SM UB-2

After the German Army's rapid advance along the North Sea coast in the earliest stages of World War I, the German Imperial Navy found itself without suitable submarines that could be operated in the narrow and shallow environment off Flanders.Miller, pp. 46–47.Karau, p. 48. Project 34, a design effort begun in mid-August 1914, produced the Type UB I design: a small submarine that could be shipped by rail to a port of operations and quickly assembled. Constrained by railroad size limitations, the UB I design called for a boat about {{convert|28|m}} long and displacing about {{convert|125|t|LT}} with two torpedo tubes.A further refinement of the design—replacing the torpedo tubes with mine chutes but changing little else—evolved into the Type UC I coastal minelaying submarine. See: Miller, p. 458. UB-2 was part of the initial allotment of eight submarines—numbered {{SMU|UB-1||2}} to {{SMU|UB-8||2}}—ordered on 15 October from Germaniawerft of Kiel, just shy of two months after planning for the class began.Williamson, p. 12.

UB-2 was laid down by Germaniawerft on 1 November, one of the first two boats of the class started. She was launched at Kiel on 13 February 1915. As built, UB-2 was {{convert|28.10|m|ftin}} long, {{convert|3.15|m|ftin}} abeam, and had a draft of {{convert|3.03|m|ftin}}. She had a single {{convert|44|kW|bhp|order=flip|adj=on}} Daimler 4-cylinder diesel engine for surface travel, and a single {{convert|89|kW|shp|order=flip|adj=on}} Siemens-Schuckert electric motor for underwater travel, both attached to a single propeller shaft. Her top speeds were {{convert|6.47|kn}}, surfaced, and {{convert|5.51|kn}}, submerged.

At more moderate speeds, she could sail up to {{convert|1,650|nmi|lk=in}} on the surface before refueling, and up to {{convert|45|nmi}} submerged before recharging her batteries. Like all boats of the class, UB-2 was rated to a diving depth of {{convert|50|m|ft}}, and could completely submerge in 33 seconds.

UB-2 was armed with two {{convert|45|cm|in|1|sp=us|adj=on}} torpedoes in two bow torpedo tubes. She was also outfitted for a single {{convert|8|mm|in|sp=us|adj=on}} machine gun on deck. UB-2{{'}}s standard complement consisted of one officer and thirteen enlisted men.Karau, p. 49.

The submarine was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy as SM UB-2 on 20 February under the command of Kapitänleutnant Werner Fürbringer, a 26-year-old native of Braunschweig,Fürbringer was in the Navy's April 1907 cadet class with 34 other future U-boat captains, including Heino von Heimburg, Hans Howaldt, Otto Steinbrinck, and Ralph Wenninger. See: {{cite Uboat.net

|name=Crew 4/07

|id=4%2F07

|type=1crew

|access-date=4 March 2009

}} and underwent trials in German home waters.

UB-2 sailed from Germany to Flanders to join the Flanders Flotilla ({{langx|de|U-boote des Marinekorps U-Flotille Flandern}}) on 10 May 1915, and was the only UB I or UC I boat in the flotilla to not be shipped to Antwerp by rail. When UB-2 joined the flotilla, Germany was in the midst of its first submarine offensive, begun in February. During this campaign, enemy vessels in the German-defined war zone ({{langx|de|Kriegsgebiet}}), which encompassed all waters around the United Kingdom (including the English Channel), were to be sunk. Vessels of neutral countries were not to be attacked unless they definitively could be identified as enemy vessels operating under a false flag.Tarrant, p. 14.

The UB I boats of the Flanders Flotilla were initially limited to patrols in the Hoofden, the southern portion of the North Sea between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.Karau, p. 50. On 9 and 10 June, while patrolling in this area {{convert|50|to|60|nmi}} southeast of Lowestoft, UB-2 sank six British fishing smacks with a combined tonnage of just under {{GRT|300|first-yes}}, the largest being Intrepid of 59 GRT.Helgason, Guðmundur. {{cite Uboat.net

