WWI U-boats

U 9

Type U 9
ShipyardKaiserliche Werft, Danzig (Werk 4)
Ordered 15 Jul 1908
Launched 22 Feb 1910
Commissioned 18 Apr 1910
Commanders
1 Oct 1911 - 11 Jan 1915 Kptlt. Otto Weddigen (Pour le Mérite)
12 Jan 1915 - 19 Apr 1916 Oblt. Johannes Spieß (Royal House Order of Hohenzollern)
Career 7 patrols
1 Aug 1914 - 7 Jul 1915 I Flotilla
7 Jul 1915 - 29 Apr 1916 Baltic Flotilla
20 Apr 1916 - 11 Nov 1918 training Flotilla
Successes14 ships sunk with a total of 9,715 tons.
4 warships sunk with a total of 43,350 tons. (View ships hit by U 9)
Fate 26 Nov 1918 - Surrendered. Broken up at Morecambe in 1919.

On 16 July, 1914 this boat performed for the first time in history the difficult job of reloading torpedoes while submerged. This exercise would pay off only a few months later for the boat.

On 22 September, 1914 U 9 (Ltn. Otto Weddigen) sank no fewer than 3 British cruisers in less than an hour: the HMS Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy, with the loss of almost 1400 men. This attack showed for the first time the capabilities of submarines in war. Otto Weddigen would perish with his U 29 later in the war.

There was another U 9 in World War Two
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 30 Jul 1935 and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine on 21 Aug 1935. Take a look at U 9 from WWII.

Media links


Three before Breakfast

Coles, Alan


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