SM U-27 (Germany)

{{HMS|E3}} had sailed from Harwich on 16 October to patrol off Borkum in the North Sea. On 18 October, E3 spotted some German destroyers ahead but was unable to get into a position to take a shot at them. Unable to pass them, Commander Cholmley retreated into the bay to wait for them to disperse. As he did so, he failed to see that the bay was also occupied by U-27, under Kapitänleutnant Bernd Wegener.

Wegener was surfaced and patrolling between the Ems and Borkum when at 11:25, an object resembling a buoy was spotted where no buoy should be. Suspecting a British submarine, U-27 immediately dived and closed the object. Although the enemy was ‘conned down’, the number 83 was clearly visible on the conning tower of the British boat, now identified as such beyond reasonable doubt. Wegener tracked the submarine for two hours until able to approach ‘up sun’. He noted that the look-outs were staring intently in the other direction, towards the Ems. When the distance had closed to {{convert|300|m|yd|abbr=on}}, U-27 fired two G6 torpedoes. An explosion 12 seconds later sank E3 immediately. The KTB records that men (probably the look-outs from the bridge) were visible in the water but U-27 dived and withdrew, fearful that a second British submarine might be lurking nearby. 30 minutes later, the U-boat returned to the scene to search for evidence and possible survivors but without success. All 28 members of E3{{'}}s crew were lost.{{cite book|last=Kemp|first=Paul |title=The Admiralty Regrets: British Warship Losses of the 20th Century |year=1999 |publisher= Sutton Publishing |location=Stroud, UK |isbn=0-7509-1567-6}}

• 31 October 1914, U-27 sank the seaplane carrier {{HMS|Hermes|1898|6}} in the Straits of Dover, in position {{coord|51|06.3|N|001|50.3|E|type:event|name=HMS Hermes (ship)}}.[http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?19 HMS Hermes at www.wrecksite.eu]
• 11 March 1915, U-27 sank the armed merchant cruiser HMS Bayano off Carswell Point, Stranraer at position {{coord|55|3|N|5|26|W|scale:10000000_type:event|name=HMS Bayano (1913)}}.{{Canmore |desc=HMS Bayano: North Channel |num=102639 |access-date=2023-06-29}}
• 18 May 1915 – {{SS|Drumcree||2}} ({{flagcountry|UKGBI|civil}}) was torpedoed and sunk by U-27 eleven miles NE of Trevose Head in Cornwall. She was in ballast from Barry to Port Arthur, Texas.{{cite web|last=Lettens|first=Jan|title=SS Drumcree [+1915]|url=http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?11339|publisher=wrecksite|access-date=10 April 2012}}
• 19 May 1915 – {{SS|Dumfries||2}} ({{flagcountry|UKGBI|civil}}) was torpedoed and sunk by U-27 13 miles north of Trevose Head. She was carrying coal from Cardiff to Livorno with the loss of two lives{{cite web|last=Lettens|first=Jan|title=SS Dumfries [+1915]|url=http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?11340|publisher=wrecksite|access-date=10 April 2012}}

{{further|Baralong incidents}}

On 19 August 1915, U-27 was sunk in the Western Approaches in position {{coord|50|43|N|07|22|W|scale:10000000_type:event|display=inline,title}} by gunfire from Q-ship {{HMS|Baralong}}. The same day, U-boat U-24 had sunk the White Star Liner SS Arabic, infuriating the crew of Baralong which were in the region but could do nothing. Upon encountering U-27, the crew of Baralong hauled down the neutral American flag they had been flying as a false flag and hauled up the White Ensign. A one-sided engagement ensued in which U-27 was hit several times and began to sink.{{cite book |last=Messimer |first=Dwight R. |title=Verschollen: World War I U-boat Losses |publisher=Naval Institute Press |year= 2002 |isbn=155750475X}}

According to Tony Bridgland;

Herbert screamed, "Cease fire!" But his men's blood was up. They were avenging the Arabic and the Lusitania. For them this was no time to cease firing, even as the survivors of the crew appeared on the outer casing, struggling out of their clothes to swim away from her. There was a mighty hiss of compressed air from her tanks and the U-27 vanished from sight in a vortex of giant rumbling bubbles, leaving a pall of smoke over the spot where she had been. It had taken only a few minutes to fire the thirty-four shells into her.

12 German survivors swam from the wreck U-27 to Baralong seeking safety, but commanding officer Godfrey Herbert, acting under unofficial advice relayed by two officers of the Admiralty's Secret Service branch to, "Take no prisoners from U-boats",Bridgland (1999), Sea Killers in Disguise: Q Ships and Decoy Raiders, p. 21. ordered his men, in violation of the Hague Conventions, to shoot the unarmed German survivors in the water with small arms, killing all 12. Herbert then dispatched 12 Royal Marines from Baralong with orders to take no prisoners from the remaining German survivors aboard Nicosian. The incident sparked outrage in Germany, and a debate took place in the Reichstag on 15 January 1916, where it was described as a "cowardly murder"; the German government soon announced that they would conduct reprisals, although they did not specify what they would be. A British offer of a combined American inquiry into the incident and three concurrent German atrocities was rejected.{{cite book |last=Hesperides |title=The Annual Register Review of Public Events at Home and Abroad for the Year 1916 |publisher=Read Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-1406751987|pp = 58, 232}}

A German medal was issued commemorating the victims of the event.{{cite web|url=http://collections.nmm.ac.uk/collections/objects/39815.html |title=Medal commemorating the sinking of 'U.27' by Q-ship 'Baralong', 1915 |work=The Collection |publisher=National Maritime Museum |access-date=10 December 2011}}

Meanwhile, the Military Bureau for the Investigation of Violations of the Laws of War ({{langx|de|Militäruntersuchungstelle für Verletzungen des Kriegsrechts}}) added Baralong{{'}}s commanding officer, whose name was known only as "Captain William McBride", to the Prussian Ministry of War's "Black List of Englishmen who are Guilty of Violations of the Laws of War vis-à-vis Members of the German Armed Forces".Alfred M. de Zayas, The Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau 1939–1945, p 8.

{{Reflist|group=Note}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book

|last1=Gröner

|first1=Erich

|last2=Jung

|first2=Dieter

|last3=Maass

|first3=Martin

|translator-last1=Thomas

|translator-first1=Keith

|translator-last2=Magowan

|translator-first2=Rachel

|year=1991

|title=German Warships 1815–1945, U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels

|volume=2

|location=London

|publisher=Conway Maritime Press

|isbn=0-85177-593-4

|ref=CITEREFGröner1991

}}

{{Commons category|German Type U 27 submarine}}

{{Type U-27 submarines}}

{{August 1915 shipwrecks}}

{{use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:U0027}}

Category:Type U 27 submarines

Category:U-boats commissioned in 1914

Category:Maritime incidents in 1915

Category:U-boats sunk in 1915

Category:World War I submarines of Germany

Category:World War I shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean

Category:1913 ships

Category:Ships built in Danzig

Category:U-boats sunk by British warships

Category:U-boats lost with all hands

Category:World War I massacres

Category:World War I crimes by the British Empire and Commonwealth