WWI U-boats

U 12

Type U 9
ShipyardKaiserliche Werft, Danzig (Werk 7)
Ordered 15 Jul 1908
Launched 6 May 1910
Commissioned 13 Aug 1911
Commanders
1 Aug 1914 - 9 Feb 1915 Kptlt. Walter Forstmann (Pour le Mérite)
10 Feb 1915 - 10 Mar 1915 Kptlt. Hans Kratzsch
Career 4 patrols
unknown start - 10 Mar 1915 I Flotilla
1 Aug 1914 - 10 Mar 1915 II Flotilla
Successes1 ship sunk with a total of 1,005 tons.
1 warship sunk with a total of 810 tons. (View ships hit by U 12)
Fate 10 Mar 1915 - Rammed and shelled by destroyer off Fife Ness then scuttled. 20 dead and 10 survivors.

The wreck of U 12 was found by a local dive team lead by Martin Sinclair and Jim MacLeod based upon research by Kevni Heath in January 2008. The wreck is some 18 miles from where U 12 was previously listed as being sunk.

On 11 November, 1914 the gunboat HMS Niger was sunk near the Deal Light Vessel by U 12 while operating from the harbour of Zeebrugge. This was the first U-boat victim of German operations originating from a Belgian port.

There was another U 12 in World War Two
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 11 Sep 1935 and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine on 30 Sep 1935. Take a look at U 12 from WWII.


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