SM U-68

After the Austro-Hungarian Navy had competitively evaluated three foreign submarine designs, it selected the Germaniawerft 506d design, also known as the Type UD, for its new U-7 class of five submarines.Gardiner, p. 340. The Navy ordered five boats on 1 February 1913.Gardiner, p. 343.

The U-7 class was seen by the Austro-Hungarian Navy as an improved version of its U-3 class, which was also a Germaniawerft design.The U-3-class submarines, however, were less than half the displacement and nearly {{convert|90|ft|m}} shorter than the U-7 design. See: Gardiner, pp. 342–43. As designed for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the boats were to displace {{convert|695|t|LT}} on the surface and {{convert|885|t|LT}} while submerged. The doubled-hulled boats were to be {{convert|69.50|m|ft|0}} long overall with a beam of {{convert|6.30|m|ft}} and a draft of {{convert|3.79|m|ft}}. The Austrian specifications called for two shafts with twin diesel engines ({{convert|2300|PS|bhp kW|lk=in|0}} total) for surface running at up to {{convert|17|kn}}, and twin electric motors ({{convert|1240|PS|shp kW|abbr=on}} total) for a maximum of {{convert|11|kn}} when submerged. The boats were designed with five {{convert|45|cm|in|1|abbr=on}} torpedo tubes; four located in the bow, one in the stern. The boats' armament was to also include a single {{convert|6.6|cm|in|abbr=on}} L/26 deck gun.

U-9 was laid down on 31 December 1913, the third of the U-7 boats.Helgason, Guðmundur. [http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=66 WWI U-boats: U 66], [http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=67 WWI U-boats: U 67], [http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=68 WWI U-boats: U 68], [http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=69 WWI U-boats: U 69], [http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=70 WWI U-boats: U 70]. U-Boat War in World War I. Uboat.net. Retrieved on 9 December 2008. Her construction was slated to be complete within 29 to 33 months. Neither U-9 nor any of her sister boats were complete when World War I began in August 1914. With the boats under construction at Kiel, the Austrians became convinced that it would be impossible to take delivery of the boats, which would need to be towed into the Mediterranean past Gibraltar, a British territory.The Austro-Hungarian Navy's Germaniawerft-built U-3 class boats had been towed from Kiel to Pola via Gibraltar in 1909. See: Sieche, p. 19. As a result, U-9 and her four sisters were sold to the Imperial German Navy on 28 November 1914.In April 1915, just five months later, the German {{SMU|U-21|Germany|2}} successfully entered the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar, proving that delivery would have been possible after all. See: Gardiner, p. 343.

U-9 was renumbered by the Germans as U-68 when her class was redesignated as the Type U 66. The Imperial German Navy had the submarines redesigned and reconstructed to German standards, which increased the surface displacement by {{convert|96|t|LT}} and the submerged by {{convert|48|t|LT}}. The torpedo load was increased by a third, from 9 to 12, and the deck gun was upgraded from the {{convert|6.6|cm|in|abbr=on}} gun originally specified to an 8.8 cm SK L/30 naval gun one.

U-68 was launched on 1 June 1915. On 17 August, SM U-68 was commissioned into the Imperial German Navy under the command of Kapitänleutnant Ludwig Güntzel, a new submarine commander.Messimer, pp. 86–87. On 29 November, U-68 was assigned to the IV. U-Halbflotille.Tarrant, p. 34.

U-68 departed the Ems on 16 March 1916 to begin her first war patrol. Headed to her assigned operating area off Britain's west coast, Güntzel and U-68 came across {{HMS|Farnborough||2}}, a British Q-ship—in appearance unarmed—under the command of Gordon Campbell. At approximately 07:00, U-68 fired a torpedo at Farnborough and narrowly missed the ship's bow. Farnborough continued the deception and continued on at her same speed and course. At 07:20, U-68 surfaced about {{convert|1000|yards|m}} astern of Farnborough, moved to the ship's port quarter, and fired a shot across the Q-ship's bow.

