Not on the lists
"The most victorious ship?" This question will baffle even those who sit for days on end at military history forums and stir up libraries of thematic literature. Modern sailors have not heard of him, not a single film has been made about him, and no books have been written about him. The most victorious and destructive ship disappeared without a trace in the bluish darkness of oblivion.
Someone will recall the well-known joke about “Aurora” (one shot spread the whole world for seventy years ahead), however, in this context, the answer is not considered correct. It is required to name the name of the ship that caused the greatest damage to the enemy by the force of its weapons.
However, the great ship itself did not have any name. Instead of the sonorous "Aurora", "Pallas" and "Invincibles" there was only a strict three-digit code, U-35.
No pirate galleon or Admiral Nelson's flagship Victory has ever achieved so many victories. The formidable power of the dreadnought battleships, the desperate bravery of the German raiders and the bearing of the "battle cranes" of the Japanese fleet pale against the background of the success of the U-35. These successes are so great and monstrous that it is hard to believe in them. U-Bot has set an absolute world record that will never be broken in the foreseeable future.
For 19 military campaigns a German submarine sent 226 enemy ships to the bottom … And damaged 10 more.
In just one, 11th in a row, the "iron coffin" under the command of Lothar von Arno de la Perrier sent 54 enemy transports to the bottom of the combat patrol. The total tonnage of trophies exceeded half a million tons, which automatically made the U-35 the most productive ship in the history of mankind, and its legendary commander - the most outstanding submariner of all times and peoples.
Homing torpedoes, nuclear reactors, over-the-horizon target designation systems … Of all this, the “Sonderführer” had only 9 underwater nodes and a compass showing where the North is under this damn water. For four officers - 30 lower ranks. 90% of the time on the surface. Of armament - six torpedoes, a 105 mm cannon (initially 75 mm) and TNT.
That's all, fight.
And she fought!
On June 17, 1916, the Italian transport "Poviga" with a tonnage of 3360 brt was sunk. On June 18, the British ships Rona with a tonnage of 1312 brt and the Beachy with a tonnage of 4,718 brt, as well as the French transport Olga with a tonnage of 2,664 brt and the Norwegian transport Aquila with a tonnage of 2192 brt were sunk. On June 19 the Italian transport "Mario C." tonnage 398 grt and French transport "France-Russie" tonnage 329 grt. On June 23, the French transport "L'Herault" with a tonnage of 2298 grt and the Italian transport "Giuseppina" with a tonnage of 1861 grt were sunk. On June 24, the Italian transports "Saturnia Fanny" with a tonnage of 1,568 brt and "S. Francesco”with a tonnage of 1059 grt, as well as the French transport“Checchina”with a tonnage of 185 grt, the Japanese transport“Dayetsu Maru”with a tonnage of 3184 brt and the English transport“Canford Chine”with a tonnage of 2398 brt. On June 25, the French transport "Fournel" with a tonnage of 2,047 gross tons and the Italian transport "Clara" with a gross tonnage of 5503 gross tons were sunk.
- Chronicle of the 10th military campaign U-35, the total result for the month - 40 sunk enemy transports.
Dear reader, you may have been surprised to see the date. Yes, we are undoubtedly talking about the First World War, when the boats were small and the enemy did not have sonars.
Meeting of U-35 and UB-I boats on the high seas
However, the U-35 cannot be called quite tiny. Double-hull U-boat of the open sea with a length of 64 meters and a surface displacement of 685 tons (submarine ship - 878 tons). Launched in 1914. Belonged to the so-called. "Formidable thirties" - a series of 10 large ocean submarines (U-31 … U-41), almost each of which entered the trophy tonnage in the elite club "100,000 tons".
Alas, from the inside, the submarine of the First World War was a quiet horror: seven compartments, 2 six-cylinder rattling diesel engines “Germaniawerft” of 950 hp each. with. each, coupled with 600 hp SSW electric combined motor-generators.
Full speed on the surface of 16 knots, cruising range at an economic 8-knot speed reached 8790 miles (almost 16 thousand km). Sounds solid.
Two bow and two aft torpedo tubes of 500 mm caliber with ammunition of only 6 torpedoes. Firing range of steam-gas torpedoes G / 6 mod. 1906 ranged from 1, 2 (at a speed of 35 knots) to 3 miles (at a limited speed of 27 knots).
No hydroacoustic stations and sound direction finders. From the means of detection - two periscopes with a cloudy lens.
Radio communication, in its modern sense, was absent. On the surface, a radiotelegraph with a folding antenna was used for communication.
For convenience, the crew was offered high-calorie dry food and, if desired, a daily refreshing shower on the upper deck (even in winter, in the North Sea).
