SM U-46 was one of the 329 submarines serving in the Imperial German Navy in World War I. U-46 was engaged in the combat during World War I and took part in the First Battle of the Atlantic. After the war, she served in the Imperial Japanese Navy as O-2.
Imperial German Navy Ordered on 4 August 1914, U-46 was constructed at the Kaiserliche Werft in Danzig, Germany. Launched on 18 May 1915, she was commissioned on 17 December 1915.
Assigned to the III Flotilla, U-46 began her first war patrol on 29 March 1916. Remaining in the III Flotilla for the rest of the war, she conducted a total of 11 war patrols before the war ended on 11 November 1918 and was credited with sinking 51 merchant ships totaling 138,942 gross register tons and one auxiliary warship of 1,372 gross register tons and damaging one merchant ship of 7,378 gross register tons.
After the end of the war, she surrendered to Japan on 26 November 1918.
Summary of raiding history DateNameNationalityTonnageMerchant ship tonnages are in gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.Fate29 September 1916Ravn1,260Sunk29 September 1916Sinsen1,925Sunk30 September 1916Hafnia962Sunk30 September 1916Hekla950Sunk4 October 1916Brantingham2,617Sunk6 October 1916Erika2,430Sunk9 October 1916Astoria4,262Sunk11 October 1916Iolo3,903Sunk16 December 1916Chassie Maersk1,387Sunk16 December 1916Taki Maru3,208Sunk16 December 1916Gerda775Sunk17 December 1916Bayhall3,898Sunk19 December 1916Falk948Sunk23 December 1916Marques De Urquijo2,170Sunk25 December 1916Marie Pierre166Sunk27 December 1916Aislaby2,692Sunk27 December 1916Goulfar259Sunk21 March 1917Hindustan3,692Sunk23 March 1917Argo1,563Sunk24 March 1917Montreal3,342Sunk1 April 19173,727Sunk3 April 1917Hesperus2,231Sunk5 April 1917Benheather4,701Sunk7 April 1917Fiskaa1,700Sunk15 May 1917Grosholm1,847Sunk17 May 1917Lewisham2,810Sunk18 May 1917Llandrindod3,841Sunk18 May 1917Penhale3,712Sunk20 May 19171,372Sunk22 May 1917Tansan Maru2,443Sunk24 May 1917Jersey City4,670Sunk24 July 1917Brumaire2,324Sunk24 July 1917Zermatt3,767Sunk25 July 1917Peninsula1,384Sunk25 July 1917Purley4,500Sunk27 July 1917Begona No. 42,407Sunk31 July 1917Shimosa4,221Sunk22 October 1917Zillah3,788Sunk24 October 1917Ilderton3,125Sunk28 October 1917Baron Balfour3,991Sunk4 November 1917Irina2,210Sunk7 November 1917Obj1,829Sunk27 January 191813,405Sunk31 January 1918Towneley2,476Sunk1 February 1918Cavallo2,086Sunk3 February 1918Lutece1,346Sunk5 February 1918Cresswell2,829Sunk13 March 1918Crayford1,209Sunk18 March 1918Atlantic Sun2,333Sunk30 March 1918Stabil538Sunk25 May 1918Rathlin Head7,378Damaged16 September 1918Tasman5,023Sunk25 September 1918Gloire a Jesus60Sunk
Imperial Japanese Navy
Transferred to Japan after surrendering, the submarine was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1920 as O-2. Decommissioned in 1921, she was partly dismantled at the Kure Naval Arsenal in April 1921.
A photo of U-46 apparently at the time of transfer to Japan shows the submarine docked and flying the flag of the Imperial Japanese Navy over the flag of the Imperial German Navy.
Some sources claim that O-2 was scrapped in 1922.Gardiner, p. 177Gröner, p. 9. Other sources claim that in 1925, O-2 was rebuilt at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal to serve as a testbed for submarine salvage operations by the submarine salvage ship Asahi and foundered in the Pacific Ocean in a storm off the coast of Japan during her transfer voyage from Yokosuka to Kure on 21 April 1925, adding that an American merchant ship sighted her derelict hulk floating in the Pacific west of Oahu, Hawaii, on 5 August 1927, and that the hulk subsequently was scuttled.
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