U boat - 100
UB - 100 (1)
U- 100 was a Mittel Unterseeboot built at the A.G. Weser Shipyard in Bremen
and was commissioned on 16 April, 1917.
Commanded by
Kapitanleutnant Frhr. Degenhardt von Löe (3)
(31 May 1917 - 30 September 1918)
U - 100 Mittel Class
She was fitted with a single 105 mm deck gun, had a surface speed of 16 knots
and a submerged speed of 9 knots.
U - 100 carried a crew of 39* (partial known list)
Beulwitz v. Helmut Oberleutnant z.S
06.02.1892 U
100, UB 108, UB 101
Dilg Hermann Marine-Oberingenieur 29.09.1888 UC 11, U 9, U 100
Götting Friedrich Kapitänleutnant 07.02.1886 U 97, UB 93, U 100 birthplace Wilmersdorf, Berlin
Hildebrandt Friedrich Leutnant z.S.d.R 04.06.1893 U 28, U 100
Haardt Karl Oberleutnant z.S 03.03.1890 U 30, U 67, U 100
Kraus Ludwig Marine-Ingenieur 24.08.1891 U 100
Lange Reinh U-Maschinist U 100
Loe, Freiherr v Degenhart Kapitänleutnant 02.05.1884 U 28, U 100
Paschen Hans-Richard Leutnant z.S 05.02.1896 U 100
Schelenz Georg Leutnant z.S.d.R 28.05.1891 UB 67, U 17, U 100
Stratmann Paul Kapitänleutnant
23.04.1886 U 16, U
100, U 164
Excerpts from Chapter 5, "Gus Goes to War"
'Home from the sea'
'Bos'n Gus'
by Paul and Edith Lyman-Shafiroff
“It was quiet; all we could hear was the hum of our engines and the gentle break of the water when all of a sudden
the silence was broken by a call down from the crows
nest ‘Torpedo off the starboard!
Just below the waterline our ship shuddered and then the sound like broken glass was deafening."
"There was an explosion just forward of the engine room. * 4
Suddenly one of the crew yelled, ‘U-boat.’ We scanned the surface.
It looked like a huge whale coming up and then I could make out crew scurrying out of the coning tower."
U - Boat surfacing * 5
“I could see the Captain in the coning tower, his cap brilliant white reflecting in the sunlight as he surveyed the situation.
I was
treading water and very close to the submarine and for a brief moment we met,
eyeball to eyeball.”
“He just looked around, sized up the situation and saw no need to use his deck gun.
Our
ship was sinking fast. As silently as the U-boat appeared, she slipped back into
the sea leaving us to make out for ourselves.”
U-Boat evaluating the kill * 6
"Finally, a destroyer found us, hoisted us out of the water and later transferred us to another freighter."
Crew disembarking from Destroyer to freighter * 7
"Once onboard the freighter, a muster was taken of the crew; several wounded and one missing,
our captain… he had gone down with his ship."
Captain A.J. Peters
read the whole story of how Bos'n Gus survives the
T.S.S.'Lake Michigan' after being torpedoed and sunk by U-100
History of U-Boat 100 under the command of
Frhr. Degenhardt von Löe
8 ships sunk - 27,655 tons
2 vessels damaged - 5,272 tons
Ships engaged by Unterseeboot 100,
Kapitanleutenant Freiherr Degenhardt von Löe commanding
SS 'Kathleen', torpedoed & sank on 8th May 1917 on her way Norfolk to Limerick, Master lost
SS 'Melford Hall': a 6,339grt, torpedoed & sank on the 22nd of June,1917, armed British merchant ship,
95 miles N by W off Tory Island on her way from Liverpool to Bombay
SS 'Blagdon' , 1996 tons, torpedoed & sank 9th August 1917 on her way to Bergen & Archangel,
12 lost including Master
HMS 'Leinster' U-100 fired one torpedo and missed, other torpedo tubes jammed
by debris and unable to fire again,* U -100 Ship's log entry
RMS 'Leinster'
UB - 123 under the Command of Kpt.Robert Ramm & U-Boat 100 both engaged the RMS 'Leinster'.
Just before 10:00 a.m., while east of the Kish Bank, passengers aboard the "Leinster' saw a torpedo approach from the port side. It missed the ship,
passing in front of the bow. This was the torpedo U -100 fired and was unable to fire due to debris jammed in tubes.
