SM U-38 in the Great War - The Wartime Memories Project -

SM U-38

SM U-38 was a Type U 31 built in the Shipyard Germaniawerft, Kiel (Werk 198) Ordered 12 Jun 1912, Laid down 25 Feb 1913, Launched 9 Sep 1914 and Commissioned 15 Dec 1914.
Commanders.
5 Dec 1914 - 15 Sep 1917 Max Valentiner.
16 Sep 1917 - 15 Nov 1917 Wilhelm Canaris.
16 Nov 1917 - 18 Jan 1918 Oblt. Hans Heinrich Wurmbach.
19 Jan 1918 - 11 Nov 1918 Clemens Wickel
Career 17 patrols.
start date unknown - 11 Nov 1915 II Flotilla.
11 Nov 1915 - 22 May 1916 Pola Flotilla.
22 May 1916 - 7 Sep 1918 Constantinople Flotilla
7 Sep 1918 - 11 Nov 1918 Pola/Mittelmeer I Flotilla
Successes 138 ships sunk with a total of 292,445 tons: 6 ships damaged with a total of 26,139 tons, 3 ships taken as prize with a total of 3,550 tons, 1 warship sunk with a total of 680 tons, 1 warship damaged with a total of 10,850 tons.

18 Apr 1915 Brilliant (prize) 1,441 nw
22 Apr 1915 Eva 312 nw
22 Apr 1915 Oscar 766 nw
24 Apr 1915 Nidaros (prize) 1,024 da
27 Apr 1915 Torwald (prize) 1,085 sw
30 Apr 1915 Elida 1,693 sw
20 Jun 1915 Roxburgh (damaged) 10,850 br
21 Jun 1915 Carisbrook 2,352 br
22 Jun 1915 Leo 269 ru
23 Jun 1915 Elizabeth 94 br
23 Jun 1915 Four 84 br
23 Jun 1915 Josephine 85 br
23 Jun 1915 Piscatorial 84 br
23 Jun 1915 Research 89 br
23 Jun 1915 Uffa 79 br
23 Jun 1915 Ugiebrae 79 br
24 Jun 1915 Commander 149 br
24 Jun 1915 J. M. S. 78 br
24 Jun 1915 Lebanon 111 br
24 Jun 1915 Monarda 87 br
24 Jun 1915 Primrose 91 br
24 Jun 1915 Quiet Waters 63 br
24 Jun 1915 Star Of Bethlehem 77 br
24 Jun 1915 Viceroy 150 br
24 Jun 1915 Vine 110 br
5 Aug 1915 Hans Emil 106 da
5 Aug 1915 Vanadis 484 nw
6 Aug 1915 Ocean Queen 185 br
6 Aug 1915 Westminster 252 br
9 Aug 1915 Thrush 264 br
10 Aug 1915 Oakwood 4,279 br
17 Aug 1915 Bonny 2,702 br
17 Aug 1915 George Baker 91 br
17 Aug 1915 Glenby 2,196 br
17 Aug 1915 Isidoro 2,044 sp
17 Aug 1915 Kirkby 3,034 br
17 Aug 1915 Maggie 269 br
17 Aug 1915 Paros 3,596 br
17 Aug 1915 Repeat 107 br
17 Aug 1915 The Queen 557 br
17 Aug 1915 Thornfield 488 br
19 Aug 1915 Baron Erskine 5,585 br
19 Aug 1915 Restormel 2,118 br
19 Aug 1915 Samara 3,172 br
20 Aug 1915 Bittern 1,797 br
20 Aug 1915 Carterswell 4,308 br
20 Aug 1915 Daghestan 2,817 be
20 Aug 1915 Martha Edmonds 182 br
21 Aug 1915 Cober 3,060 br
21 Aug 1915 Ruel 4,029 br
21 Aug 1915 San Melito (damaged) 10,160 br
21 Aug 1915 Windsor 6,055 br
22 Aug 1915 Diomed 4,672 br
22 Aug 1915 Palmgrove 3,100 br
23 Aug 1915 Silvia 5,268 br
23 Aug 1915 Trafalgar 4,572 br
3 Nov 1915 Woodfield 3,584 br
3 Nov 1915 Yasukuni Maru 5,118 jp
4 Nov 1915 Dahra 2,127 fr
4 Nov 1915 Ionia 1,816 it
4 Nov 1915 Le Calvados 1,658 fr
