Ex-German Submarine UC-97

[Timerover51]

I've seen a couple of photos of the sub touring the thumb area.
UC-97 was relocated by A&T Recovery in over 200 feet of water.

ric

Yes, I have gone over those reports and looked at the images on the A&T Recovery website.

[Guest]

I've seen a couple of photos of the sub touring the thumb area.
UC-97 was relocated by A&T Recovery in over 200 feet of water.

ric

[Timerover51]

Although most of the information on the Eastland Memorial site is correct, none of the pictures represent to any degree the UC-97. For online pictures of the sub, go to the following Navsource website.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08432.htm

Also, the UC-97 was equipped with a 10.5cm gun (4.1 Inches), as can be clearly seen in the Navsource photos, not the 8.8cm (3.4 inch) gun it is normally listed as carrying. That size of weapon was carried in the preceding UCII class of minelaying submarines. It carried 18 UC200 mines, the 200 referring to the explosive charge of the mine in kilograms, it being 200 kilograms or approximately 440 pounds of TNT. This charge would put a hole in side of the average ship of between 450 and 500 square feet, sufficient to cause very serious if not fatal damage. It also was armed with 3 torpedo tubes, two mounted externally abreast of the conning tower, and one internally in the stern. One reload was carried for each external tube and two reloads were carried for the stern tube. The crew comprised 32 men.

The above information was taken from Rossler's The U-Boat, which I view as authoritative with respect to German submarines. For some excellent, if simple, pictures of how the submarine laid its mines, I would recommend Purnell's The First Submarines and the book Warships and Sea Battles of World War One. Both are out of print, but copies can be located on the Web.

[Timerover51]

The sub was sunk in accordance with the terms of the treaty ending WW1, which required the Allied Powers to dispose of acquired German naval units unless expressly allowed to keep them. The idea was to prevent any of the Allies to suddenly increase their naval strength using German vessels.

Based on some of the documents that I have been examining in the Chicago Regional Branch of the National Archives, the sub was offered to both the Field Museum and the City of Chicago as a war memorial in 1920. In the UC-97 file, there is a complete list of all equipment removed from the submarine, who removed it, and it what cost. The sub still has great historic value, as if recovered, it would be the only WW1 submarine in existence.

[JerryB]

The U-505 was captured on the high seas. As such, she was not a part of the German surrender. All U-Boats that were part of the surrender had to be scuttled, per the terms of the surrenter documents. I agree that having these submarines sunk was a loss.

[Harry J Dean]

Hi,
I saw the captured WW2 German sub 505 {if I recall the number correctly} at
the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry, in 1957, and went
aboard her.
Now wondering, what was the need to scuttle the UC-97 ?
a real loss to history.

[Timerover51]

While touring the Lakes, was the UC-97 towed or under her own power? Did she come to Duluth? Thanks!

She proceeded under her own power, under the command of Charles Lockwood, who later became the commander of the Pacific Fleet subs in World War 2. If I remember the itinerary corrected, she did visit Duluth. The Archives has to make the photocopies for me, as they have no self-service copier, so I am still doing work on the background of the sub's trip to the Great Lakes.

[Dave F]

While touring the Lakes, was the UC-97 towed or under her own power? Did she come to Duluth? Thanks!

[Timerover51]

I am presently doing research on the ex-German submarine UC-97, that was brought into the Great Lakes by the US following World War One for a Victory Bonds Tour, and then sunk off of Chicago in June of 1921 under the terms of the treaty ending the war. There are some pictures of the submarine on the Navsource website, but I am looking for any additional photos that might have been taken by individuals, appeared in news papers, or announcements of the submarine's tour. The sub visited both US and Canadian ports, and in the US National Archives Regional Branch in Chicago is an itinerary that covers all of the Great Lakes. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.