.
National Maritime Museum webpage - Portrait of Commander Rose on the deck of U-53 in the collection of the National Maritime Museum
The U=Boat terror Crawls to Our Doorstep. The German Undersea Raider U-53 and Some of the Effects of Her Atlantic Steamer Lane Marauding. A page from the New York Tribune of 15 October 1916.
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