Submarine serving in the Imperial German Navy in World War I
SM U-75 was one of the 329 submarines serving in the Imperial German Navy in World War I. U-75 was engaged in naval warfare and took part in the First Battle of the Atlantic. On her first mission, U-75 laid the mine that sank the cruiser during her voyage to Russia carrying British Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener. The cruiser sank at west of the Orkney Islands with nearly total loss of life in a force 9 gale.
Design Type UE I submarines were preceded by the longer Type U 66 submarines. U-75 had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of , a pressure hull length of , a beam of , a height of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two engines for use while surfaced, and two engines for use while submerged. She had two propeller shafts. She was capable of operating at depths of up to .
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of . When submerged, she could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at . U-75 was fitted with two torpedo tubes (one at the port bow and one starboard stern), four torpedoes, and one SK L/30 deck gun. She had a complement of thirty-two (twenty-eight crew members and four officers).
Summary of raiding history DateNameNationalityTonnageMerchant ship tonnages are in gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.Fate5 June 191610,850Sunk22 June 1916HMD Laurel Crown81Sunk7 August 1916HMT John High228Sunk12 August 1916Kovda1,125Sunk20 September 1916Etton2,831Sunk16 November 1916Fenja433Sunk22 November 1916Reserv1,700Captured as prize23 November 1916Arthur1,435Sunk9 April 1917Ganslei1,273Sunk15 April 1917HMT Arctic Prince194Damaged10 August 1917Solglimt1,037Sunk16 August 1917Palatine2,110Sunk3 September 1917Treverbyn4,163Sunk22 November 1917King Idwal3,631Sunk10 December 1917Aureole3,998Damaged2 September 1918Ariadne Christine3,550Damaged Fate On December 13, 1917, U-75 was escorted by two minesweepers through the minefields surrounding Heligoland to the “Yellow” exit route. After the minesweepers had joined the freighter Nordstern, the submarine continued on its own. Shortly thereafter, U 75 struck a mine north of Terschelling. Some of the crew went on deck and fired signal flares, which were seen from the Nordstern. By the time the ship had turned around and reached the place where the submarine had sunk (♁53° 59′ N, 5° 24′ E), eight crew members were rescued. Among the survivors was the commander, Lieutenant Commander Schmolling. There is evidence that the mine had been deliberately laid by the British submarine E51 in the supposedly safe escape route. The German submarine UB 61 had already been sunk by such a mine on November 29, 1917. U 75's propeller is currently on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial. deutscher-marinebund.de: Memorial service on the National Remembrance Day commemorating the end of World War I.
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