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U-Boat

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:''"U-boat" is also a nickname for some diesel locomotives built by GE Transportation Systems GE; see List of GE locomotives#Universal Series (ca. late 1960s to late 1970s) List of GE locomotives'' image:U-47s.jpg U-47.html" title="Meaning of frame frame|October 1939. [[U-47 returns to port after sinking HMS Royal Oak (08) HMS ''Royal Oak''. The battlecruiser ''German battlecruiser Scharnhorst Scharnhorst'' is seen in the background''..html" title="Meaning of October 1939. [[U-47">frame|October 1939. [[U-47 returns to port after sinking HMS Royal Oak (08) HMS ''Royal Oak''. The battlecruiser ''German battlecruiser Scharnhorst Scharnhorst'' is seen in the background''.">October 1939. [[U-47">frame|October 1939. [[U-47 returns to port after sinking HMS Royal Oak (08) HMS ''Royal Oak''. The battlecruiser ''German battlecruiser Scharnhorst Scharnhorst'' is seen in the background''. '''U-boat''' is the anglicization of the German language German word {{Audio|De-U-Boot-pronunciation.ogg|''U-Boot''}}, itself an abbreviation of ''Unterseeboot'' (its literal meaning: "undersea boat"), the German word for submarine. The primary targets of the U-boat campaigns in both world wars were the merchant convoys bringing supplies from Canada and the United States to Europe. Austria-Hungary Austrian submarines of World War I were also known as "U-boats". The distinction between ''U-boat'' and ''submarine'' is common in English-language usage but unknown in German language German where the term ''U-Boot'' refers to any submarine.

World War I
Image:U9Submarine.jpg cruiser.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|300px|German submarine U9 (1910). She sank three English [[cruisers in a few minutes in September 1914..html" title="Meaning of 300px|German submarine U9 (1910). She sank three English [[cruiser">thumb|300px|German submarine U9 (1910). She sank three English [[cruisers in a few minutes in September 1914.">300px|German submarine U9 (1910). She sank three English [[cruiser">thumb|300px|German submarine U9 (1910). She sank three English [[cruisers in a few minutes in September 1914. On May 7, 1915, ''Unterseeboot 20 U-20'' sank the liner RMS Lusitania RMS ''Lusitania''. Though there was a great deal of outrage at the sinking of an "innocent" merchant ship at the time, historians now believe the ''Lusitania'' had 10 tons of weapons aboard, making it a valid target under international law. Of the 1,195 lives lost, 128 were American civilians, including a noted theatrical producer and a member of the prestigious Vanderbilt family. This event turned American public opinion against Germany and was a significant factor in getting the United States involved in the war on the Allied side. With the United States already on the side of the Allies, Germany announced on 31 January 1917 that its U-boats would engage in unrestricted submarine warfare. On 17 March 1917, German submarines sank three American merchant vessels. See First Battle of the Atlantic. At the end of WWI, as part of the Paris Peace Conference, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles restricted the total tonnage of the German fleet. The treaty also restricted the independent tonnage of ships and forbade the construction of submarines. Before the start of WWII, Germany started rebuilding U-boats and training crews hiding these activities under research or other false motives, so as when WWII started, Germany already had a few U-Boats ready for warfare.

