SM U-39
German Type U 31 U-boat / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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SM U-39 was a German Type U 31 U-boat which operated in the Mediterranean Sea during World War I. It ended up being the second most successful U-boat participating in the war, sinking 149 merchant ships for a total of 404,774 GRT.
History | |
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German Empire | |
Name | U-39 |
Ordered | 12 June 1912 |
Builder | Germaniawerft, Kiel |
Yard number | 199 |
Laid down | 27 March 1913 |
Launched | 26 September 1914 |
Commissioned | 13 January 1915 |
Fate | Surrendered 22 March 1919, broken up 1923. |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | German Type U 31 submarine |
Displacement | |
Length |
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Beam |
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Draught | 3.56 m (11 ft 8 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range |
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Test depth | 50 m (164 ft 1 in) |
Boats & landing craft carried | 1 dinghy |
Complement | 4 officers, 31 enlisted |
Armament |
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Service record | |
Part of: |
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Commanders: |
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Operations: | 19 patrols |
Victories: |
Its longest-serving captain was Kapitänleutnant Walther Forstmann, who was awarded the Pour le Mérite during command on U-39.
From January to mid-1917, Martin Niemöller served as U-39's coxswain. He is known as the author of the 1946 poem "First they came..."; as an enemy of the Third Reich, he was imprisoned from 1938 to 1945. In 1917 and 1918, Karl Dönitz served as watch officer on this boat. He later became Grand Admiral and Commander in Chief of the German Navy, and, for three weeks following Hitler's death, the head of the remnants of the Nazi government.