4 Nov 1915 Mercian (damaged) 6,305 br
5 Nov 1915 Buresk 3,673 br
5 Nov 1915 Sidi Ferruch 2,797 fr
6 Nov 1915 Elisa Francesca 208 it
6 Nov 1915 Glenmoor 3,075 br
6 Nov 1915 Ticino 1,470 it
6 Nov 1915 Yser 3,545 fr
7 Nov 1915 France Iv 4,025 fr
8 Nov 1915 Ancona 8,210 it
9 Nov 1915 Firenze 3,960 it
21 Dec 1915 Yasaka Maru 10,932 jp
30 Dec 1915 Clan Macfarlane 4,823 br
30 Dec 1915 Persia 7,951 br
9 Feb 1916 Springwell 5,593 br
23 Feb 1916 Diadem 3,752 br
23 Feb 1916 Roubine 327 fr
24 Feb 1916 Denaby 2,987 br
24 Feb 1916 Fastnet 2,227 br
24 Feb 1916 Torborg 1,266 sw
29 Feb 1916 Alexander Wentzel 2,832 ru
29 Feb 1916 Elisa S 209 it
1 Mar 1916 Kilbride 3,712 br
16 May 1916 Clifford 487 br
8 Jun 1916 Malorossija (damaged) 893 ru
8 Jun 1916 Cementcrug 1,086 ru
8 Jun 1916 Ekaterina 70 ru
8 Jun 1916 Vera (damaged) 1,231 ru
10 Jun 1916 Orion 429 ru
2 Jul 1916 Rockcliffe 3,073 br
9 Jul 1916 Vperied 859 ru
10 Jul 1916 Florida 3,238 ru
14 Aug 1916 Remembrance 3,660 br
19 Aug 1916 Dea 166 it
23 Aug 1916 Elios 190 it
23 Aug 1916 Maria Brizzolari 152 it
23 Aug 1916 Tanina 138 it
24 Aug 1916 Isdalen 2,275 nw
24 Aug 1916 Liegeoise 3,895 be
25 Aug 1916 Leandros 1,658 gr
25 Aug 1916 Nostra Signora Del Carmine 1,575 it
26 Aug 1916 Atlantico 3,069 it
29 Aug 1916 Antigoon 1,884 be
29 Aug 1916 Francois Joseph 114 fr
29 Aug 1916 Stella Del Mare 1,166 it
30 Aug 1916 Nostra Signora Della Guardia 1,588 it
31 Aug 1916 Bacchus 3,583 fr
31 Aug 1916 Duart 3,108 br
31 Aug 1916 Piero Maroncelli 3,225 it
1 Sep 1916 San Francesco di Paola 68 it
1 Sep 1916 Swift Wings 4,465 br
2 Sep 1916 Strathallan 4,404 br
2 Sep 1916 Uranie 109 fr
3 Sep 1916 Villa D’oro 134 it
4 Sep 1916 Laristan 3,675 br
5 Sep 1916 Saint Marc 5,818 fr
25 Nov 1916 Michael 2,410 gr
26 Nov 1916 Chemung 3,062 am
3 Dec 1916 Dacia 1,856 br
3 Dec 1916 Kanguroo 2,493 fr
3 Dec 1916 Surprise (mn) 680 fr
8 Dec 1916 Brask 1,464 nw
8 Dec 1916 Britannia 1,814 br
9 Dec 1916 Brizella 282 pt
10 Dec 1916 Esemplare 2,595 it
13 Dec 1916 Angelo Parodi 3,825 it
13 Dec 1916 Kaupanger 3,354 nw
15 Dec 1916 Emmanuele Accame 3,242 it
17 Dec 1916 Tripoli 56 it
20 Dec 1916 Itonus 5,340 br
25 Jan 1917 Sylvie 2,591 fr
7 Feb 1917 Aphrodite 130 fr
14 Feb 1917 Trowbridge (damaged) 3,712 br
14 Feb 1917 Michele 41 it
12 May 1917 Egyptian Prince 3,117 br
13 May 1917 Rio Amazonas 2,970 it
25 May 1917 Kohinur 2,265 br
26 May 1917 Holmesbank 3,051 br
1 Jul 1917 Corrado 120 it
1 Jul 1917 Volto Santo G. 225 it
7 Jul 1917 La Resolu 186 fr
12 Jul 1917 Claire 1,157 be
15 Jul 1917 Atalante 124 fr
19 Jul 1917 Eloby 6,545 br
20 Aug 1917 Incemore 3,060 br
19 Apr 1918 Salambo 248 fr
5 May 1918 Alberto Treves (damaged) 3,838 it
8 May 1918 Ingleside 3,736 br

