SM U-92

For other ships with the same name, see German submarine U-92.

SM U-92 was one of 329 submarines serving in the Imperial German Navy in World War I. She was engaged in the commerce warfare in the First Battle of the Atlantic.

History
German Empire
Name	U-92
Ordered	23 June 1915
Builder	Kaiserliche Werft Danzig
Yard number	36
Laid down	20 August 1916
Launched	12 May 1917
Commissioned	22 October 1917
Fate	Lost in minefield 9 September 1918
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Type U 87 submarine
Displacement	757 t (745 long tons) surfaced 998 t (982 long tons) submerged
Length	65.80 m (215 ft 11 in) (o/a) 50.07 m (164 ft 3 in) (pressure hull)
Beam	6.20 m (20 ft 4 in) (o/a) 4.18 m (13 ft 9 in) (pressure hull)
Height	9.35 m (30 ft 8 in)
Draught	3.88 m (12 ft 9 in)
Installed power	2 × 2,400 PS (1,765 kW; 2,367 shp) surfaced 2 × 1,200 PS (883 kW; 1,184 shp) submerged
Propulsion	2 shafts, 2 × 1.66 m (5 ft 5 in) propellers
Speed	15.6 knots (28.9 km/h; 18.0 mph) surfaced 8.6 knots (15.9 km/h; 9.9 mph) submerged
Range	11,380 nmi (21,080 km; 13,100 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) surfaced 56 nmi (104 km; 64 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) submerged
Test depth	50 m (164 ft 1 in)
Complement	4 officers, 32 enlisted
Armament	4 × 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes (two bow, two stern) 10-12 torpedoes 1 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 deck gun
Service record
Part of:	III Flotilla 27 December 1917 – 9 September 1918
Commanders:	Kptlt. Max Bieler[2] 22 October 1917 – 31 May 1918 Kptlt. Günther Ehrlich[3] 1 June – 9 September 1918
Operations:	5 patrols
Victories:	5 merchant ships sunk (15,961 GRT) 2 merchant ships damaged (7,373 GRT)

Construction of U-92 was ordered in August 1915, and her keel was laid down in August 1916 at the Kaiserliche Werft yard in Danzig.^[4] She was launched in October 1917, and sunk by mine 9 September 1918.^[4]

Design

Type U 87 submarines were preceded by the shorter Type U 81 submarines. U-92 had a displacement of 757 tonnes (745 long tons) when at the surface and 998 tonnes (982 long tons) while submerged.^[1] She had a total length of 65.80 m (215 ft 11 in), a pressure hull length of 50.07 m (164 ft 3 in), a beam of 6.20 m (20 ft 4 in), a height of 9.35 m (30 ft 8 in), and a draught of 3.88 m (12 ft 9 in). The submarine was powered by two 2,400 metric horsepower (1,800 kW; 2,400 shp) engines for use while surfaced, and two 1,200 metric horsepower (880 kW; 1,200 shp) engines for use while submerged. She had two propeller shafts. She was capable of operating at depths of up to 50 metres (160 ft).^[1]

The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 15.6 knots (28.9 km/h; 18.0 mph) and a maximum submerged speed of 8.6 knots (15.9 km/h; 9.9 mph).^[1] When submerged, she could operate for 56 nautical miles (104 km; 64 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph); when surfaced, she could travel 11,380 nautical miles (21,080 km; 13,100 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph). U-92 was fitted with four 50 centimetres (20 in) torpedo tubes (two at the bow and two at the stern), ten to twelve torpedoes, ND one 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 deck gun. She had a complement of thirty-six (thirty-two crew members and four officers).^[1]

Operations

After acceptance trials at Danzig (where she was first detected by Room 40, which followed and recorded all her subsequent movements),^[4] commanded by Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant) Bieler.^[5] She joined the Kiel School 2 November 1917,^[4] leaving for the North Sea about the end of December 1917, being attached to the 3rd Flotilla at Wilhelmshaven.^[4] All her combat operations took place in 1918.^[4]

1st Patrol

U-92 departed for her first war patrol 1 January, via Heligoland Bight and around Scotland into the northern Bay of Biscay,^[4] recording no sinkings,^[4] and returning to Wilhelmshaven^[6] 30 January.^[4]

2nd Patrol

Her second patrol began 24 February, and she was assigned to a station southwest of Ireland,^[7] transiting the Kiel Canal and the Baltic Sea, due to heavy mining in the North Sea.^[5] Again, she scored no victories, but was in the vicinity of The Skaw, at the time the commerce raider Wolf stranded a prize, Igotz Mendi, for two days.^[4] She also torpedoed the 7,034-ton steamer British Princess, killing one British seaman, and inflicting damage, none severe enough to keep her victim from reaching port. U-92 returned to Kiel on 23 March.^[4]