|id=6705

|name=Britannia

|type=1ship

}}, {{cite Uboat.net

|id=1819

|name=Edward

|type=1ship

}}, {{cite Uboat.net

|id=3520

|name=Laurestina

|type=1ship

}}, {{cite Uboat.net

|id=4990

|name=Quivive

|type=1ship

}}, {{cite Uboat.net

|id=6485

|name=Welfare

|type=1ship

}}, {{cite Uboat.net

|id=3031

|name=Intrepid

|type=1ship

}} Retrieved on 3 March 2009. All six of the smacks—sailing vessels traditionally rigged with red ochre sails{{cite web | author = Penwith District Council | author-link = Penwith District Council | title = Boat Types | url = http://www.penwith.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=23907 | publisher = Penwith District Council | location = Penzance | year = 2009 | access-date = 4 March 2009 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://archive.today/20070527105624/http://www.penwith.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=23907 | archive-date = 27 May 2007 }}—were stopped, boarded by crewmen from UB-2, and sunk with explosives.{{cite web

| last = | first = |title=British fishing vessels lost at sea due to enemy action: 1914, 1915, 1916 in date order |url=http://www.naval-history.net/WW1LossesBrFV1914-16.htm | work = World War 1 at Sea | publisher = | date = 9 January 2009

|access-date=4 March 2009

}} The information on the website is extracted from {{cite book |title=British Vessels Lost at Sea: 1914–1918 | publisher = His Majesty's Stationery Office | year = 1919

}}

File:Smack-brightlingsea.jpg, traditionally outfitted with red ochre sails.]]

After UB-2{{'}}s sister boat {{SMU|UB-6||2}} pioneered a route around past British anti-submarine nets and mines in the Straits of Dover in late June, boats of the flotilla began to patrol the western English Channel.Karau, p. 51. UB-2, {{SMU|UB-5||2}}, and {{SMU|UB-10||2}} soon followed with patrols in the Channel. Even though none of the boats sank any ships, by successfully completing their voyages they helped further prove the feasibility of defeating the British countermeasures in the Straits of Dover.

On 28 August, UB-2 was patrolling in the Corton–Yarmouth area when she sank the British trawler Miura.{{cite Uboat.net

|name=Miura

|id=4186

|type=1ship

|access-date=4 March 2009

}} At 257 GRT, Miura bested Intrepid as the largest vessel sunk by UB-2 to-date.{{csr|register=MSI|id=1132855|shipname=Miura|access-date=4 March 2009}} Early the following month, UB-2 sank another two fishing smacks {{convert|44|nmi}} east-southeast of Lowestoft: the 57 GRT Constance,{{cite Uboat.net

|name=Constance

|id=6732

|type=1ship

|access-date=4 March 2009

}} and the 44 GRT Emanuel.{{cite Uboat.net

|name=Emanuel

|id=7000

|type=1ship

|access-date=4 March 2009

}} Three days later, UB-2 sank 47 GRT smack Boy Ernie about {{convert|58|nmi}} east of Cromer.{{cite Uboat.net

|name=Boy Ernie

|id=890

|type=1ship

|access-date=4 March 2009

}}

As with the six vessels sunk in June, all three were stopped by UB-2 and sunk with explosives.

Germany's submarine offensive was suspended on 18 September by the chief of the Admiralstab, Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff, In response to American demands after German submarines had sunk the Cunard Line steamer {{RMS|Lusitania||2}} in May 1915 and other high-profile sinkings in August and September. Holtzendorff's directive from ordered all U-boats out of the English Channel and the South-Western Approaches and required that all submarine activity in the North Sea be conducted strictly along prize regulations.Tarrant, pp. 21–22. UB-2 did not sink any vessels over the next four months.

The German Imperial Navy began its second submarine offensive in February 1916, declaring, among other provisions, that all enemy vessels in the war zone were to be destroyed without warning.Tarrant, p. 26. On 26 February 1916, UB-2 torpedoed and sank the cargo ship Arbonne,{{cite Uboat.net

|name=Arbonne

|id=405

|type=1ship

|access-date=4 March 2009

}}{{csr|register=MSI|id=1127912|shipname=Arbonne|access-date=4 March 2009

}} in what was ultimately her last wartime success. The British steamer—at {{GRT|672}}, the largest ship sunk by UB-2—went down with a loss of all fourteen of her crew.