On the 23rd of Feb 1919 U-38 surrendered to France, she was broken up at Brest during July 1921.

30th March 1916 Russian Hospital Ship
HS Portugal - Russian Hospital Ship in the Black Sea
Russian hospital ship Portugal (Russian: госпитальное судно "Португаль") was a steam ship originally built by a French shipping company, but requisitioned for use as a Russian hospital ship during the First World War. On the 30th March 1916 she was sunk by a torpedo from the German U-boat U-33.
History[edit]
She was originally built in 1886 for the Brazil and River Plate Line of the Messageries Maritimes Company. She was chartered or purchased by the Russians for use as a hospital ship in the Black Sea.
Sinking.
Georgian princess Aneta Andronnikova was one of the Red Cross nurses who died in the Portugal incident. On the 30th March 1916, the Portugal was towing a string of small flat-bottomed boats to ferry wounded from the shore to the ship. Off Rizeh, on the Turkish coast of the Black Sea, she had stopped as one of the small boats was sinking and repairs were being made. The ship was not carrying wounded at the time, but had a staff of Red Cross physicians and nurses on board, as well as her usual crew.
The ship's crew saw a periscope approaching the vessel but as the ship was a hospital ship and protected by the Hague conventions no evasive actions were taken. Without warning the submarine fired a torpedo which missed. The U-boat, U-33, came around again fired a torpedo from a distance of 30 feet, which hit near the engine room, breaking the ship into two pieces.
The Vperiod.
On the 8th July 1916, another Russian hospital ship, named Vperiod (Вперёд; also transcribed, French-style, as Vperiode) was sunk between Rizeh and Batum, allegedly by German U-boat U-38. The boat was not carrying wounded, as it was on its trip to the frontline. Seven people died, the rest were saved.
The Russian government claimed that Turkish forces sank the Portugal and the Vperiod. The Turkish government replied that both ships were sunk by mines.
Account of Sinking of SS Portugal.
The submarine approached the "Portugal" quietly and discharged a torpedo, which missed its aim. Then it circled round and discharged a second at the other side of the vessel, from some 30 or 40 feet away. This second torpedo struck the Portugal amidships, in the engine-room. There was a violent explosion; the hull broke in two, and most of those on board were precipitated into the whirlpool between the two halves. With a still more violent explosion the boilers blew up, and the bow and stern fragments of the "Portugal" went down simultaneously. Forty-five of the Red Cross staff were lost, twenty-one of whom were nurses. Twenty-one men were lost out of the Russian crew, and nineteen out of the French. Thus eighty-five of those on board perished altogether.
Here is an account of the outrage by one of the survivors—Nikolai Nikolaevitch Sabaev, secretary to the Russian Red Cross Society's Third Ambulance Detachment with the Army of the Caucasus:—
" At about 8 o'clock in the morning, somebody on board shouted out, 'submarine boat.' At first, this news did not produce any panic; on the contrary, everybody rushed on deck to be the first to see the submarine. It never entered anybody's head to suppose that a submarine would attack a hospital ship, sailing under the flag of the Red Cross. I went on to the upper deck, and noticed the periscope of a submarine, moving parallel with the steamer at a distance of about 170 or 200 feet. Having reached a point opposite to the middle of the 'Portugal,' the periscope disappeared for a short time, then reappeared, and the submarine discharged a torpedo. I descended from the upper deck, and ran to the stern, with the intention of jumping into the sea. When, however, I noticed that most of the people on deck had life-belts, I ran into saloon No. 5, seized a life-belt, and put it on, but then I fell down, as the 'Portugal' was sinking at the place where she was broken in two, while her stem and stern were going up higher all the time. All round me unfortunate sisters of mercy