SM U-40 was a German Type U 31

German Type U 31 submarine

U 31 was a class of U-boats built during World War I by the Kaiserliche Marine.U 31 U-boats carried 6 torpedoes and were originally armed with one geck gun, which was replaced in 1916/17 by a deck gun...

 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...

 of the German Imperial Navy  during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

Her construction was ordered on 12 June 1912 and her keel was laid down on 3 April 1913 by Germaniawerft of Kiel

Kiel

Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

. She was launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 on 22 October 1914 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 14 February 1915 under the command of Gerhardt Fürbringer. Second officer was lieutenant Rudolf Jauch (of the Jauch family

Jauch family

The Jauch family of Germany is a Hanseatic family, originating from Bergsulza in Thuringia and for the first time documented in the 15th century...

).

U-40 conducted one patrol, without sinking a ship.

Fate

On the morning of 23 June 1915 U-40 stopped the trawler Taranaki in the North Sea. Taranaki was in fact a decoy vessel, or "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...

", and was connected to the submerged submarine C24

HMS C24

HMS C24 was a British C class submarine built by Vickers, Barrow. She was laid down on 12 February 1908 and was commissioned on 5 May 1909.-Service history:...

 by a combined tow line and telephone cable. When U-40 stopped the trawler, Taranaki telephoned the situation to C24. When C24 tried to slip the tow line, however, the release mechanism failed, and C24 had to manoeuvre into an attacking position with a hundred fathoms of chain hanging from her bow. Her commander, Lieutenant Frederick Henry Taylor, was able to adjust her trim and avoid fouling the chain in the propellers and fired a single torpedo that struck U-40 amidships. The U-boat sank instantly, only three men in the conning tower surviving to be picked up by the Taranaki.

Wreck discovery

The reported location of the sinking varied. According to some sources it was "50 mi (80.5 km) southeast of Aberdeen

Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....

". Others suggested it was "east of the Firth of Forth".

However in March 2009 the Scottish company Marine Quest announced that divers from their company had discovered the wreck of the U-40 approximately 40 mi (64.4 km) off Eyemouth

Eyemouth

Eyemouth , historically spelt Aymouth, is a small town and civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is east of the main north-south A1 road and just north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. It has a population of circa 3,420 people .The town's name comes from its location at...

, Berwickshire

Berwickshire

Berwickshire or the County of Berwick is a registration county, a committee area of the Scottish Borders Council, and a lieutenancy area of Scotland, on the border with England. The town after which it is named—Berwick-upon-Tweed—was lost by Scotland to England in 1482...

, Scotland, "miles from where it was recorded as going down".

External links

• SM U 40 First success of a Royal Navy 'Q' Ship
• Distinguished Service Cross of Lt. F.H. Taylor, awarded for the sinking SM U 40 in the collection of the National Maritime Museum