UB-123 then, fired two torpedoes which quickly sank the vessel.
The RMS 'Leinster' carried 77 crewmembers and 694 passengers which included postal workers and app. 500 military personnel
Records indicate that 501 passengers perished.
UB-123 approximately one week later while on it's return to Germany, hit a mine.
The bodies of Oberleutnant zur See Robert Ramm and his crew of two officers and thirty three men were never recovered.
REPORT
U.S Naval Forces operating in
European Water, Destroyer Flotillas, Torpedo Station.
Base Six.
12 October, 1918.
To: Officer in Charge:
From: J.D. Mason, Chief Special Mechanic, U.S.N.
Subject: Report of sinking of S.S. Leinster.
|
I
took passage, going on leave, on the S.S. Leinster leaving Kingstown,
Ireland, sailing about 9.00a.m.At about an hour out from Kingstown, I was
sitting on the starboard side aft when I heard one of the soldiers
shout: "A torpedo".
We hoisted out two boats on the portside, both of which were just
reaching the water with the regular crews in them when I saw the second
torpedo coming directly for the starboard side. The second torpedo and boiler explosion produced an enormous amount of wreckage which fell so thickly in clouds together with steam and debris, that it was difficult to see anything at all. |
 |
SS 'Adela' 685 tons, torpedoed & sank 27th December 1917, on her way from Dublin to Liverpool, 24 crew lost
SS 'Lake Michigan' 9288 tons, defensively armed, on her way from Liverpool,
torpedoed & sank on the 16th of April,1918, 93 miles NW of Eagle Island, 1 lost, the Master
SS 'Montebello' torpedoed & sank on 21st June 1918 on her way London to Montreal, 41 lost including Master
SS 'Gunhild' torpedoed & sank on 17 July, 1917 996 tons, 6 lost
SS 'Thalalta' torpedoed and damaged on 15 February, 1918, 358 tons
SS 'Helene' torpedoed & sank on 9 June 1918, 112 tons
SS 'Homer City' damaged by torpedo on 21 June 1918, 4914 tons
T.S.S. 'Lake Michigan' (9)
SMS 'Roon' (8)
A Bremen class heavy cruiser
Prior to being assigned to U-Boats
Frhr. von Löe served aboard the SMS 'Roon'
as a Watch Officer
January - December 1915
After the war, Baron von Löe designed engineering parts and presented in 1934 a design
for hardening a new type of bearing.
An Improved Method for the Production of Bearings (10)
Abstract of GB436705 436,705. Making bearings. LOE, BARON VON, 5, Bugenhagenstrasse, Hamburg, Germany. Feb. 6, 1935, No. 3853. Convention date, Feb. 6, 1934. [Classes 83 (i), 83 (ii), and 83 (iv)] Casting composite articles.-A copper-coated bearing-shell, of iron which is not hardenable by chilling, is heated in borax to 1050-1085 C. and inserted in a mould which is then filled with molten copper-lead alloy and plunged into cold water. The copper coating may be 1À5-2À5 mm. thick and the iron may contain 0À3 per cent of carbon, 0À3 of silicon, and 0À6 of manganese. Two halves 10 of a shell with lugs 11 are welded at 9, leaving a gap between them and after heating &c. are placed in a conical cast-iron mould 1 with a radially grooved base 6 of graphite. Clamps 5 are then fitted over the lugs 11 and others 4 on the mould. The bearing metal may comprise copper with 20 to 40 per cent of lead, deoxidized with phosphor copper and is poured until one half overflows at 8. Perforating by forging.-After boring, a hard ball, i.e. of chrome-nickel-steel is forced through a number of times to compress the metal.
References: - British Merchant Shipping Losses WW1 - Der Krieg Zur See: Der Handelskrieg mit U-Booten;
Image credits:
1-(Bibliothek fϋr Zeitgeschichte)
2- Collier's New Photographic History of the World's War (New York) 1918; 3- Kapitanleutnant von Löe courtesy of Roderich Freiherr von Löe
4- Colliers Photographic History of the European War, (New York, 1916} 5- US Navy
6- Deutches Historiches Museum
7- Liberty's Victorious Conflict: A Photographic History of the World War,(Womans Weekly), Chicago,1918;
9- Photoship.co.uk; 10-wikipatents.com;
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