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SM U-49

History
German Empire
Name: U-49
Ordered: 4 August 1914
Builder: Kaiserliche Werft Danzig
Launched: 26 November 1915
Commissioned: 31 May 1916
Fate: Rammed in Biscay and sunk by gunfire from SS British Transport on 11 September 1917. 43 dead.
General characteristics
Class and type: Type U-43 submarine
Displacement:
  • 725 t (714 long tons) surfaced
  • 940 t (930 long tons) submerged
Length: 65.00 m (213 ft 3 in) (o/a)
Beam:
  • 6.20 m (20 ft 4 in) (oa)
  • 4.18 m (13 ft 9 in) (pressure hull)
Height: 9.00 m (29 ft 6 in)
Draught: 3.74 m (12 ft 3 in)
Installed power:
  • 2 × 2,000 PS (1,471 kW; 1,973 shp) surfaced
  • 2 × 1,200 PS (883 kW; 1,184 shp) submerged
Propulsion: 2 shafts
Speed:
  • 15.2 knots (28.2 km/h; 17.5 mph) surfaced
  • 9.7 knots (18.0 km/h; 11.2 mph) submerged
Range:
  • 11,400 nmi (21,100 km; 13,100 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) surfaced
  • 51 nmi (94 km; 59 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) submerged
Test depth: 50 m (164 ft 1 in)
Complement: 36
Armament:
Service record
Part of III Flotilla
7 August 1916 – 11 September 1917
Commanders Kptlt. Richard Hartmann
31 May 1916 – 11 September 1917
Operations 6 patrols
Victories 38 merchant ships sunk (86,319 GRT)
2 merchant ships damaged (2,609 GRT)
1 merchant ship taken as prize (566 GRT)

SM U-49 was the seventh U-boat of the U-43 class. She was ordered on 4 August 1914 and was put into the III Flotilla 7 August 1916. Over the course of her career she had sunk 38 ships for a total of over 86,000 gross register tons (GRT), of those, none were naval ships. Her only commander was Kapitänleutnant Richard Hartmann who led the boat throughout its entire life until the day she was sunk on 11 September 1917 while operating in the Bay of Biscay. While surfaced, U-49 attacked the merchant ship SS British Transport, which had sailed Brest bound for Archangel, Russia, laden with munitions and other explosives. After a gun battle lasting five hours, she fired two torpedoes at British Transport; both missed, and the merchantman then rammed and sank her at 46°17′N 14°42′W / 46.283°N 14.700°W / 46.283; -14.700; all hands were lost. It was the first instance in the war when a merchant ship had sunk a U-boat. The skipper of British Transport, Captain A. T. Pope, was subsequently awarded the DSO.


Coordinates: 46°17′N 14°42′W / 46.283°N 14.700°W / 46.283; -14.700


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