Name U-17 Yard number 11 Launched 16 October 1912 Draft 3.4 m | Cost 2,333,000 Goldmark Construction started 1 October 1910 Length 62 m Builder Kaiserliche Werft Danzig | |
 | ||
Ordered 000000001910-05-10-000010 May 1910 Laid down 000000001910-10-01-00001 October 1910 Commissioned 000000001912-11-03-00003 November 1912 | ||
SM U-17 was a German submarine during World War I. U-17 sank the first British merchant vessel in the First World War, and also sank another nine ships and captured one ship, surviving the war without casualty.
Contents
War service
On 000000001914-08-01-00001 August 1914, Oberleutnant zur See Johannes Feldkirchener was given command of U-17. On 20 October, U-17 stopped the 866 ton SS Glitra off the Norwegian coast, and having searched her cargo, ordered the crew to the lifeboats before scuttling the vessel. On 26 October, U-17 torpedoed the French ferry SS Amiral Ganteaume† in the Strait of Dover. The vessel made port before sinking, with the loss of 40 lives out of over 2,500 on board.
† - www.uboat.net credits the damage to the French steamer Amiral Ganteaume to U-24.
On 2 March 1915 the command of U-17 passed to Kapitänleutnant Hans Walther. On 12 June 1915, U-17 chased and torpedoed the SS Desabla off the coast of Scotland. The crew escaped on lifeboats while the vessel was scuttled and sunk. Walther's command ended on 9 January 1916 and the next day U-17 joined the Training Flotilla.
Post war
U-17 was decommissioned on 27 January 1919 and sold for scrapping.