SM U-20 was a German Type U 19 U-boat built for service in the Imperial German Navy. She was launched on 18 December 1912, and commissioned on 5 August 1913. During World War I, she took part in operations around the British Isles. U-20 became infamous following her sinking of the British ocean liner on 7 May 1915, an act that dramatically reshaped the course of the First World War.
See also: Sinking of the RMS Lusitania. On 7 May 1915, U-20 was patrolling off the southern coast of Ireland under the command of Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger. Three months earlier, on 4 February, the Germans had established a U-boat blockade around the British Isles and had declared any vessel in it a legitimate target.
At about 13:40 Schwieger was at the periscope and saw a vessel approaching. From a distance of about 700m (2,300feet) Schwieger noted she had four funnels and two masts, making her a passenger liner of some sort. He fired a single torpedo. It hit on the starboard side, almost directly below the bridge. Schwieger wrote that he was surprised by the size of the explosion, reasoning that a second explosion must have happened, possibly caused by coal dust, a boiler explosion, or powder. According to his logs, only then did he recognise her as the Lusitania, a vessel in the British Fleet Reserve.[1] In 18 minutes, Lusitania sank with 1,197 casualties. The wreck lies in 300feet of water.
Fifteen minutes after he had fired his torpedo, Schwieger noted in his war diary:
"It looks as if the ship will stay afloat only for a very short time. [I gave order to] dive to 25m (82feet) and leave the area seawards. I couldn't have fired another torpedo into this mass of humans desperately trying to save themselves."There was at the time a great controversy about the sinking, over whether Lusitania was armed, carrying troops or illegal explosives to England and over Schwieger's method of attack. The Allies and the United States originally thought the U-20 fired two torpedoes. Postwar investigations showed only one was fired.
Before he got back to the docks at Wilhelmshaven for refuelling and resupply, the United States had formally protested to Berlin against the brutality of his action.
Kaiser Wilhelm II wrote in the margins of the American note, "Utterly impertinent", "outrageous", and "this is the most insolent thing in tone and bearing that I have had to read since the Japanese note last August." Nevertheless, to keep America out of the war, in June the Kaiser was compelled to rescind unrestricted submarine warfare and require all passenger liners be left unmolested.
On 4 September 1915 Schwieger was back at sea with U-20, off the Fastnet Rock in the south Irish Sea. This rock held one of the key navigational markers in the western ocean, the Fastnet Lighthouse, and any ships passing in and out of the Irish Sea would be within visual contact of it.
RMS Hesperian was beginning a run outward bound from Liverpool to Quebec and Montreal, with a general cargo, also doubling as a hospital ship, and carrying about 800 passengers when she was attacked and sunk by U-20 off the Fastnet. The History of the Great War: The Merchant Navy, Vol. II, by Hurd, reads:
"Only a few days before, Count Bernsdorff, the German Ambassador, had assured the United States government that passenger liners will not be sunk without warning and without ensuring the safety of the non-combatants aboard providing that the liners do not try to escape or offer resistance."
Schwieger was reprimanded by the Admiralty but was unrepentant. The Germans decided to report that the ship was hit by a mine.
On 4 November 1916, U-20 grounded on the Danish coast south of Vrist, a little north of Thorsminde after suffering damage to its engines. Her crew attempted to destroy her with explosives the following day, succeeding, however, only in damaging the boat's bow (see picture) but making it effectively inoperative as a warship.[2]
The U-20 remained on the beach until 1925 when the Danish government blew it up in a "spectacular explosion". The Danish navy removed the deck gun and made it unserviceable by cutting holes in vital parts. The gun was kept in the naval stores at Holmen in Copenhagen for almost 80 years.[3] The conning tower was removed and placed on the front lawn of the local museum Strandingsmuseum St. George Thorsminde, where it still is today.[4] [5] [6]
Novelist Clive Cussler claimed his National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) located the remains of U-20 in 1984, about 400 yards from shore.[7]
| Date | Name | Nationality | Tonnage[8] | Fate[9] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 January 1915 | Ikaria |  United Kingdom | 4,335 | Sunk | |
| 30 January 1915 | Oriole | United Kingdom | 1,489 | Sunk | |
| 30 January 1915 | Tokomaru | United Kingdom | 6,084 | Sunk | |
| 7 March 1915 | Bengrove | United Kingdom | 3,840 | Sunk | |
| 9 March 1915 | Princess Victoria | United Kingdom | 1,108 | Sunk | |
| 11 March 1915 | Florazan | United Kingdom | 4,658 | Sunk | |
| 5 May 1915 | Earl of Lathom | United Kingdom | 132 | Sunk | |
| 6 May 1915 | Candidate | United Kingdom | 5,858 | Sunk | |
| 6 May 1915 | Centurion | United Kingdom | 5,495 | Sunk | |
| 7 May 1915 | United Kingdom | 30,396 | Sunk | ||
| 8 July 1915 | Marion Lightbody | 2,176 | Sunk | ||
| 9 July 1915 | Ellesmere | United Kingdom | 1,170 | Sunk | |
| 9 July 1915 | Leo | 2,224 | Sunk | ||
| 9 July 1915 | Meadowfield | United Kingdom | 2,750 | Sunk | |
| 13 July 1915 | Lennok | 1,142 | Sunk | ||
| 2 September 1915 | Roumanie | United Kingdom | 2,599 | Sunk | |
| 3 September 1915 | Frode |  | 1,875 | Sunk | |
| 4 September 1915 | Hesperian | United Kingdom | 10,920 | Sunk | |
| 5 September 1915 | Dictator | United Kingdom | 4,116 | Sunk | |
| 5 September 1915 | Douro | United Kingdom | 1,604 | Sunk | |
| 5 September 1915 | Rhea | 1,145 | Sunk | ||
| 6 September 1915 | Guatemala |  | 5,913 | Sunk | |
| 7 September 1915 | Bordeaux | | 4,604 | Sunk | |
| 7 September 1915 | Caroni | United Kingdom | 2,652 | Sunk | |
| 8 September 1915 | Mora | United Kingdom | 3,047 | Sunk | |
| 30 April 1916 | Bakio |  Spain | 1,906 | Sunk | |
| 1 May 1916 | Bernadette | | 486 | Sunk | |
| 2 May 1916 | Ruabon | United Kingdom | 2,004 | Sunk | |
| 3 May 1916 | Marie Molinos | | 1,946 | Sunk | |
| 6 May 1916 | Galgate | United Kingdom | 2,356 | Sunk | |
| 8 May 1916 | United Kingdom | 13,370 | Sunk | ||
| 1 August 1916 | Aaro | United Kingdom | 2,603 | Sunk | |
| 29 August 1916 | Ibo | 397 | Damaged | ||
| 26 September 1916 | Thelma | United Kingdom | 1,002 | Sunk | |
| 18 October 1916 | Ethel Duncan | United Kingdom | 2,510 | Sunk | |
| 23 October 1916 | Arromanches | | 1,640 | Sunk | |
| 23 October 1916 | Chieri | 4,400 | Sunk | ||
| 23 October 1916 | Felix Louis | | 275 | Sunk | |
| 26 October 1916 | Fabian | United Kingdom | 2,246 | Damaged |