But the worst thing was the submerged performance. Imperfect technologies of 100 years ago did not allow diving deeper than 50 m. Imperfect lead batteries limited the underwater cruising range to 80 miles at an economic speed of 5 knots. It is no coincidence that diving was seen only as a temporary tactical maneuver. The boat spent most of the time on the surface, and the main number of attacks was made from it.
Alas, no matter how weak and imperfect the anti-submarine systems of the Entente were, it would be unreasonable to underestimate them. Even the simplest measures taken posed a deadly threat to a submarine as imperfect as the U-35.
Anti-submarine defense during the First World War was based on several principles. The first is to maintain the maximum possible speed of the course, with the implementation of an anti-submarine zigzag. The second - observation of the sea surface in sectors, small-caliber artillery crews were ordered to immediately open fire on any object similar to a submarine's periscope. Taking into account the low speed of submarines under water, the minimum cruising range of torpedoes, and the absence of any other means of detection besides periscopes, these measures have significantly reduced losses among the warships of the Allied countries.
Nevertheless, the loss of three cruisers in one battle (Hawk, Albukir and Kreissy against the only German U-9), the successes of the formidable thirties, as well as the death of the legendary Lusitania, continued to testify to the terrible danger coming from the submarine fleet.
Naval aviation was born. In the fight against underwater predators, technical innovations were used (network barriers in the English Channel, with electrical signaling about a submarine that passed through them), all warships were massively equipped with sound direction finders. Distorting camouflage was invented.
U-35 torpedoes the Maplewood transport (3239 brt), April 1917
The sailors tried to go for a trick, using trap steamers armed to the teeth - after all, most of the submarine attacks were carried out by them from the surface position. New countermeasures were created and a fleet of submarine-hunting boats armed with hydrophones and depth charges was built.
It would seem that all this did not leave any chances for the imperfect “first-borns” of the submarine fleet, however …
The results of military campaigns U-35 testify to the opposite, the "baby" continued to rage on the sea. In early 1916, her torpedo was run into by the fast liner La Provence, which was carrying French troops. The victims of the attack were 990 soldiers, half of those on board at that time.
During the entire period of hostilities, U-35 sank and damaged 236 ships and vessels, with a total displacement of 575,387 tons. The boat operated in areas with the busiest shipping: in the Irish and North Seas, later moved to the Mediterranean, causing 20% of all maritime losses in that region. She fought under the flags of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
U-35 in Cartagena, Spain
Of course, such a boat could not just die. Having tested fate exactly 19 times, she safely met the end of the war, interning in a Spanish port. Alas, the most victorious ship in history has not received the honor of a floating museum. Transferred under reparations to Great Britain, it was scrapped and disposed of in 1920, like an ordinary rusty bucket.
That, in fact, is all history. Where is justice in life?
Epilogue
The U-35 went down in history as the most destructive, productive and most victorious warship. And no objections can shake this fact, whether it be the mention of insurance payments to shipping companies or the weak anti-submarine defense of the Entente (the PLO systems were as poor as the U-35 boat itself).
All this did not matter, in comparison with the main thing: the boat was, is and remains the most terrible of the sea opponents. And even if among the U-35 trophies there were only 2 auxiliary cruisers, 1 destroyer and 4 patrol ships. The main thing is the merchant fleet and the goods transported by it, because this is the whole point of all wars at sea. By and large, what is the use of powerful cruisers and dreadnoughts if they are not able to provide protection for sea lanes, and the army remaining on the shore is sitting without bread, fuel and ammunition? The question is rhetorical, but the essence of the answer is clear. Boats cause catastrophic damage to the armies, navies and economies of the belligerent countries.
U-35. Sunset in the Mediterranean Sea
And no convoys and escorts are a panacea here. The very fact of the introduction of the convoy system is a powerful "brake" for transportation, economy and production: ships and captains are forced to spend weeks and months in order to group, wait for the others and then proceed to one chosen port.
It is no coincidence that even at the height of World War II, despite the raging "wolf packs" of German submarines, 2/3 of the entire merchant fleet was still sailing outside the convoys. The Black Queens of the Cunard Company relied on their speed, the rest on luck. Lucky not lucky. 2,700 ships and 123 warships were unlucky.
The most productive of the German U-bots of World War II was U-48, which sent 51 enemy ships to the bottom.
All this did not make Germany the winner (how to win if the forces are unequal), but convincingly showed the high capabilities of the submarine fleet. Boats are evolving in accordance with the development of anti-submarine systems, while the enemy has to spend colossal funds to combat the underwater threat. On the side of submariners, there is always the secrecy and uncertainty of the aquatic environment, which makes it impossible to guarantee the detection of a submarine at a selected moment in time.
For the initiation of interest in this topic, I would like to express my gratitude to Denis Dolgushev (Denis_469).
