SM ''U-30'') and combined with the ''U'' for ''Unterseeboot'' would be translated as ''His Majesty's Submarine''., group=Note was one of 329

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

submarines serving 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 as part of 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 ...

. ''U-30'' is significant for the torpedoing of the US tanker '' Gulflight'' on 1 May 1915 west of Scilly.

Torpedoing of ''Gulflight''

The particular mission when ''Gulflight '' was attacked commenced 24 April 1915. On 28 April ''U-30'' intercepted the collier ''Mobile'' which she sank by gunfire after allowing the crew to escape. On 29 April she similarly sank the 3,220 GRT ''Cherbury''. 30 April she ordered the steamer ''Fulgent'' to halt, but when the ship failed to do so fired a shot into the ship's bridge, which killed the captain and quartermaster. The ship stopped and the rest of the crew were allowed to escape before the ship was sunk by explosive charges placed inside. That afternoon, the 3,102 GRT ''Svorno'' was stopped and sunk. On 1 May the grain carrier ''Edale'' and French ship ''Europe'' were sunk. A Dutch ship was stopped and, as a neutral, permitted to continue at a point some north west of the

Scilly Isles The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...

, but the submarine was spotted at this point by a steam drifter, ''Clara Alice'' which reported her position to a naval patrol. The patrol ships and started to hunt for the submarine, but succeeded only in intercepting the US-flagged ''Gulflight'', which they took under escort. The escort proved something of a disadvantage to ''Gulflight'' because she was obliged to slow down for the patrol and then, under international law, as a ship escorted by armed vessels became a legitimate target for attack. ''U-30'' spotted the convoy and fired one torpedo at ''Gulflight'', before noticing that she was flying an American flag. The submarine then broke off the attack in accordance with her instructions not to attack neutral vessels. ''Gulflight'' survived the attack, although two members of the crew drowned while evacuating the ship and the master ''Captain'' Gunter died later that night from a heart attack. The ship was towed to Crow Bay and later repaired. News of the event would be overshadowed a few days later by the sinking of but the incident, together with the attack on ''Lusitania'' and another ship, ''Cushing'', formed the basis of a formal complaint from the US government to Germany. Although the United States remained officially neutral in the ongoing hostilities, it reached agreement with the German government that further attacks by submarine would be strictly in accordance with "

cruiser Rules Cruiser rules is a colloquial phrase referring to the conventions regarding the attacking of a merchant ship by an armed vessel. Here ''cruiser'' is meant in its original meaning of a ship sent on an independent mission such as commerce raiding. ...

" as defined by international law.

Summary of raiding history

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:U0030 World War I submarines of Germany 1913 ships Ships built in Danzig U-boats commissioned in 1914 Type U 27 submarines