SM U-68
Type U 66 German submarine (1915) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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SM U-68 was a Type U 66 submarine or U-boat for the German Imperial Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) during the First World War. She had been laid down in December 1913 as U-9 of the U-7 class for the Austro-Hungarian Navy (German: Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine or K.u. K. Kriegsmarine) but was sold to Germany, along with the others in her class, in November 1914. Under German control, the class became known as the U 66 type and the boats were renumbered; U-9 became U-68, and was redesigned and reconstructed to German specifications. She was launched in June 1915 and commissioned in August.
History | |
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German Empire | |
Name | U-68 |
Ordered | 2 February 1913 |
Builder | Germaniawerft, Kiel[1] |
Yard number | 205[2] |
Laid down | 31 December 1913, as U-9 (Austria-Hungary)[2] |
Launched | 1 June 1915[2] |
Commissioned | 17 August 1915[2] |
Fate | 22 March 1916 – Sunk by gunfire from Q-Ship Farnborough SW Ireland 51°54′N 10°53′W. 38 dead (all hands lost). |
General characteristics [3] | |
Class and type | German Type U 66 submarine |
Displacement |
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Length |
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Beam |
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Height | 7.95 m (26 ft 1 in) |
Draft | 3.79 m (12 ft 5 in) |
Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range |
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Test depth | 50 m (160 ft) |
Complement | 4 officers, 32 enlisted men |
Armament |
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Service record | |
Part of: |
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Commanders: | |
Operations: | 1 patrol |
Victories: | None |
Six days into her first war patrol, on 22 March 1916, U-68 was sunk by Farnborough, a British Q-ship, with all hands. U-68 sank no ships in her brief career. A post-war German study found fault with U-68's captain for not following established procedures for avoiding decoy ships.