Surprise 1916 U-boat Visit to Rhode Island

by october of 1916 the great war had been raging for two years in europe and yet public opinion the united states still largely favored neutrality despite the highly publicized and highly politicized sinking of the lusitania the year previously while the german service fleet remained bottled up in port the growing german submarine navy was becoming more and more dangerous although the germans had restricted their submarine warfare largely in a bid to keep the united states out of the war but several events in 1916 demonstrated just how dangerous the submarine fleet could be a surprise visitor to the port of newport rhode island on october 7th demonstrated well how real that threat was it is history that deserves to be remembered the smu 53 or his majesty's submarine 53 was ordered in 1914 and launched in 1916 while the war raged her first and most prominent commander was hans rose who would go on to be one of the most successful u-boat commanders of the war rose was born in 1895 and joined the german navy in 1903. in 1914 he was given command of a torpedo boat and in 1915 joined the u-boat section of the navy commanding the early submarine u-2 in 1916 he was given command of the u-53 as it was launched her first mission was to support the unarmed merchant submarine bremen less known than germany's combat submarines a number of german submarines were designed primarily to transport cargo to avoid the allied blockade and continue to transfer german goods across the atlantic the first successful journey of a merchant submarine across the atlantic was the super submersible deutschland which arrived at baltimore in july 1916 to unload supplies captain paul koning had at the time assured american observers that this was not the last ship her sister ship that bremen was close behind konig assured americans that the trip had been easy and that his crew had traveled in luxury eating the best food and drinking champagne the deutschland and bremen were the only two completed according to the original design five more would be converted into long-range cruiser submarines the deutschland would later be converted as well the bremen's first trip began in september 1916 and u-53 was to join her before she reached norfolk virginia unfortunately rose was never able to make contact and on september 28th reported that he heard a radio broadcast reporting that the bremen was sunk in fact the actual fate of the bremen remains a mystery a life preserver with the uber's name was found on september 29th in maine but firm evidence to her sinking is unclear the british submarine hms g13 claims to have hit the bremen at 7 000 yards but the distance was so great that the admiralty refused to give the g13 credit for the hit she also may simply have struck a mine with the bremen missing captain rose chose instead to make a daring show of force at around 2 p.m on october 7th u-53 was spotted off rhode island the american submarine d2 tractor surfacing and putting up the american incent using a megaphone rose requested permission to enter newport harbor which was granted i salute our american comrades and follow in your wake rose called back for the people of newport the site of an armed german submarine was a surprise and solid evidence of germany's incredible submarine technology newport harbor is home to the naval war college and was then home to 37 ships of the u.s north atlantic squadron the whole crew 36 in all stood a detention on deck looking their best rose produced a letter for the german ambassador to the united states count bernstorf one onlooker asked if the submarine was in need of supplies but rose said only that we required nothing thank you the submarine had he said enough food and fuel to make it all the way back to germany maybe soon maybe never rose allowed the onlookers to have a tour of his sub and men women and children took advantage of the offer ogling german ingenuity a constant comment of those permitted on board wrote an ap newsmen at the dock was on thorough preparedness with which the vessel seemed to exhibit despite her many days at sea rose also went ashore and visited the nearby cruiser uss birmingham the flagship of the atlantic destroyer flotilla where he met with american rear admiral albert gleaves later met rear admiral austin knight commandant to the u.s second naval district gleaves had to apologize to rose that he could not offer him a drink the secretary of the navy had recently forbidden alcohol aboard u.s navy ships both also visited him aboard the submarine rose planned on leaving shortly though it took some time for the still neutral united states to figure out how to respond to the unexpected visit they were able to inform him that he could only remain for a few hours before they would have to intern his crew in the u-boat rose was not concerned about internment and plan to leave well within his allotted time but he also planned to use his time well inviting officers and their wives to tour his ship while we're suitably impressed his sub was not larger than american submarines of the period but had some distinct advantages namely was able to carry enough fuel that had a range of well over 9 000 nautical miles had four torpedo tubes two four two aft and carried a pair of 3.5 inch deck guns for surface combat while they waited the german crew sat on deck and lounged in the sun chatting with onlookers and playing music from a photograph that they brought with them captain rose picked up copies of the afternoon newspapers soon the american navy had their orders from washington dc and the u-53 was ordered out of american waters while both countries were ostensibly at peace issues between the two countries abounded and america's neutrality even at the time had a specifically british tent the ship's arrival had brought with it a considerable amount of suspicion a report in the newport mercury suggested that one of the crew had offered 25 to a boatman to take him ashore presumably to do some kind of espionage or mischief if the residents of newport or the united states thought that that would be the end of it they were sorely mistaken after only a few hours at port the sub left the harbor the crew waving and a yacht even briefly sailing parallel to the german submarine as soon as they had reached the end of the harbor rose gave the order and u-53 submerged whatever else it had accomplished the german submarine had gained a coup of information not by espionage but by simply reading the newspaper there were no censorship rules in place and the american paper described in considerable detail what