were screaming for help. They fell down, like myself, and some of them fainted. The deck became more down-sloping every minute, and I rolled off into the water between the two halves of the sinking steamer. I was drawn down deep into the whirlpool, and began to be whirled round and thrown about in every direction. While under the water, I heard a dull, rumbling noise, which was evidently the bursting of the boilers, for it threw me out of the vortex about a sazhen, or 7 feet, away from the engulfment of the wreck. The stem and stern of the steamer had gone up until they were almost at right angles with the water, and the divided steamer was settling down. At this moment I was again sucked under, but I exerted myself afresh, and once more rose to the surface. I then saw both portions of the 'Portugal' go down rapidly, and disappear beneath the flood. A terrible commotion of the water ensued, and I was dragged under, together with the 'Portugal.' I felt that I was going down deep, and for the first time I realized that I was drowning.
. . . My strength failed me, but I kept my mouth firmly shut, and tried not to take in the water. I knew that the moment of death from heart failure was near. It so happened, however, that the disturbance of the water somewhat abated, and I succeeded in swimming up again. I glanced round. The ' Portugal ' was no more. Nothing but broken pieces of wreck, boxes which had contained our medicaments, materials for dressing wounds, and provisions were floating about. Everywhere I could see the heads and arms of people battling with the waves, and their shrieks for help were frightful. . . . 8 or 9 sazhens (56 or 63 feet) away from where I was, I saw a life-saving raft, and I swam towards it. Although my soddened clothes greatly impeded my movements, I nevertheless reached the raft, and was taken on to it. About 20 persons were on it already, exclusively men. Amongst them was* the French mate, who assisted the captain of the ' Portugal, ' and he and I at once set about making a rudder out of two of the oars which were on the raft, and we placed an oarsman on each side of it. We had been going about 8 minutes when we saw the body of a woman floating motionless, and dressed in the garb of a sister of mercy. . . . We then raised her on to the raft. She was unconscious, quite blue, and with only feeble signs of life. . . . She at last opened her eyes and enquired where she was. I told her that she was saved. Soon, however, she turned pale, said she was dying, and gave me the address of her relatives, to inform them of her death. She began to spit blood, and was delirious, but gradually a better feeling returned, and she was soon out of danger. We went on rowing towards the shore for a considerable time. . . . At last a launch, towing a boat full of the rescued, took us also in tow, and we reached the shore in safety. The hospital ship 'Portugal' was painted white, with a red border, all around. The funnels were white with red crosses, and a Red Cross flag was on the mast. These distinguishing signs were plainly visible and there can be no doubt whatever that they could be perfectly well seen, by the men in the submarine. The conduct of the submarine itself proves that the men in it knew that they had to do with a hospital ship. The fact of the submarine having moved so slowly shows that the enemy was conscious of being quite out of danger."

If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.

Want to know more about SM U-38?

There are:15 items tagged SM U-38 available in our Library

These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.

The Wartime Memories Project
- SM U-38 during the Great War -

SM U-38

Want to know more about SM U-38?

Those known to have served on
SM U-38
during the Great War 1914-1918.

The Wartime Memories Project - SM U-38 during the Great War -

SM U-38

Want to know more about SM U-38?

Those known to have served on SM U-38during the Great War 1914-1918.

The Wartime Memories Project
- SM U-38 during the Great War -

Those known to have served on
SM U-38
during the Great War 1914-1918.