3rd Patrol

After refit, U-92 departed on her third patrol 24 April. She was again assigned to the southwest Ireland station, by way of Heligoland, the Kiel Canal, the Baltic, Denmark, Scotland, and Fair Isle. On this long patrol, from which she returned to Wilhelmshaven on about 28 May (Room 40 was uncertain of the date),^[4] she was attacked three times by enemy A/S forces (and once more by patrol seaplane), and again scored no successes.^[4] On his return, after his third consecutive dry patrol and in keeping with usual practise for unproductive skippers, Kptlt.. Bieler was relieved.^[8]

4th Patrol

U-92 returned to Ireland station for her fourth patrol, sortieing 29 June,^[4] now in the hands of Kptlt. Günther Ehrlich.^[9] She came under attack on only the second day of her patrol, south of Dogger Bank, by two torpedoes from submarine E42, Both missed.^[6] U-92 attacked a convoy eight days later, on 9 July.^[10] She sank two armed steamers, the 2814 ton Ben Lomond 30 nmi (56 km; 35 mi) southeast of Daunts Rock and the 3,550 ton Mars 74 nmi (137 km; 85 mi) west by north of Bishop Rock.^[11] and suffered damage in a collision.^[4] On 10 July, she fired on the 339 ton armed schooner Charles Theriault with her deck gun, inflicting damage; Theriault was towed to port.^[4] The next day she torpedoed and sank the 5,590-ton United States Navy cargo ship USS Westover at 46°36′N 12°21′W with the loss of 11 members of Westover's crew,^[12][13][14] and on 13 July, the 3058-ton Spanish steamer Ramon de Larrinaga with two torpedoes.^[4] By the end of her patrol, on 22 July, she had sunk 22,000 tons^[15] of shipping.^[4]

5th Patrol

For her fifth patrol, she left via Kattegat on 4 September. She was mined 9 September in Area B of the North Sea Mine Barrage, and lost with all hands;^[16] her last position was suspected to be 59°0′N 1°30′W."^[4]

Wreck Site

At the end of 2007, her wreck was located there by the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency ship Anglian Sovereign.^[4]

Summary of raiding history

Date	Name	Nationality	Tonnage[Note 1]	Fate[17]
4 March 1918	British Princess	United Kingdom	7,034	Damaged
8 July 1918	Ben Lomond	United Kingdom	2,814	Sunk
8 July 1918	Mars	United Kingdom	3,550	Sunk
10 July 1918	Charles Theriault	Canada	339	Damaged
11 July 1918	USS Westover	United States Navy	5,769	Sunk
13 July 1918	Ramon De Larrinaga	Spain	3,058	Sunk
16 July 1918	Vanlock	Sweden	770	Sunk

References

Notes

1. Merchant ship tonnages are in gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.

Citations

1. Gröner 1991, pp. 12–14.
2. Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boat commanders: Max Bieler". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
3. Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boat commanders: Günther Ehrlich". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
4. Koerver, Hans Joachim. Room 40: German Naval Warfare 1914-1918. Vol II., The Fleet in Being (Steinbach, Germany: LIS Reinisch, 2009).
5. Handelskrieg, V, pp.36-7.
6. Handelskrieg, V, p.310-1.
7. Koerver.
8. Koerver, Room 40, Vol 1, Fleet in Action.
9. Handelskrieg, V, pp.310-1.
10. Handelkrieg, V, p.310-1, dates it 8 July.
11. National Archives, Kew, UK: ADM 137/4814 and 4817; Handelskrieg, V, 310-1.
12. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Westover
13. Online Library of Selected Images: Westover (American Freighter, 1918). Served as USS Westover (ID # 2867) in 1918
14. NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Westover (ID 2867)
15. Koerver, Room 40 says: "claimed 22,000 tons". Claimed, because it was U-92 who sent these numbers by W/T to the German Admiralty. It was the captain's estimation (for whatever reason) of the real numbers, telegraphed 14 July to his seniors before he could reach his base on 22 July. This W/T was deciphered by Room 40. The real number is the summation of the sunk ships mentioned here: 15,000 tons. It was the general trend from the German side to overestimate the numbers of ships sunk: at the end of the war the Allieds published a detailed list with each sunk ship, resulting in 12 Mio tons, while Germany claimed 18 Mio tons of ships sunk, based only on the raw numbers estimated by the C.O.s of their submarines.
16. Handelskrieg, Vol 5
17. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U 92". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 21 January 2015.

Bibliography

• 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.
• Spindler, Arno (1966) [1932]. Der Handelskrieg mit U-Booten. 5 Vols. 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.
• Beesly, Patrick (1982). Room 40: British Naval Intelligence 1914-1918. London: H Hamilton. ISBN 978-0-241-10864-2.
• Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-85728-498-0.
• 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.
• 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.

External links

• A webpage for U-92 Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
• U 92 and U 102 wrecks found, 2006 The Maritime and Coastguard Agency^{[permanent dead link]} World War I Submarines U 102 and U 92 found by Anglian Sovereign
• Diving the U 92, by Steven Slater (www.jeanelaine.co.uk), 15.6.2007
• Photos of cruises of German submarine U-54 in 1916-1918.
• A 44 min. German film from 1917 about a cruise of the German submarine U-35.
• Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: U 92". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net.
• 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.