Farnborough stopped, blew off steam, and launched a boat to simulate a surrender. As U-68 closed to {{convert|800|yards|m}}, Farnborough raised the White Ensign, uncovered her guns and opened fire with three of her five 12 pounder (76 mm) guns. The British gunners scored several hits on the U-boat out of 21 rapidly fired rounds. As U-68 began to sink, Campbell steered Farnborough over U-68{{'}}s location and dropped a depth charge that blew the bow of the submarine out of the water. As U-68 began going down by the stern, Farnborough{{'}}s gunners scored another five hits on the U-boat's conning tower. U-68 sank with the loss of all 38 men at position {{coord|51|54|N|10|53|W|display=inline,title}} off Dingle in southern Ireland. U-68 sank no ships during her brief service career.{{cite Uboat.net

|name=U 68

|id=u68

|type=1boat

|access-date=9 December 2008

}}

A post-war German study faulted U-68{{'}}s commander, Kptlt. Güntzel, for failing to follow established procedures for dealing with neutral-flagged vessels in order to avoid decoy ships like Farnborough. According to the report, Güntzel had broken almost all the rules when approaching Farnborough. However, Kommodore Hermann Bauer, the commander of the German High Seas Fleet U-boats, in his post-war memoirs, reports Güntzel was an inexperienced captain and had not, contrary to usual practice, been first sent to sea under a more experienced U-boat captain to gain knowledge.

{{Reflist|group=Note}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book | editor1-last=Gardiner | editor1-first=Robert | editor2-last=Gray | editor2-first=Randal |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 | location = Annapolis, Maryland | publisher = Naval Institute Press | year = 1985 | isbn = 978-0-87021-907-8 | oclc = 12119866 }}
• {{cite book

|last1=Gröner

|first1=Erich

|last2=Jung

|first2=Dieter

|last3=Maass

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|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

}}

• {{cite book | last = Messimer | first = Dwight R. |title=Verschollen: World War I U-boat losses | location = Annapolis, Maryland | publisher = Naval Institute Press | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-1-55750-475-3 | oclc = 231973419 }}
• {{cite book | last = Sieche | first = Erwin F. | chapter = Austro-Hungarian Submarines |title=Warship, Volume 2 | location = Annapolis, Maryland | publisher = Naval Institute Press | year = 1980 | isbn = 978-0-87021-976-4 | oclc = 233144055 }}
• {{cite book | last = Tarrant | first = V. E. |title=The U-Boat Offensive: 1914–1945 | location = Annapolis, Maryland | publisher = Naval Institute Press | year = 1989 | isbn = 978-0-87021-764-7 | oclc = 20338385 }}
• {{cite book |title=Der Handelskrieg mit U-Booten. 5 Vols |last=Spindler |first=Arno |orig-year=1932 |year=1966|publisher= 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|location=Berlin }}
• {{cite book |title=Room 40: British Naval Intelligence 1914–1918|last=Beesly |first=Patrick |year=1982 |publisher= H Hamilton |location=London |isbn=978-0-241-10864-2 }}
• {{cite book |title=A Naval History of World War I|last=Halpern |first=Paul G. |year=1995 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-1-85728-498-0 }}
• {{cite book |title=Die Unterseeboote der Kaiserlichen Marine |last=Roessler |first=Eberhard |year=1997 |publisher= Bernard & Graefe |location=Bonn |isbn=978-3-7637-5963-7 }}
• {{cite book |title=Die U-Boote des Kaisers |last=Schroeder |first=Joachim |year=2002 |publisher= Bernard & Graefe |location=Bonn |isbn=978-3-7637-6235-4 }}
• {{cite book |title=Room 40: German Naval Warfare 1914–1918. Vol I., The Fleet in Action|last=Koerver |first=Hans Joachim |year=2008 |publisher=LIS Reinisch |location=Steinbach |isbn=978-3-902433-76-3 }}
• {{cite book |title=Room 40: German Naval Warfare 1914–1918. Vol II., The Fleet in Being|last=Koerver |first=Hans Joachim |year=2009 |publisher=LIS Reinisch |location=Steinbach |isbn=978-3-902433-77-0 }}

{{Refend}}

• {{cite Uboat.net

|name=U 68

|id=68

|type=1sub

}}

• [http://www.u54.suedholland-ferienhaus.de/html/s_m__u_54.html Photos of cruises of German submarine U-54 in 1916–1918.]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20091130023342/http://www.europafilmtreasures.eu/PY/269/see-the-film-the_enchanted_circle A 44 min. German film from 1917 about a cruise of the German submarine U-35.]
• [http://germannavalwarfare.info/indexbr.htm Room 40:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181015003000/http://germannavalwarfare.info/indexbr.htm |date=15 October 2018 }} original documents, photos and maps about World War I German submarine warfare and British Room 40 Intelligence from The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, UK.

{{U-66 class submarines}}

{{March 1916 shipwrecks}}

{{Good article}}

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Category:German Type U 66 submarines

Category:U-boats commissioned in 1915

Category:Maritime incidents in 1916

Category:U-boats sunk in 1916

Category:World War I submarines of Germany

Category:U-boats sunk by British warships

Category:World War I shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean

Category:1915 ships

Category:Ships built in Kiel

Category:Shipwrecks of Ireland