To circumvent the British naval blockade, the Germans build a merchant submarine in Kiel during World War I. The "Deutschland" reached the USA on July 9, 1916 - a world premiere.
by Dirk Hempel
"Like a Jules Verne's dream", was the headline in an American newspaper when the rumor spread in 1915 that the Germans were planning a huge underwater cargo ship to break through the British blockade of the North Sea in World War I, which cut off the German Empire from overseas trade.
But British naval experts decline, they consider the construction of such a submarine to be completely "unfeasible". What they don't know:At the Krupp Germania shipyard in Kiel, the world's leading submarine factory at the time, two submersible vessels have long been in the works.
Merchants want to break the British naval blockade
The world's first commercial submarine, the "Deutschland", is to break the British naval blockade of the North Sea in 1916.The idea came from the Bremen merchant Alfred Lohmann, who wanted to remedy the shortage of raw materials in the German armaments industry, which urgently needed rare raw materials such as nickel and raw rubber. He also wants to do business again.
Warships for the Imperial Navy are built at the Krupp Germania shipyard in Kiel. The cargo submarines "Deutschland" and "Bremen" were built here in 1916.In November 1915 he founded the Deutsche Ozean-Reederei, based on the Weser, to operate the new types of boats. And as early as March of the following year, the "Deutschland" was launched in the Kiel Fjord. The world's first commercial submarine cost almost three million marks.
At 65 meters long and nine meters wide, it is only slightly larger than the normal wartime submarine. It holds more than 700 tons of cargo, about a tenth of the carrying capacity of an ordinary overseas freighter. With a maximum diving depth of 50 meters, the air in the boat is sufficient for 120 kilometers of underwater travel.
US Chemical Products and Mail
On June 14, 1916, the "Deutschland" left Kiel for the still neutral USA. On board she has 163 tons of chemical dyes and medicines such as the syphilis drug Salvarsan worth 60 million marks, as well as bank and diplomatic mail.
Americans celebrate the arrival
The crew of 28 wear shipping company uniforms. Officially they are civilians, but among them are also marines with submarine experience. Although the British have decoded secret radio messages and are informed about the departure of the "Deutschland", they cannot stop the boat.
It breaks through the naval blockade of Scotland and covers more than 6,000 kilometers to the east coast of the USA within three weeks. On the night of July 9, 1916, in the Chesapeake Bay, the captain took a completely surprised pilot on board to escort the boat to the voyage's destination, the American port city of Baltimore. The "Deutschland" arrives there the next day with the black, white and red commercial flag at the stern, enthusiastically celebrated by hundreds of onlookers and representatives of the press.
The first transatlantic crossing by a merchant submarine becomes a tremendous triumph. Numerous newspaper articles appear. The imperial war propaganda enthused about the "new miracle of German shipbuilding". And the seafarers involved later spread their experiences in books.
Raw materials from the USA for the German armaments industry
Although the British and the French immediately demand arrest as a warship, the US authorities certify the unarmed "Germany" as harmless - probably also because its cargo, which consists of products from the world's leading German chemical industry, seems indispensable for the USA.
For days, the Americans celebrated the "Deutschland" team as heroes.On August 1, U-"Deutschland" begins its return journey. Also on board:348 tons of rubber, 341 tons of nickel and 93 tons of tin, which should cover the needs of German armaments factories for several months. The departure becomes a folk festival. Dozens of boats accompany the "Deutschland", which dives shortly before reaching international waters.
The British fleet is chasing the merchant submarines
The British are prepared again this time. 32 of their warships are waiting on the Atlantic. The blockade office has given up 50,000 marks for the sinking. And in London, the odds are 93.5-1 against the boat returning.
But on August 23, it turned up again unharmed near Helgoland and two days later, flagged over the Topppen, it entered Bremen's free port with its valuable cargo, greeted by a cheering crowd. Kaiser Wilhelm II honors shipping company director Lohmann and the captain of the "Deutschland" with a banquet. The trip is also a financial success:the profit from the sale of the load is more than 17 million marks, a multiple of the construction costs.
U-"Bremen" is lost
At this point, the second commercial submarine, the "Bremen", has already set off on its first voyage to the USA. But she will never reach her goal. She probably ran into a mine off the Orkney Islands or collided with a British destroyer off Iceland and then sank damaged. She is considered lost to this day.
US entry into the war ends the episode
Nevertheless, the "Deutschland" will start a second crossing in October. She again brings dyes, medicines and other chemicals to the USA - in exchange for the raw materials important to the war effort. However, a third trip planned for February 1917 never took place. Because Kaiser Wilhelm II. has meanwhile decided on unrestricted submarine warfare, which does not spare civilian and neutral shipping either. Therefore, the USA broke off diplomatic relations and entered the war against Germany in April.
Civilian boats become warships
After the end of the war, the British confiscated the "Deutschland", which had sunk numerous ships as "U 155" since 1917. They transfer the sub to London.Six other cargo submarines, which have already been laid down in shipyards in Bremen, Hamburg and Flensburg, are now being converted into submarine cruisers with cannons and torpedoes and are going on patrols, including the "Deutschland", known as the "U 155 " sunk a total of 43 ships by the end of the war in November 1918 before she was scrapped in England in 1922.
No other commercial submarines were ever built, although the idea revived, for example in the 1980s for nuclear-powered supertankers intended to transport natural gas from Alaska to Europe under the arctic ice.