SM U-27 was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Type U-27 U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

 built for service in the Kaiserliche Marine

Kaiserliche Marine

The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...

. She was launched on 14 July 1913, and commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 on 8 May 1914 with Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

) Bernd Wegener in command.

On 18 October 1914, the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 E-3

HMS E3

HMS E3 was the third E-class submarines to be constructed, built at Barrow by Vickers in 1911-1912. Built with compartmentalisation and endurance not previously achievable, these were the best submarines in the Royal Navy at the start of the First World War...

 was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 by U-27. This was the first action in which one submarine sank another.

Other encounters

• 31 October 1914, U-27 old cruiser HMS Hermes, used as airplane transporter, in the Straits of Dover, at position 51°06.3′N 001°50.3′E http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?19.
• 11 March 1915, U-27 sank the Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Bayano off Carswell Point, Stranraer at position 55°3′N 5°26′W.
• 25 August 1916 (??), sank Duke of Albany 20 nmi (23 mi; 37 km) off the Pentland Skerries
  Pentland Skerries
  The Pentland Skerries are a group of four uninhabited islands lying in the Pentland Firth, northeast of Duncansby Head and south of South Ronaldsay in Scotland....
  
  .

Fate

On 19 August 1915, U-27 was sunk in Western Approaches

Western Approaches

The Western Approaches is a rectangular area of the Atlantic ocean lying on the western coast of Great Britain. The rectangle is higher than it is wide, the north and south boundaries defined by the north and south ends of the British Isles, the eastern boundary lying on the western coast, and the...

 at position 50°43′N 07°22′W by gunfire from Q-Ship

Q-ship

Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, Decoy Vessels, Special Service Ships, or Mystery Ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them...

 HMS Baralong

HMS Baralong

HMS Baralong, also known as HMS Wyandrawas a Royal Navy warship that was active during World War I. She was a "Special Service Vessel" whose function was to act as a decoy, inviting attack by a U-boat in order to engage and destroy it.Baralong was successful on two occasions in her career,...

, and her entire crew including Bernd Wegener was killed in the so-called Baralong Incident

Baralong Incident

The Baralong Incidents were naval engagements of the First World War in August and September 1915, involving the Royal Navy Q-Ship HMS Baralong, later renamed HMS Wyandra, and two German U-boats....

.