World War II
During World War II, U-boat warfare was the major component of the Second Battle of the Atlantic Battle of the Atlantic, which lasted the duration of the war. Germany had the largest submarine fleet in World War II, due to the Treaty of Versailles which limited the surface navy of Germany to six battleships (of less than 10,000 tonnes), six cruisers and 12 destroyers. Winston Churchill, the United Kingdom's Prime Minister for most of the war, was quoted as saying, "The only thing that really frightened me during the war was the U-Boat peril." In the early stages of the war the U-boats were extremely effective in destroying allied shipping, ranging from the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Arctic to the West and Southern African coasts and even as far east as Penang. Because speed and range were severely limited underwater while running on battery power, U-boats were required to spend most of their time surfaced running on diesel engines, diving only when attacked or for rare daytime torpedo strikes. The most common U-boat attack occurred while surfaced and at night, when the boat's narrow profile was difficult to spot. Advances in convoy tactics, the full entry of the U.S. into the war with its enormous ship-building capacity, high frequency direction finding (referred to as "Huff-Duff"), radar, sonar (called ASDIC in Britain), depth charges, the cracking of the German Enigma code, the introduction of the Leigh Light and the range of escort aircraft, all turned the tide against the U-boats. In the end, the U-boat fleet suffered extremely heavy casualties, losing 743 U-boats and about 30,000 submariners (a 75% casualty rate). Image:Uboat sinking survivors.png right|thumb|Survivors from U-175 after being sunk by USS ''Spencer'', 17 April 1943. During World War II, the Kriegsmarine produced many different types of U-boats as technology evolved. Most notable are type VII as the "workhorse" of the fleet which was by far the most-produced type; type IX boats were larger and specifically designed for long-range patrols, with some even able to reach the Eastern seabord of the United States. The advanced type XXI "elektroboat" featured a revolutionary hull design and propulsion system which allowed it to cruise submerged for long periods and reach unprecedented underwater speeds--had it been introduced earlier when Germany still commanded the resources to build it in quantity, the outcome of the war in the Atlantic may well have been different. Interestingly, the early U.S. nuclear submarine program borrowed heavily from this design. * German Type I submarine Type I * Type II U-boat Type II * Type V U-boat Type V * Type VII U-boat Type VII * Type IX U-boat Type IX * Type X U-boat Type X * Type XIV U-boat Type XIV * Type XVII U-boat Type XVII * Type XVIII U-boat Type XVIII * Type XXI U-boat Type XXI * Type XXIII U-boat Type XXIII U-505 was a Type IX U-boat Type IXC, notable for its capture by the United States Navy in 1944. It is presently a museum ship in Chicago, Illinois at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. The capture of U-505 was noteworthy due to the capture of her codebooks, but somewhat unnecessary because the British already had the ability to read recent Germany German codes. U-110, a Type IX U-boat Type IXB, had been captured in 1941 by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy, helping to stay on top of the German Enigma code upgrades, before the entry of the US into World War II. Two significant attacks took place in 1942 when German U-boats attacked four allied ore carriers at Bell Island, Newfoundland. The Cargo ship carriers S.S. ''Saganaga'' and the S.S. ''Lord Strathcona'' were sunk by U-513 on September 5, 1942, while the S.S. ''Rosecastle'' and ''P.L.M 27'' were sunk by U-518 on November 2 with the loss of 69 lives. When the submarine fired a torpedo at the loading pier, Bell Island became the only location in North America to be subject to direct attack by German forces in World War II.

Popular culture
* ''Silent Hunter III'', a submarine simulation for the computer, centers on the German U-boat of WW2. ''Medal of Honor: Frontline'' featured a level in which the player fought their way through a German U-boat. Many movies and television shows have focused on this topic as well. * "U Boat" is also the name of the final track on the album Kasabian (album) ''Kasabian'' by the band of the Kasabian (band) same name.

See also
* List of U-boats * List of successful U-boats List of the most successful U-boats * Karl Dönitz * Operation Deadlight * S. S. Athenia * Laconia incident

References
* Stern, Robert C. (1999). ''Battle Beneath the Waves: U-boats at war''. Arms and Armor/Sterling Publishing. ISBN 1854092006. * Kurson, Robert (2004). ''Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II''. Random House Publishing. ISBN 0-375-50858-93 * Buchheim, Lothar-Günther, ''Das Boot'' (Original German edition 1973, eventually translated into English and many other Western languages). Das Boot Movie adaptation in 1981, directed by Wolfgang Petersen * Gannon, Michael (1998) ''Black May''. Dell Publishing. ISBN 0-440-23564-2

External links
{{commons|U-boat}}
- http://www.uboat.net/ *http://ubootwaffe.net
- ''The Diary of a U-boat Commander'' – Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg edition (WWI)
- German U-Boats 1935–1945 (in German language German)
- Book excerpt: ''U-Boat Attack''
- U-Boat U-35 and Prisoners-of-War, WWII
- U-Boat U-434, POWs in Canada
- German U-Boat and Battle of the Atlantic
- German Midget submersible-MOLCH Category:Submarines of Germany Category:Submarines {{Link FA|es}} ca:U-BOOT de:U-Boot es:U-Boot fr:U-boot it:U-Boot ja:Uボート ko:유보트 nl:U-boot pl:U-Boot pt:U-Boot zh:U-潜艇 see U-boat

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