SM ''UC-70'' was a German Type UC II

minelaying A minelayer is any warship, submarine, military aircraft or land vehicle deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for ins ...

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

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 ...

. The U-boat was ordered on 12 January 1916 and was

launch Launch or launched may refer to: Involving vehicles * Launch (boat), one of several different sorts of boat ** Motor launch (naval), a small military vessel used by the Royal Navy * Air launch, the practice of dropping an aircraft, rocket, or ...

ed on 7 August 1916. She was

commission In-Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...

ed into the German Imperial Navy on 20 November 1916 as SM ''UC-70''."SM" stands for "Seiner Majestät" () and combined with the ''U'' for ''Unterseeboot'' would be translated as ''His Majesty's Submarine''. In ten patrols ''UC-70'' was credited with sinking 33 ships, either by torpedo or by

mines Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun Mi ...

laid. On 28 August 1918, ''UC-70'' was spotted lying submerged on the sea bottom and attacked by a

Blackburn Kangaroo The Blackburn R.T.1 Kangaroo was a British twin-engine reconnaissance torpedo biplane of the First World War, built by Blackburn Aircraft. World War I In 1916, the Blackburn Aircraft Company designed and built two prototypes of an anti-submarin ...

patrol aircraft of

No. 246 Squadron RAF No. 246 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. History First World War The squadron was formed at the former Royal Naval Air Station Seaton Carew, England on 18 August 1918 to provide coastal patrols. It was the only RAF squadron ...

and then was then sunk by

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...

s from the British destroyer . The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

Design

A Type UC II submarine, ''UC-70'' had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a

length overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also ...

of , a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two six-cylinder four-stroke diesel engines each producing (a total of ), two

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

s producing , and two

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...

s. She had a dive time of 48 seconds and was capable of operating at a depth of . The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a submerged speed of . When submerged, she could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at . ''UC-70'' was fitted with six mine tubes, eighteen UC 200 mines, three

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s (one on the stern and two on the bow), seven torpedoes, and one Uk L/30

deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose w ...

. Her

complement Complement may refer to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class collections into complementary sets * Complementary color, in the visu ...

was twenty-six crew members.

Summary of raiding history

Loss

UC-70 was

d and sunk off

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk, North Yorkshire, River Esk and has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy. From the Middle Ages, Whitby ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

on 28 August 1918 with the loss of all 31 crew. The wreck was given protected status by

in 2017.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uc070 German Type UC II submarines U-boats commissioned in 1916 U-boats sunk by British warships U-boats sunk by depth charges U-boats sunk in 1918 Maritime incidents in 1918 World War I minelayers of Germany World War I shipwrecks in the North Sea World War I submarines of Germany 1916 ships Submarines lost with all hands