In early March, Kapitänleutnant Fürbringer was succeeded by the former commander of {{SMU|UB-13||2}}, Kptlt. Karl Neumann, who had been in the same cadet class as Fürbringer. Fürbringer went on to command six other U-boats, and was responsible for sinking nearly 100,000 tons of shipping. In 1933 he published a memoir of his World War I U-boat service, Alarm! Tauchen!!: U-boot in Kampf und Sturm, which included an overview of his career, including his time on UB-2.{{cite web

|last = Helgason

|first = Guðmundur

|title = The WWI books

|url = http://www.uboat.net/wwi/books/index.html?lang=german

|access-date = 4 March 2009

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060822181251/http://www.uboat.net/wwi/books/index.html?lang=german

|archive-date = 22 August 2006

}}

By early February, the Flanders Flotilla was beginning to receive the newer, larger Type UB II boats.Tarrant, p. 34. UB-2 was transferred into the Baltic Flotilla ({{langx|de|U-boote der Ostseetreitträfte V. U-Halbflotille}}) about a week after Neumann took command. Boats of the Baltic flotilla were based at either Kiel, Danzig, or Libau, but where UB-2 was stationed during this time is not reported in sources. While UB-2 was in the Baltic Flotilla, Neumann was succeeded by Oberleutnant zur See (Oblt.z.S.) Thomas Bieber in April, who was in turn succeeded by Oblt.z.S. Harald von Keyserlingk in July. In early December, Keyserlingk was reassigned from UB-2 to {{SMU|UB-36||2}}, and UB-2 was transferred to training duties. According to authors R.H. Gibson and Maurice Prendergast, submarines assigned to training duties were "war-worn craft" unfit for service.Gibson and Prendergast, p. 57.

At the end of the war, the Allies required all German U-boats to be sailed to Harwich for surrender. UB-2 was one of eight U-boats deemed unseaworthy and allowed to remain in Germany.Gibson and Prendergast, pp. 331–32.The other seven boats were {{SMU|U-1|Germany|2}}, {{SMU|U-2|Germany|2}}, {{SMU|U-4|Germany|2}}, {{SMU|U-17|Germany|2}}, and three fellow Type UB I boats, {{SMU|UB-5||2}}, {{SMU|UB-9||2}}, and {{SMU|UB-11||2}}. UB-2 was broken up by Stinnes on 3 February 1920.

{{Reflist|group=Note}}

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{Cite book

|last=Bendert

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|title=Die UB-Boote der Kaiserlichen Marine, 1914-1918. Einsätze, Erfolge, Schicksal

|location=Hamburg

|publisher=Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn GmbH

|year=2000

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• {{cite book

|last1=Gröner

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|translator-last2=Magowan

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|year=1991

|title=U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels

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|series=German Warships 1815–1945

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|ref=CITEREFGröner1991

}}

• {{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 }}
• {{Gibson}}
• {{cite book | last = Karau | first = Mark D. |title=Wielding the Dagger: the MarineKorps Flandern and the German War Effort, 1914–1918 | location = Westport, Connecticut | publisher = Praeger | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-0-313-32475-8 | oclc = 51204317 }}
• {{cite book | last = Miller | first = David |title= The Illustrated Directory of Submarines of the World | location = St. Paul, Minnesota | publisher = MBI Pub. Co | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0-7603-1345-9 | oclc = 50208951 }}
• {{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 | last = Williamson | first = Gordon|author-link=Gordon Williamson (writer)|title=U-boats of the Kaiser's Navy | location = Oxford | publisher = Osprey | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-1-84176-362-0 | oclc = 48627495 }}

{{Refend}}

• {{cite book | last = Fürbringer | first = Werner | author-link = Werner Fürbringer |title=Alarm! Tauchen!!: U-Boot in Kampf und Sturm | language = German | location = Berlin | publisher = Ullstein | year = 1933 | oclc = 10802838 }}

{{German Type UB I submarines}}

{{Good article}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ub002}}

Category:German Type UB I submarines

Category:Ships built in Kiel

Category:Ships built in Belgium

Category:1915 ships

Category:U-boats commissioned in 1915

Category:World War I submarines of Germany