U-53's American voyage

KptLt Rose's operations off New York in 1916

I touched upon the U-53 in last week’s article on the Deutschland and Bremen and their journeys out to the United States as a way of breaking the blockade but her actions required a deeper look.

The evolution of submarines had come on in leaps and bounds and it is interesting that the Kaiserliche-Marine were not particularly interested in the first U--boats that were developed by Krupps and it wasn’t until Russia expressed interest that they also looked into them. As a simplification and hand wave, let’s just say that neither Britain or Germany took submarines seriously until the actions of Hersing and Weddigen in September 1914 seemed to prove the ability of U-boats as weapons of War.

The drawback was they were mostly short ranged or coastal and early attempts at long range journeys had been problematic. Georg von Trapp of the K.u.K Kriegsmarine had led the Austrian Ub-5 out towards Corfu in April 1915, to disrupt the French fleet and although successful in that it did sink the armoured cruiser Leon Gambetta the crew returned home but with all but two suffering from illnesses caused by the cramped conditions and bad air. The German U-21, carried out a long journey from northern Europe to the Adriatic and although the fuel levels were low (despite being refuelled en route with oil that had been contaminated by salt water) and the crew suffering but mostly alright. After a period of rest and recuperation the German crew then travelled the 700 mile journey to Constantinople.

The Naval campaigns off the American coasts between the Falklands and Canada had petered out following the internment of the surface raiders Kronprinz Wilhelm and Prinz Eitel Friedrich which allowed the Allied merchant marine to operate without fear of German intervention. The South American republics had worked hard, under pressure from Britain, to remove any suspected hidden German wireless stations, secret bays being used as bases for auxiliary cruisers and any merchant ships using their wireless sets or working as agents for surface raiders. Though there are undoubtedly German operatives in South America the information they were getting was of little value as there was no way for the Kaiserliche-Marine to exploit it. Rumours also persisted of similar refuelling bases hidden in the USA and Canada in the same way rumours of similar bases in Ireland in the Second World War persisted. There were however none as the Germans had not thought of this pre-War, why would you if you weren’t planning on U-boats as the main naval weapon?

The idea of unrestricted warfare meant that the Admiralstab did look at how to carry out the operation of sinking vast numbers of enemy shipping and where to carry it out and the east coast of the USA and Canada would be a tempting place but the German’s ability to do so in 1915 was pretty unworkable without the ability to refuel and for the crew to rest before a long journey home. There was also a chance of upsetting the Americans diplomatically in the same way they had upset the South American Republics with the operations of surface raiders.

That said, by the autumn of 1916 the German Navy were looking at alternatives to using the surface fleet after the non result of Jutland and the Royal Navy’s superiority of numbers. Unrestricted U-boat warfare was back on the table. The German government were looking to starting this in early 1917 but Admiral von Holtzendorff was hoping to kick this off as soon as possible for he feared that the German state was slowly being strangled by the British blockade. He was very keen on a submarine escorting the Bremen’s journey to America in the autumn of 1916.

Although a civilian vessel carrying out a mercantile function there was a chance that her vital cargo would be intercepted by the British patrols and a military U-boat would be useful to help cover the withdrawal back to Germany.

The escort submarine would be SM U-53, under Kapitanleutnant Hans Rose:

On September 11 this U-boat received orders to lie off the American coast about the time when the U-merchant boat Bremen was expected to arrive at New London (North America), in order to search for and attack enemy ships which, in all probability, would be waiting there for the submarine merchantman. After completing this task, the boat was to call at Newport, Rhode Island, but was to leave again after a few hours at most, so as to give the American authorities no excuse or occasion to detain her. There was to be no replenishment of supplies, with the possible exception of fresh victuals. If no enemy warships were met with, she was to carry on commercial war according to Prize Law off the American coast. - Reinhard Scheer

Despite what he said in his post war autobiography, Scheer was not happy about the deployment of the U-53 and wrote to von Holtzendorff to express his concerns of a military vessel operating on the American seaboard as he worried it would cause issues with America and might bring them into the War. His concerns were dismissed by von Holtzendorff;

The order takes account of the sensitivety of the neutral American govenrment. I do not share the reservations pf the Imperial Command regarding the impact of the mission. I have refrained from communicating with the political agencies of the Reich since it is purely a military matter.

The U-53 was not a normal U-boat of the U-51 Type as it had been modified for the trans-Atlantic journey with four ballast tanks altered to carry an extra sixty cubic metres of extra oil bringing it up to one hundred and fifty cubic metres. The levels of lubricating oil were considered adequate enough. Extra food and fresh water supplies were also increased and the draught of the boat went up by forty centimetres. According to Scheer the U-boat still functioned well but when on the surface she was very close to the water and even in a wind strength of four the decks would be awash and the bridge would receive a lot of spray;

Consequently for those on duty on the bridge, the voyage, especially at first, was a tremendous strain. The Commander did not think that the officers and petty officers would be able to stand it (the rubber suits that had to be worn almost daily for the first fortnight were not watertight), and he would have turned back if the weather had not improved soon after September 24th - Scheer

Rose, a thirty one year old officer, had already helped train the crews of the Norddeutscher submarines and had taken charge of U-53, his first command, in April but was valued by Kommodore Hermann Bauer, Führer der Unterseeboote, for his cool head and maturity and prior to the upgrades to U-53. On 30th August he had told his superior that he felt the mission would be extremely difficult if not impossible and even after them that most of the journey would have to be conducted on the surface to avoid using too much battery power.

The official orders came down from von Holtzendorff on the 11th September with the U-53 to act as a screen for the Bremen once it left port but not to do anything within three miles of the American coastline. She was to intercept any British ships, especially around Long Island where the British would be trying to block Bremen’s return jouney, as well as any neutrals that were carrying contraband as well as, briefly, entering Newport, to show off the advanced German equipment in the hope of boosting American opinion.

The U-53 left Heligoland on 17th September and headed for the North Sea but the weather, as Scheer alluded, was heavy with a gale coming from the south-south-west and the men in the conning tower were often stood up in their necks in sea water which makes Rose’s assertion of wanting to turn back very understandable. The U-53 travelled out to the most northerly part of the Shetlands on the 20th September then straight to Newfoundland bank through very changeable weather which saw the submarine pitched heavily in the steep swell. This changed to following winds which helped their journey and when they caught the Labrador current they made good time. The crew were not affected by the long journey by the conditions and only complained of headaches and nausea after passing the Newfoundland Bank.