Dredging operations in 1887 rediscovered Brandtaucher; it was later raised and put on historical display in Germany. There followed in 1890 the boats Nordenfelt I and Nordenfelt II, built to a Nordenfelt design.
Dredging operations in 1887 rediscovered Brandtaucher; it was later raised and put on historical display in Germany. There followed in 1890 the boats Nordenfelt I and Nordenfelt II, built to a Nordenfelt design.
In 1903 the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel completed the first fully functional German-built submarine, Forelle, which Krupp sold to Russia during the Russo-Japanese War in April 1904.
In 1903 the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel completed the first fully functional German-built submarine, Forelle, which Krupp sold to Russia during the Russo-Japanese War in April 1904.
The Imperial German Navy commissioned it on 14 December 1906.
The 50%-larger SM U-2 (commissioned in 1908) had two torpedo tubes.
The class of 1912–13 saw the first diesel engine installed in a German navy boat.
At the start of World War I in 1914, Germany had 48 submarines of 13 classes in service or under construction.
Retired in 1919, it remains on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. ==World War I (1914–1918)== On 5 September 1914, was sunk by , the first ship to have been sunk by a submarine using a self-propelled torpedo.
On 20 October 1914, sank the first merchant ship, the , off Norway.
Surface commerce raiders were proving to be ineffective, and on 4 February 1915, the Kaiser assented to the declaration of a war zone in the waters around the British Isles.
Under the instructions given to U-boat captains, they could sink merchant ships, even potentially neutral ones, without warning. In February 1915, a submarine U-6 (Lepsius) was rammed and both periscopes were destroyed off Beachy Head by the collier SS Thordis commanded by Captain John Bell RNR after firing a torpedo. On 7 May 1915, sank the liner RMS Lusitania.
Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, Commander in Chief of the High Seas Fleet, pressed for all-out U-boat war, convinced that a high rate of shipping losses would force Britain to seek an early peace before the United States could react effectively. The renewed German campaign was effective, sinking 1.4 million tons of shipping between October 1916 and January 1917.
Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, Commander in Chief of the High Seas Fleet, pressed for all-out U-boat war, convinced that a high rate of shipping losses would force Britain to seek an early peace before the United States could react effectively. The renewed German campaign was effective, sinking 1.4 million tons of shipping between October 1916 and January 1917.
Despite this, the political situation demanded even greater pressure, and on 31 January 1917, Germany announced that its U-boats would engage in unrestricted submarine warfare beginning 1 February.
declared war on Germany in April 1917. Unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 was initially very successful, sinking a major part of Britain-bound shipping.
An armistice became effective on 11 November 1918.
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 ending World War I had scuttled most of the old Imperial German Navy and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles of 1919 limited the surface navy of Germany's new Weimar Republic to only six battleships (of less than 10,000 tons each), six cruisers, and 12 destroyers.
Retired in 1919, it remains on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. ==World War I (1914–1918)== On 5 September 1914, was sunk by , the first ship to have been sunk by a submarine using a self-propelled torpedo.
Stephen King-Hall wrote a detailed eyewitness account of the surrender. ==Interwar years (1919–1939)== The Treaty of Versailles ending World War I signed at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 restricted the total tonnage of the German surface fleet.
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 ending World War I had scuttled most of the old Imperial German Navy and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles of 1919 limited the surface navy of Germany's new Weimar Republic to only six battleships (of less than 10,000 tons each), six cruisers, and 12 destroyers.
When World War II started, Germany already had 65 U-boats, with 21 of those at sea, ready for war. ==World War II (1939–1945)== During World War II, U-boat warfare was the major component of the Battle of the Atlantic, which began in 1939 and ended with Germany's surrender in 1945.
This was demonstrated when the Naval Enigma machines were altered in February 1942 and wolf-pack effectiveness greatly increased until the new code was broken. The , a Type IXB, was captured in 1941 by the Royal Navy, and its Enigma machine and documents were removed.
Britain's vulnerable shipping situation existed until 1942, when the tides changed as the U.S.
These early magnetic detonators were eventually phased out, and the depth-keeping problem was solved by early 1942 with improved technology. Later in the war, Germany developed an acoustic homing torpedo, the G7/T5.
This was demonstrated when the Naval Enigma machines were altered in February 1942 and wolf-pack effectiveness greatly increased until the new code was broken. The , a Type IXB, was captured in 1941 by the Royal Navy, and its Enigma machine and documents were removed.
was also captured by the British in October 1942; three sailors boarded her as she was sinking, and desperately threw all the code books out of the submarine so as to salvage them.
It is now a museum ship in Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry. ===Battle of Bell Island=== Two events in the battle took place in 1942 when German U-boats attacked four allied ore carriers at Bell Island, Newfoundland.
The carriers and were sunk by on 5 September 1942, while the and PLM 27 were sunk by on 2 November with the loss of 69 lives.
was boarded by crew from the Canadian ship on 6 March 1944, and codes were taken from her, but by this time in the war, most of the information was known.
The , a Type IXC, was captured by the United States Navy in June 1944.
When World War II started, Germany already had 65 U-boats, with 21 of those at sea, ready for war. ==World War II (1939–1945)== During World War II, U-boat warfare was the major component of the Battle of the Atlantic, which began in 1939 and ended with Germany's surrender in 1945.
Of the 154 U-boats surrendered, 121 were scuttled in deep water off Lisahally, Northern Ireland, or Loch Ryan, Scotland, in late 1945 and early 1946. ==Memorial== ==Post–World War II and Cold War (after 1945)== From 1955, the West German Bundesmarine was allowed to have a small navy.
Of the 154 U-boats surrendered, 121 were scuttled in deep water off Lisahally, Northern Ireland, or Loch Ryan, Scotland, in late 1945 and early 1946. ==Memorial== ==Post–World War II and Cold War (after 1945)== From 1955, the West German Bundesmarine was allowed to have a small navy.
Of the 154 U-boats surrendered, 121 were scuttled in deep water off Lisahally, Northern Ireland, or Loch Ryan, Scotland, in late 1945 and early 1946. ==Memorial== ==Post–World War II and Cold War (after 1945)== From 1955, the West German Bundesmarine was allowed to have a small navy.
In the 1960s, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) re-entered the submarine business.
The German Type 209 diesel-electric submarine was the most popular export-sales submarine in the world from the late 1960s into the first years of the 21st century.
The Germans sought to use advanced technologies to offset the small displacement, such as amagnetic steel to protect against naval mines and magnetic anomaly detectors. The initial Type 201 was a failure because of hull cracking; the subsequent Type 205, first commissioned in 1967, was a success, and 12 were built for the German navy.
With a larger 1,000–1,500 tonne displacement, the class was very customizable and has seen service with 14 navies with 51 examples being built as of 2006.
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