disappearance of the Bremen merchant submarine here
Aug 19, 2022 3:33:25 GMT
politicidal and CrepedCrusader like this
Post by hi224 on Aug 19, 2022 3:33:25 GMT
World War 1, 1914, the British and French navies immediately established a very effective blockade of Germany. The British include food as a munition of war and prevented its’ import into Germany. This drew outcry from Germany as well as some neutral states such as the US for being too harsh.
In 1916, the Norddeutscher Lloyd German shipping country completed construction of two merchant submarines of what would become known as the U-151 class of U-boats. Construction was also started 5 other U-151’s. These submarine were intended to be able to avoid the British blockade and trade with the US, taking goods over and returning with the raw materials Germany desperately needed. These submarines were the Deutschland and the Bremen.
The Deutshland began her maiden voyage in June 1916, carrying chemical dyes, medicine and mail. She successfully arrived in Baltimore 16 days later, trading for 800 tons of rubber, nickel and tin. She returned to Germany on 25th august, in total making back reichmarks equal to over four times her construction cost.
The journey took the submarine through the English Channel but was primarily spent on the surface with only 140km of the 6100km trip taking place submerged. Once arrived, the Germans were received in the US with fanfare for their heroic journey.
There was some uproar by the British about using merchant submarines as they couldn’t be inspected for munitions like other ships. The supposably neutral US was already under diplomatic pressure for showing favouritism to the British and rejected the British argument.
An American submarine pioneer named Simon Lake tried to prevent the return of the submarine to Germany, claiming a patent infringement as he had unsuccessfully tried to negotiate to do a similar trip via submarine before the war. The dispute with Lake was settled by the owners of the Deutchland by offering a contract to manufacture cargo submarines in the US. This never eventuated after the US declared war against Germany.
The journey was successful enough that the Deutchland undertook a second journey shortly afterwards from October to December. Upon it’s return, it, and the other 5 submarines under construction were armed and put into the imperial German navy due to the US declaring war on Germany,
In the September between the voyages of the Deutchland, her sister ship, the Bremen departed for her maiden voyage to, maybe, Norfolk, Virginia (possibly also Portland, Baltimore, or New London). There seems to be no information on her cargo apart from it including financial credits for Simon Lake to start his work. There is also very little concrete information on what happened to her once she left Germany. What follows is a number of possibilities, primarily based on conflicting news articles from the time period as well as some more recent books on the subject. It seems that Germany tried to keep the loss of the submarine a secret, whether they knew the cause or not.
The German U-boat U-53 was supposed to escort the Breman but failed to make contact. The U-53 commander supposably received a radio broadcast on September 28, stating the Breman had been sunk. Wikipedia doesn’t have a source for this nor an exact departure date. Another source gives a departure date of 21st September but Wikipedia, referencing the Lewiston Times, says September 29 was a week after the expected arrival of the Breman. These dates don’t match up to me, given the 16 days it took the Deutchland making the same trip. It seems to make sense to me that the message would have been received while the U-53 was on the way to meet the Breman but I don’t know which leg the trip it was supposed to escort for. Although, apparently the rumour in American was that the U-53 came into American waters to search for the Breman after she had sunk.
According to the Liverpool Daily Post on October 2nd, the German president announced that the Breman had safely arrived in America on September 30 but messages from America countered this and said it had not.
Also on September 30th, the Lewiston Tribute reported that the previous day a life preserver covered in oil and marked Breman washed aground in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, close to Portland, which one paper reports as the destination. I’m no expert on ocean currents but a life preserver washing ashore around the expected arrival of the ship might mean it was sunk in American waters. If it was deliberately or accidentally sunk by the Americans, who were still neutral at this point, it might have caused someone to hide what had happened to it. An oil stained, marked, life preserver is pretty much the perfect object to confirm what had happened to a particular vessel. From the limited photos I can find of U-151’s, while they were in military service, I can’t spot any external life preservers, so presumably it can’t be lost without catastrophic damage or somebody using it. No other wreckage or bodies were ever recovered.
On the topic of cover-ups, the German newspaper (or maybe German language, Dutch paper?) Pommersche Tagespost, reported on October 10th that the Bremen had been destroyed. The General in charge of the Second Army Corps forbid further publication of this paper and the paper was warned for violating censorship laws. Other german papers were forced to report that what the Pommersche Tagespost had published was incorrect.
