SM ''UB-57'' was a German

Type UB III submarine The Type UB III submarine was a class of U-boat built during World War I by the German Imperial Navy. Design UB III boats carried 10 torpedoes and were usually armed with either an or a deck gun. They carried a crew of 34 and had a cruising ...

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

in the

German Imperial Navy The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (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 f ...

() during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. She was commissioned into the Flanders Flotilla of the German Imperial Navy on 30 July 1917 as SM ''UB-57''. She operated as part of the Flanders Flotilla based in

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (; from , meaning "Bruges-on-Sea"; , ) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zeebrugge and a seafront resort with ...

. ''UB-57'' was thought to have sunk with all hands at 23:00 on 14 August 1918 at after striking a mine, but on April 14th 2025, an already marked wreck at a depth of 17 meters, just west of the Westhinder shoal, close to the border with France was formally identified as the UB-57.

Construction

She was built by

AG Weser Aktien-Gesellschaft "Weser" (abbreviated A.G. "Weser") was one of the major Germany, German shipbuilding companies, located at the Weser River in Bremen. Founded in 1872 it was finally closed in 1983. All together, A.G. „Weser" built about 1,4 ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

and following just under a year of construction, launched at Bremen on 21 June 1917. ''UB-57'' was commissioned later that same year under the command of ''Kptlt.'' Otto Steinbrinck. Like all Type UB III submarines, ''UB-57'' carried 10

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es and was armed with a deck gun. ''UB-57'' would carry a crew of up to 3 officer and 31 men and had a cruising range of . ''UB-57'' had a displacement of while surfaced and when submerged. Her engines enabled her to travel at when surfaced and when submerged.

Summary of raiding history

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ub057 German Type UB III submarines World War I submarines of Germany U-boats commissioned in 1917 Maritime incidents in 1918 U-boats sunk in 1918 World War I shipwrecks in the English Channel U-boats sunk by mines 1918 ships Ships built in Bremen (state) Submarines lost with all hands