SM ''U-51'') and combined with the ''U'' for ''Unterseeboot'' would be translated as ''His Majesty's Submarine''., group=Note was a Type U 51 submarine, one of 329 submarines in the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Kaise ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. She engaged in commerce warfare during the

First Battle of the Atlantic The Atlantic U-boat campaign of World War I (sometimes called the "First Battle of the Atlantic", in reference to the World War II campaign of that name) was the prolonged naval conflict between German submarines and the Allied navies in Atla ...

. She was ordered from Germaniawerft, at

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

, on 23 August 1914 and

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

there on 19 December. She was launched on 25 November 1915 and commissioned on 24 February 1916. ''Kapitänleutnant'' Walter Rumpel was her captain for her entire career.

Operations

Completed at Kiel about March 1916, she carried out trials at Kiel School until the end of April when she proceeded to

Heligoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...

. British Naval Intelligence (better known as Room 40): monitored and recorded her activities. She was attached to the 2nd Half Flotilla and carried out a patrol in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

between 2 May and 6 May 1916, traveling to

Hanstholm Hanstholm is a small town and a former island, now elevated area in Thisted municipality of Region Nordjylland, located in northern Denmark. The population of the town is 2,104 (1 January 2022).

in company with , escorted by two

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

s. She was again in the North Sea between 16 May and 3 June 1916, during the Battle of Jutland. She fired two torpedoes at the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

battleship , but missed her. On 14 July the British submarine spotted ''U-51'' leaving the Ems and torpedoed her. ''U-51'' sank with the loss of 34 of her crew; four survivors were rescued. The wreck of ''U-51'' was raised and broken up in 1968.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:U0051 Type U 51 submarines U-boats commissioned in 1916 World War I submarines of Germany 1915 ships Maritime incidents in 1916 U-boats sunk in 1916 World War I shipwrecks in the North Sea U-boats sunk by British submarines Ships built in Kiel