Contradicting the life preserver, the armed merchant ship HMS Mantau reportedly sighted the Breman 560km south of Iceland, on course for Baltimore, and units of the 10th Cruiser Squadron were dispatched to intercept. The Mantau said she had rammed a heavy submerged object (Gibson; Prendergast, 2002). Apparently the Mantau ship log makes no mention of this, whether this means both the contact and the ramming were not mentioned in the logs or just the ramming, is unclear.
Another source mentions that the British submarine HMS G13 hit what they believed to be the Bremen with a torpedo and thought it sunk (In March 1917?). British navel command apparently did not report this as they felt theidentification and/or the sinking was inconclusive. The author of this source states that perhaps the Breman did survive this encounter, returned to port and was converted into a surface vessel. This would somewhat match up to what the Norwich Bulletin reported that Scandinavian papers were reporting, that the Bremen had not been lost but was being used as a supply ship in the German blockade. The same Norwich Bulletin Article says this is false and that the submarine sunk due to great storms in the Atlantic.
The German Owners of the Bremen made a statement on the 21st of October that they considered the submarine lost, probably due to prevailing gusts causing her to flounder, and that the sailing of the Deutchland was cancelled until further notice (This is in spite of the Deutchland leaving at some point in October on her second voyage).
The Exchange Telegram reported that both submarines had been sunk and that the Germans would deny this until they had another submarine that could cross the Atlantic. This is patently false as the Deutchland was later captured by the British while in service to the German Navy.
On 2nd November, Captain Koenig of the Deutchland said in an interview whilst in New London on his second voyage, that the Bremen had sunk, was certain she hadn’t been captured by the British but he didn’t divulge the reason for the sinking nor how he knew. Apparently the submarine being captured by the British was a rumour in the US but Captain Koenig being certain she was not captured points to him knowing the reason for sinking.
The Encyclopaedia of British Submarines 1901-1955 (Ackerman, 2002) claims that the Bremen struck a mine off the Orkney Islands near Scotland. This strikes me as odd, the Deutchland successfully navigated the English Channel, so I’m not sure why the Breman would have been that far north if it was doing the same. I haven’t seen any other sources for this and I’m not sure why the Breman shows up in a book about British submarines.
So what happened to the Bremen? Will we find her wreck one day along with answers? Perhaps with the financial credits for Simon Lake or other cargo in a condition where it’s still worth something? Or will she fade into the annals of history along with the 28 souls aboard?
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremen_(German_submarine)
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_Deutschland
www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?141138
In 1916, the Norddeutscher Lloyd German shipping country completed construction of two merchant submarines of what would become known as the U-151 class of U-boats. Construction was also started 5 other U-151’s. These submarine were intended to be able to avoid the British blockade and trade with the US, taking goods over and returning with the raw materials Germany desperately needed. These submarines were the Deutschland and the Bremen.
The Deutshland began her maiden voyage in June 1916, carrying chemical dyes, medicine and mail. She successfully arrived in Baltimore 16 days later, trading for 800 tons of rubber, nickel and tin. She returned to Germany on 25th august, in total making back reichmarks equal to over four times her construction cost.
The journey took the submarine through the English Channel but was primarily spent on the surface with only 140km of the 6100km trip taking place submerged. Once arrived, the Germans were received in the US with fanfare for their heroic journey.
There was some uproar by the British about using merchant submarines as they couldn’t be inspected for munitions like other ships. The supposably neutral US was already under diplomatic pressure for showing favouritism to the British and rejected the British argument.
An American submarine pioneer named Simon Lake tried to prevent the return of the submarine to Germany, claiming a patent infringement as he had unsuccessfully tried to negotiate to do a similar trip via submarine before the war. The dispute with Lake was settled by the owners of the Deutchland by offering a contract to manufacture cargo submarines in the US. This never eventuated after the US declared war against Germany.
The journey was successful enough that the Deutchland undertook a second journey shortly afterwards from October to December. Upon it’s return, it, and the other 5 submarines under construction were armed and put into the imperial German navy due to the US declaring war on Germany,
In the September between the voyages of the Deutchland, her sister ship, the Bremen departed for her maiden voyage to, maybe, Norfolk, Virginia (possibly also Portland, Baltimore, or New London). There seems to be no information on her cargo apart from it including financial credits for Simon Lake to start his work. There is also very little concrete information on what happened to her once she left Germany. What follows is a number of possibilities, primarily based on conflicting news articles from the time period as well as some more recent books on the subject. It seems that Germany tried to keep the loss of the submarine a secret, whether they knew the cause or not.