ships were leaving when their nationality and often the nature of their cargo with the bremen gone rose's mission was the same as any other german u-boat commander in 1916 commerce writing rose was careful not to break any rules he settled his ship outside of u.s territorial waters and waited until the following morning to pronounce on the morning of october 8th the german stopped five or possibly six merchant ships and a lot of passenger liner to pass because rose didn't feel confident that he could provide for the safety of so many people at six o'clock they stopped the american consent her papers reported no contraband so she was allowed to leave at 6 53 u-53 stopped a british steamer which they torpedoed at 7 43 after the crew had been allowed to abandon ship they then stopped and sank at least four other ships including a norwegian and the dutch steamer reports of a six ships sunk the ss kingston but records suggest the ship was not sunk until 1918. as soon as the first shots had been fired and sos was radioed to shore admiral gleaves quickly dispatched 16 destroyers to the scene so quickly that some of them left without their full crews when they arrived they were able to rescue the crews of each ship and actually watch as rose continued to stop examine and sink more merchant vessels at one point rose even politely asked one of the american destroyers to move so he could get a clear shot the destroyer obliged and rose lest the scene a successful merchant raider no one was killed in the sinkings and the american destroyers rescued over 200 passengers the newport mercury reported that the air was warm and the sea was calm so those in the boats did not suffer severely the attack in the brazen way in which it was committed elicited anger from officials and the public on both sides of the atlantic the german ship had simply docked peacefully at a neutral nation obtained information via public sources and then attacked allied shipping thousands of miles from europe it was a testament to the power of the german u-boat that could be all accomplished without refueling and despite british ships being sent to hunt for her the u-53 was safely away long before any of them reached the area papers in francine unable to believe that the sub could have such a great range insisting that if that boat was not supplied with fuel it had to be conveyed and that it must be disquieting for the united states that the great american public is not master of its own waters in america president wilson told bernstorf that the attack was unacceptable and made a public statement that the country may rest assured that the german government will be held to the complete fulfillment of its promises former president teddy roosevelt was less inclined criticizing wilson and saying simply that the war has been carried to our shores the attack brought on considerable panic the fall river globe of fall river massachusetts reported that a german base in u.s waters is suspected and reported erroneously that a german supply ship had been sighted near the submarine the fear was not completely without merit shortly after the attack the germans sought mexico's consent to establish a base there the boston globe even read an article claiming that the sub was actually built near boston and hadn't crossed the atlantic at all many lines insisted that their shipments would continue but the boston globe wrote that all indications point to a complete paralysis of shipping at this port the l.a times feared that submarine blockade of america is possible and many papers were concerned that more than one sub had been involved in germany a paper reported that the crew sang patriotic songs every night aboard the submarine and braved terrible weather with waves like mountains you could have imagined yourself in an alpine landscape as papers in the us in a broad battle of neutrality and policy u-53 quietly escaped back across the atlantic one of the issues was that rose had behaved carefully he had not broken any rule of prize law that sunk legally ships engaged in commerce with the enemy outside american territorial waters the american destroyers had no cause to interfere what really turned the tide of sentiment in the u.s and caused her entry into the war was the zimmerman telegram made public in january 1917. and germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare on february 1st the first american merchant ship to be sunk after that was the housatonic sunk off the silly islands by none other than hans rose and the u-53 nine more were sunk between february 3rd and april 6 when war was officially declared u-53 would sink 61 ships in 1917 alone including the canard liner rms folia and damaged six more her most impressive victory was over the uss jacob jones on december 6th the jones was a tucker class destroyer and was the first u.s destroyer sunk by enemy action in world war one 66 men were lost captain rose took on several injured crewmen and then radioed the position for rescue rose continued to command until 1918 when he was replaced he received the poor lemarete and the knight's cross of the hosen hollering house order for the tunney chief sank during world war one became one of germany's top submarine aces rear admiral sims of the us navy wrote that we acquired a certain respect for hans because he was a brave man who would take chances which most of his compatriots would avoid and above all because he played his desperate game with a certain decency the u-53 surrendered with the rest of the german navy was broken up at swansea rose was something of a rare captain at the time considered honorable even by his foes he played an important role in what was at the time a major headline grabbing event even though today it is largely forgotten he served briefly in command of a u-boat training group in 1940 passed away in 1969 the age of 84. i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide short snippets of forgotten history and if you did enjoy feed the algorithm by making a comment or clicking that like button if you have suggestions for future episodes please send those to our suggestions email box check out our webpage at thehistoryguy.net and of course we're on facebook instagram and twitter you can book a special message from the history guy on cameo and check out our merchandise 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Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 101,978

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, WWI, submarines, great war

Id: 9hmk21R2MQc

Length: 11min 58sec (718 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 01 2021