The German U-boat U-53 was supposed to escort the Breman but failed to make contact. The U-53 commander supposably received a radio broadcast on September 28, stating the Breman had been sunk. Wikipedia doesn’t have a source for this nor an exact departure date. Another source gives a departure date of 21st September but Wikipedia, referencing the Lewiston Times, says September 29 was a week after the expected arrival of the Breman. These dates don’t match up to me, given the 16 days it took the Deutchland making the same trip. It seems to make sense to me that the message would have been received while the U-53 was on the way to meet the Breman but I don’t know which leg the trip it was supposed to escort for. Although, apparently the rumour in American was that the U-53 came into American waters to search for the Breman after she had sunk.
According to the Liverpool Daily Post on October 2nd, the German president announced that the Breman had safely arrived in America on September 30 but messages from America countered this and said it had not.
Also on September 30th, the Lewiston Tribute reported that the previous day a life preserver covered in oil and marked Breman washed aground in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, close to Portland, which one paper reports as the destination. I’m no expert on ocean currents but a life preserver washing ashore around the expected arrival of the ship might mean it was sunk in American waters. If it was deliberately or accidentally sunk by the Americans, who were still neutral at this point, it might have caused someone to hide what had happened to it. An oil stained, marked, life preserver is pretty much the perfect object to confirm what had happened to a particular vessel. From the limited photos I can find of U-151’s, while they were in military service, I can’t spot any external life preservers, so presumably it can’t be lost without catastrophic damage or somebody using it. No other wreckage or bodies were ever recovered.
On the topic of cover-ups, the German newspaper (or maybe German language, Dutch paper?) Pommersche Tagespost, reported on October 10th that the Bremen had been destroyed. The General in charge of the Second Army Corps forbid further publication of this paper and the paper was warned for violating censorship laws. Other german papers were forced to report that what the Pommersche Tagespost had published was incorrect.
Contradicting the life preserver, the armed merchant ship HMS Mantau reportedly sighted the Breman 560km south of Iceland, on course for Baltimore, and units of the 10th Cruiser Squadron were dispatched to intercept. The Mantau said she had rammed a heavy submerged object (Gibson; Prendergast, 2002). Apparently the Mantau ship log makes no mention of this, whether this means both the contact and the ramming were not mentioned in the logs or just the ramming, is unclear.
Another source mentions that the British submarine HMS G13 hit what they believed to be the Bremen with a torpedo and thought it sunk (In March 1917?). British navel command apparently did not report this as they felt theidentification and/or the sinking was inconclusive. The author of this source states that perhaps the Breman did survive this encounter, returned to port and was converted into a surface vessel. This would somewhat match up to what the Norwich Bulletin reported that Scandinavian papers were reporting, that the Bremen had not been lost but was being used as a supply ship in the German blockade. The same Norwich Bulletin Article says this is false and that the submarine sunk due to great storms in the Atlantic.
The German Owners of the Bremen made a statement on the 21st of October that they considered the submarine lost, probably due to prevailing gusts causing her to flounder, and that the sailing of the Deutchland was cancelled until further notice (This is in spite of the Deutchland leaving at some point in October on her second voyage).
The Exchange Telegram reported that both submarines had been sunk and that the Germans would deny this until they had another submarine that could cross the Atlantic. This is patently false as the Deutchland was later captured by the British while in service to the German Navy.
On 2nd November, Captain Koenig of the Deutchland said in an interview whilst in New London on his second voyage, that the Bremen had sunk, was certain she hadn’t been captured by the British but he didn’t divulge the reason for the sinking nor how he knew. Apparently the submarine being captured by the British was a rumour in the US but Captain Koenig being certain she was not captured points to him knowing the reason for sinking.
The Encyclopaedia of British Submarines 1901-1955 (Ackerman, 2002) claims that the Bremen struck a mine off the Orkney Islands near Scotland. This strikes me as odd, the Deutchland successfully navigated the English Channel, so I’m not sure why the Breman would have been that far north if it was doing the same. I haven’t seen any other sources for this and I’m not sure why the Breman shows up in a book about British submarines.
So what happened to the Bremen? Will we find her wreck one day along with answers? Perhaps with the financial credits for Simon Lake or other cargo in a condition where it’s still worth something? Or will she fade into the annals of history along with the 28 souls aboard?
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremen_(German_submarine)
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_Deutschland
www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?141138